Authorities find missing money in pillowcase

By Times staff writers

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 28, 2000

SPRING HILL -- Authorities say they have found the missing loot from a Spring Hill bank robbery that a 16-year-old boy is accused of committing. The money was found Thursday in the home of the already-arrested Deion Gracia, 16, of 4595 Essex Lane in Spring Hill. The money, thought to be stolen from Huntington Bank on July 12, was found stuffed in a black pillow case and tucked into a plumbing access behind a bathroom toilet, said Hernando County sheriff's spokeswoman Deanna Dammer. Authorities are not revealing how they knew where to look for the money other than saying it was through a "confidential investigative lead." How much money was found has not been determined, a news release said.

Man, 35, charged with possession of Ecstasy

A Pinellas County man faces drug charges after officials say they caught him with 1,100 tablets of Ecstasy, a popular rave drug, in Hernando County. Noah Gene Phillips, 35, of 1005 Gulf Blvd. No. 402 in Indian Rocks Beach was arrested by officials from the Florida Highway Patrol and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Tuesday and charged with two counts of sale and delivery of more than 10 grams of Ecstasy and one count of possession with intent to distribute. He was caught with the drugs, which have a street value of $16,000, at Interstate 75 and State Road 50, a news release said.

Girl hospitalized after locking self in trunk

An 11-year-old girl had to be hospitalized Wednesday after she was locked in a car trunk while playing a joke on her mother. Ashley Chastain of 11243 Buck Hallow Road northeast of Brooksville told authorities that she thought it would be funny to get in her mother's trunk and scare her when she opened it by pretending she had passed out, a Hernando County sheriff's report said. The girl, thinking her mother was coming right out to the car, climbed into the trunk and closed it. But the mother did not come out right away, and the girl became scared, kicking and screaming for help. No one came, but the girl was able to kick down a back seat and get out of the car, the report said. The girl then ran into her house and passed out in front of her mother, who took her to Brooksville Regional Hospital, where she was treated and released.

Man accused of mail fraud ordered to federal court

A Brooksville man is accused of mail fraud after officials say he bilked mail-order companies out of thousands of dollars of merchandise in a postal scam. A federal indictment against Edward Joseph Driscoll, 58, of 900 N Broad St. No. 3119 in Brooksville was unsealed Thursday in Tampa. Court records state that Driscoll used 26 different post office boxes in Hernando, Pasco, Citrus and Sumter counties to get companies such as BMG Music Service and Book-of-the-Month to send him free or reduced-price merchandise for which he never paid. Driscoll was not arrested but will be ordered to appear in federal court to answer to the charges.

Boy accused of cutting teenager with knife

HILL 'N DALE -- An 11-year-old boy faces charges of aggravated battery and aggravated assault after he cut a teen on the bridge of his nose with a knife, a Hernando County sheriff's report said. The boy, who lives near Hill 'n Dale and whose name the Times is withholding because of his age, cut a 14-year-old boy after the two got into a fight over a metal pipe Tuesday at the younger boy's home. The boy first threw the pipe at the teen, missed, and then threw a hammer at him, the report said. After missing again, the younger boy went to the kitchen, grabbed a large kitchen knife and cut the other boy between the eyes, officials said. The cut bled heavily and will most likely leave a scar, the report said. The boy was arrested Tuesday and taken to the Hernando County Jail. He was then transferred to the juvenile detention center in Ocala.

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