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Deal Gets Man 4 Years In Fireworks Tent Blast

By TODD LESKANIC

tleskanic@tampatrib.com

Published: December 6, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - A man authorities blamed for blowing up a fireworks tent last year pleaded no contest to first-degree arson Friday.

Tony Glenn Rogers lit a firework inside the Galaxy Fireworks tent at U.S. 19 and Hammock Road, causing a spectacular explosion that destroyed the tent and injured two people.

Rogers, 41, of Tampa, was sentenced to four years in prison as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. Rogers will receive credit for the 18 months he spent in the Pasco County Jail awaiting trial, meaning he will probably spend less than three years in prison.

Rogers was ordered to pay about $34,000 in restitution to Galaxy and its insurers.

A first-degree arson conviction can carry a prison term of up to 30 years.

Rogers and two friends went to the tent just before 11 p.m. on July 4, 2007. Rogers and one of the men, Allen Hinds, were looking at fireworks in the back of the tent when the initial blast went off. Witnesses said Rogers and Hinds were walking toward the exit just before the explosion.

The men ran away but Rogers returned to talk to investigators, according to court documents. Hinds was not charged.

Andrea Berkman and her son, Griffin, then 5, were shopping inside the tent at the time. The boy suffered a minor wound to his face, a flash burn to his right ear and singed hair. Berkman, then 41, lost a toenail and was cut and bruised.

The Berkmans did not attend Rogers' plea hearing and could not be reached for comment. They sued Rogers and Galaxy Fireworks for negligence this year; the case is pending in Pasco Circuit Court.

The Berkmans' attorney, Tom Carey, said the end of the criminal case will aid his efforts in that Rogers no longer has a Fifth Amendment right to silence.

"Now I can subpoena him and force him to answer my questions under oath," Carey said.

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (727) 815-1084.

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