Tampa Bay Criminal Defense Lawyer - Chase and Shooting in St. Petersburg

By Nick Dorsten, Esq.

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Two men wanted in a robbery and shooting last week were arrested quickly right after they led police on a high-speed chase.

Police say that the two men, 28, and , 24, tried to rob the victim, who was shot twice, police said. The victim was later listed in critical condition at Bayfront Medical Center.

Witnesses told police the robbers fled in a dark Nissan Altima and a car of that description was seen at 4:17 a.m., getting onto Interstate 275 in south St. Petersburg.

When officers tried to stop it, police said, the vehicle sped off, heading north on I-275, at speeds of up to 100 mph. As the Altima got off at 22 Avenue N, it crashed into a concrete median hard enough to disable it.

The two men inside got out and ran, (a fleeing and eluding).

A five-block perimeter was later set up as officers searched for the men, eventually closing the westbound lanes of 22nd Avenue N for about an hour, as reported byBay News 9.

The driver was arrested after a brief foot chase, but not before trying to punch the arresting officer (battery of a law enforcement).

The passenger slipped out of the area but was later tracked by a police dog and found hiding behind a fence in a yard. The police dog had bit the passenger in his lower left leg, it was reported.

Both men were in custody just before 5 a.m.

A 9 mm handgun was found on the driver's side floor of the Altima, police said.

The car is registered to a St. Petersburg woman whom police did not identify.

The two men denied any involvement in the robbery and shooting, police said.

The driver was charged with fleeing and eluding, being a felon in possession of a firearm, resisting a police officer with violence and marijuana possession.

The passenger, who already was wanted for failure to appear in court on an obstruction of justice charge, was charged with marijuana possession and resisting arrest without violence.

Records do show both men have a history of arrests in Pinellas County.

Have you or a loved one been arrested for a possession of marijuana or a child abuse? Then contact the St. Petersburg criminal defense attorneys of Blake & Dorsten, P.A. for a free consultation!

For more information, or to speak directly with experienced St. Petersburg criminal defense lawyers please contact BLAKE & DORSTEN, P.A. at 727.286.6141 or email the lawyers your questions at: info@blakedorstenlaw.com. We are located at 4707 140th Ave N, Suite 104 in Clearwater, across from the criminal courthouse in the airport business center, minutes from Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Tampa Bay Criminal Defense Lawyer - St. Petersburg Neighborhood: No More!

By Nicholas Dorsten, Esq.

ST. PETERSBURG — The neighborhood calls them "boomers" or "thumpers."

As nightclubs close at 3 a.m., people flock in cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles around the Choice Food Store, 3401 Fifth Ave. S, thumping and booming loud music.

Neighbors estimate hundreds of people gather there on weekends and some weeknights. They hang out, flirt, shout and scream. The crowds spill out into surrounding streets and properties, leave trash and break out into fights, according to people in the neighborhood.

Police are called often — at least 150 times about crowds in the past year alone, according to police records.

A while back, the scene took a violent turn.

At 3:16 a.m., police said, shots rang out and a 31-year-old man was wounded in the shoulder. A police officer chased a fleeing Buick from the scene and shot two men after one of them pulled a gun, police said.

Neighbors say the late-night gatherings are a nuisance, and are getting out of control.

"I wish the police could do something," said a neighbor, who lives nearby. "It's getting really stupid."

Neighbors say vehicles fill the convenience store's parking lots and a vacant lot nearby. People spill into adjacent streets and onto the lots around a bail bond business and a pawnshop. They park behind vacant homes, of which there are many.

"It's like a big-a-- block party," said a local business owner, who owns Sunshine State Bail Bonds two doors down. "It's getting worse and worse — somebody got shot."

He's worried an errant bullet will fly into his business.

"Now that this has happened and it's pretty much in my front door, something needs to be done," the man said.

He added that police need to do a better job of crowd control.

Police have been called to the 24-hour Choice Food Store almost 250 times in the past year, according to police records, mostly for large crowds. They also have responded to reports of brawling and gunshots. The owner of Choice Food could not be reached for comment.

The early-morning shooting is not the first — or the worst.

In 2005, a 29-year-old was fatally shot in front of a glass shop at 3451 Fifth Ave. S., a few doors down from Choice Food. Police said several hundred people were hanging out about 2:30 a.m.

Neighbors said police frequently break up the crowds but it often takes complaints about noise before they do anything.

"They sit out there and watch them," said a neighbor. "It looks like there should be a carnival. It's outrageous. I don't understand why they can't stop it."

Another neighbor doesn't think the crowds are a problem. "To me, it's a lot of social gathering, but it isn't more. It's just something they do to hang out."

There's not much police can do to keep crowds from forming if no one is breaking the law, said a police spokesman.

"It's a hard thing to prevent from a law enforcement standpoint," he said. "There's not a lot of tools there for us to prevent issues."

Police typically ask the crowd to disperse only if there's a safety issue, he said.

Frequently police plan ahead if they know crowds will form, making their presence known and discouraging crowds from forming.

Several neighbors said police are usually parked when the group forms after the clubs close.

Yet they say that's not enough...

Have you or a loved one been arrested for a battery or a violent crime? Then contact the St. Petersburg criminal defense attorneys of Blake & Dorsten, P.A. for a free consultation!

For more information, or to speak directly with experienced St. Petersburg criminal defense lawyers please contact BLAKE & DORSTEN, P.A. at 727.286.6141 or email the lawyers your questions at: info@blakedorstenlaw.com. We are located at 4707 140th Ave N, Suite 104 in Clearwater, across from the criminal courthouse in the airport business center, minutes from Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Tampa Bay Criminal Defense Lawyer - Shooting in St. Petersburg

By Nick Dorsten, Esq.

Another shooting in St. Petersburg, Fl, per the Times website...

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A man and a woman were shot and another man pistol-whipped on Monday evening in what police called a drug sale gone awry.

The incident happened about 6:15 p.m. in an alley north of the 5200 block of Third Avenue S.

Police said that a man, 26, woman, 21 and another man, 22, drove into the alley and met two unidentified suspects.

The first man got out of the car while the others waited in the vehicle. Shortly after meeting with the two suspects, the first man was pistol-whipped.

The other two in the vehicle tried to speed away and the suspects fired three rounds at the vehicle, according to police.

One round hit the man's cheek, and another grazed the woman's back, police said. They drove to St. Anthony's Hospital, where they were expected to live, police said.

The two suspects fled.

The first man, who was left behind as the other two sped away, managed to run from the area, police said.

The two in the car, who are dating, told police they didn't know they were going to a drug deal.

The woman said she and her boyfriend got a call from the first man, asking if they could drive him to pick up clothing.

"I didn't know anything," she said. "I just gave somebody a ride."

She said she was in the passenger seat, studying for a marketing test.

As of this time this was written, no word on the identity of the suspects

Have you or someone you love been arrested for a violent crime, drug crime or a criminal offense? Then call the St. Petersburg criminal defense attorneys today for a free consultation!

For more information, or to speak directly with experienced St. Petersburg criminal defense lawyers please contact BLAKE & DORSTEN, P.A. at 727.286.6141 or email the lawyers your questions at: info@blakedorstenlaw.com. We are located at 4707 140th Ave N, Suite 104 in Clearwater, across from the criminal courthouse in the airport business center, minutes from Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Tampa Bay Criminal Defense Lawyer - death penalty? Part Two

By Nick Dorsten, Esq.

Part two of a possible death penalty case, story from an Orlando website...

OCALA, Fla. -- Six people, including a 15-year-old girl and three other teens, were arrested Tuesday in the murder of a 15-year-old Belleview boy, whose body was burned and shoveled into paint cans, according to the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

Detectives said the victim was attacked and shot Sunday after being lured to a home on 53rd Avenue in Summerfield.

According to deputies, the victim was hit in the head with a wooden object and shot multiple times by 18-year-old Michael Bargo, who is charged with first-degree murder.

The others arrested were:

•Charlie Kay Ely, 18, of Summerfield, who is charged with first-degree murder.
•A juvenile, 15, of Summerfield, who is charged with first-degree murder.
•Justin Soto, 20, of Summerfield, who is charged with first-degree murder.
•James Haven III, 37, of Summerfield, who is charged with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder.
•Another juvenile, 16, of Summerfield, who is charged with first-degree murder.

Deputies said those involved were involved in the planning and luring of the victim to the home.

On Tuesday, a woman told deputies her 16-year-old son had witnessed the victim's slaying in a house in Summerfield, near Ocala.

Authorities said the 16-year-old, who is not being identified because he hasn't been charged, told investigators the group plotted the slaying because Bargo hated the victim. The plan called for the female juvenile to lure him to the home by a text message.

Once he arrived at the house, deputies said, Ely and Bargo began hitting him in the head with wooden objects. According to the sheriff's office, Bargo then shot the victim several times. When the deceased tried to escape, Soto held him down while Bargo continued to shoot him, authorities said.

Then, according to the report, Bargo broke the teen's knees and group members hog-tied him and put his body in a sleeping bag, which was placed in a fire pit in the back yard and burned.

At that point, the sheriff's office said, the group used bleach to clean the house and shoveled his remains into 5-gallon paint cans.


Bargo was located and arrested in Starke, where he fled to stay with friends, deputies said.

The Sheriff's Office said it was later discovered that Havens was aware of the plan to kill the victim and assisted with the disposal of the remains. Havens also gave Bargo a ride to Starke in an effort to avoid capture, deputies said.

Investigators are still searching for a .22-caliber revolver used in the slaying. The Sheriff's Office said a dive team found a 5-gallon paint bucket weighed down by a cement block Wednesday afternoon in a lime rock pit off State Road 40 and the contents were being tested to determine if they contain the victim's remains.

Bargo has previously been arrested on burglary and theft charges.

Deputies told Local 6 News that Bargo and Soto were on suicide watch at the Marion County Jail. The juveniles were being held at the Marion County Juvenile Detention Center.

Have you or someone you love been arrested for a violent crime or a criminal offense? Then call the St. Petersburg criminal defense attorneys today for a free consultation!

For more information, or to speak directly with experienced St. Petersburg criminal defense lawyers please contact BLAKE & DORSTEN, P.A. at 727.286.6141 or email the lawyers your questions at: info@blakedorstenlaw.com. We are located at 4707 140th Ave N, Suite 104 in Clearwater, across from the criminal courthouse in the airport business center, minutes from Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Tampa Bay Criminal Defense Lawyer - The Ice (cream) man cometh Part 1

By Nicholas Dorsten, Esq.

Part one of an unusual story, as seen on the St. Pete Times website...

Tampa Bay — For 10 months, the ice cream man waited for justice.

Michael Edward Keetley, 39, had been shot in the chest, leg and hand for a mere $12, a victim of a robbery.

The thugs who did it were never caught. So Keetley began asking questions of his own.

On Thanksgiving, deputies say, he was ready for revenge. They say he pulled up to a Ruskin home with a gun and fake cop gear, ordered seven men to lie down on a porch and opened fire from right to left, hitting six, murdering two.

All were innocent, deputies say.

Those who had attacked Keetley in January remain at large.

But on Thursday, the ice cream man went to jail.

• • •

On Ocean Mist Court, where Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies say Keetley sprayed the bullets, people loved the sight of his purple ice cream truck, which sometimes brought free treats. After he was robbed, people gave him money for medical bills. Even the mother of two men he is accused of killing once thought of him as a good guy.

Others saw a different side. Their stories fill court files in petitions for repeat violence injunctions.

Last year, Susan Camp says she got a call from a man who identified himself as a Ruskin sheriff and said he'd gotten complaints about someone driving drunk in her ice cream truck.

She recognized the voice of Keetley, who was new to the business and had previously talked to her about ice cream sales. She told him she was onto him, and they laughed, she said.

But then he got serious. He told her that if she didn't keep her truck out of his territory, he would burn it. In court documents, she said he called her repeatedly and put 10 signs on the road that said, Don't buy ice cream from the blue truck. She sells drugs from her truck and is a very bad, nasty person.

She said two similar signs advertised his own purple truck.

Camp filed an injunction petition and got in touch with two neighborhood families named in repeat violence cases connected to Keetley. They met at a Village Inn to trade tales of foul-mouthed, front-yard threats.

Like the time they said Keetley called a woman a "filthy whore" over his ice cream truck speakers.

And the time, a few days later, that Keetley accused that woman's teenage son of threatening his dog with a baseball bat.

Camp's attorney, Ron Young, contacted Tel Tech Systems with a subpoena for any calls made by Keetley through their "SpoofCard" product, which allows callers to disguise their identities. The company returned a recording of a man telling the teenage neighbor he was with the State Attorney's Office and wanted his mother's number.

One year later came a third allegation that Keetley posed as an official to do harm. It came from Sheriff David Gee, after a double murder.

• • •

In January, as Keetley underwent surgeries to repair his gunshot wounds, his father told the St. Petersburg Times he might never use his hands again.

He recovered to an extent, but became obsessed with finding his shooter, deputies said.

He was looking for a Hispanic man named "Creeper," he told people who spoke to deputies. He offered a $1,500 reward if someone would bring the man to him.

He told one person he had police badges and uniforms and wanted to kill the people who shot him, deputies said. He told another he met someone in a Publix parking lot to buy a gun.

He approached a suspected house after 2 a.m. Thanksgiving morning, as people played cards on a porch, deputies said.

He wore something that said "Sheriff" — a shirt or a bullet-proof vest — and asked for ID. He asked for "Creeper." The men said they didn't know him.

He ordered the seven men to the ground and opened fire.

The first man, 28, stood up to look for his brother before he died, his mother said. His brother, 22, also died.

Wounded were four men, ramging in age from 24 to 31. A seventh man survived unscathed, because one of the others fell over him like a shield.

Investigators later heard from the people they said Keetley spoke with about vigilante justice. Deputies watched him from afar and eventually stopped the van they said was at the scene.

Inside it, they say, they found a gun, which Keetley wasn't allowed to have after his neighbor troubles. They arrested him for violation of an injunction. He posted bail but wasn't free long.

Investigators executed a search warrant on his home and found a notebook on his kitchen counter. Inside, deputies said, he wrote the address where he thought he'd find "Creeper."

Outside, deputies said they found a target he used for shooting practice — a car, riddled with bullet holes. One of the .45 caliber rounds matched one found under a dead man, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement analyst concluded.

A deputy visited a hospital where a victim nursed a punctured lung Wednesday and presented a photo lineup.

A victim didn't hesitate when he saw the face he had seen as he laid on his stomach. He was "2,000 percent sure.''

"I will never forget that face."

• • •

The man Keetley sought actually calls himself "Creep." He lives a few houses from the murder scene and his real name is left hidden. HCSO doesn't know how or why Keetley became fixated on him. He, too, is innocent in the January robbery.

Friends with the brothers since he was 5 or 6, they didn't give him up to the gunman. A man later learned he was why Keetley came.

"He was a mess," a man said said of his friend.

So are the other mourners, who have paused atop the porch to light candles to saints. Some want the death penalty. Others, life in prison.

"The truth is," said a grieving mother, "I would just like to have him in front of me. I'd like to be alone with him."

Have you or a loved one been arrested for a violent crime? Then contact the Tampa Bay area criminal defense attorneys of Blake & Dorsten, P.A. for a free consultation!

For more information, or to speak directly with experienced Tampa Bay area criminal defense lawyers please contact BLAKE & DORSTEN, P.A. at 727.286.6141 or email the lawyers your questions at: info@blakedorstenlaw.com. We are located at 4707 140th Ave N, Suite 104 in Clearwater, across from the criminal courthouse in the airport business center, minutes from Tampa and St. Petersburg.