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Barroom Brawlers Were Close Friends, Widow Says

From left: Charles Bonfiglio, Tiffanie Hemness, Alexia Pierce, Cody Scarpa and Brock Winkler.

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By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 14, 2008

LAKELAND - The 19th Tee is a neighborhood roadhouse bar where patrons and bartenders mingle easily and everyone knows everyone else. Owner Richard Oaks bought the place two years ago, and for him and his wife of six years, Stephanie, it was a labor of love.

  Richard Oaks

Alan Pierce was a regular there. But he was more than just a paying customer to the Oakses. He was a neighbor who socialized with the bar owners. Their children played together. The families barbecued together. Pierce's older stepdaughter even worked at the bar on occasion.

A picture of Pierce, dressed in scrubs at a recent Halloween party at the bar, is among those in a framed collage in a dark corner, a few inches away from a photo of Richard Oaks.

On Saturday, both men were at the 19th Tee watching the Green Bay Packers beat the Seattle Seahawks in a National Football League playoff game. Oaks, who is from Wisconsin, is a big Packers fan. The outside of the bar is even painted in Packers colors, green with yellow lettering.

"He was wearing his Packer jersey," Stephanie Oaks said this morning.

During the course of the game, Pierce thought Oaks had a bit too much to drink and urged his pal to go home. The suggestion escalated and, Stephanie Oaks said, Pierce "started to manhandle" her husband, "and, I guess, he fought back."

Richard Oaks ended up smashing a beer bottle over Pierce's head. The injured man was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center, where he was treated.

For most barroom scuffles, that's where it would end, but this was just the beginning. The scuffle inside the bar sparked a chain of events that ended with death and jail.

Polk County sheriff's deputies said this is what happened after the barroom altercation:

Pierce received 13 stitches at Lakeland Regional. While in the hospital, he called his 17-year-old daughter, Alexia, who was home hanging out with three friends, identified as Tiffanie Hemness, 19, of 1843 Sherwood Lakes Blvd.; Charles Bonfiglio, 21; and Cody Scarpa. The four of them drove to the hospital. While they were there, they ran into another friend, Brock Winkler, 17, who was visiting someone else.

The five discussed the barroom incident and became enraged, vowing vengeance.

Oaks, meanwhile, was taken home by friends after the fight. Deputies said the suspects went to his home sometime after midnight Sunday, and while the women remained in the car, the three men entered the home and beat Oaks with their fists and an umbrella, fatally injuring him.

Stephanie Oaks closed up the bar and went home to find her husband badly beaten and lying on the floor.

Bonfiglio, Scarpa and Winkler all were charged with murder and burglary. Hemness and Alexia Pierce, who was not the stepdaughter who worked at the bar, were charged with being accessories to burglary.

Bonfiglio and Hemness were booked into the Polk County Jail. The others were taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center, deputies said. Alan Pierce was not charged.

This morning, Stephanie Oaks wept at the bar, talking about her husband. She said her two daughters, both teenagers, "are afraid to go home."

What's troubling, she said, is that Pierce and her husband were such close friends. "They were even sitting together that night," she said.

She pointed to a table in the corner, giving it a quick glance before looking away.

Darren and Tina Depledge sat with Oaks this morning, offering what support they could.

Tina Depledge said she has known Stephanie Oaks for 25 years and Richard Oaks for about eight.

"He was a very decent person," Depledge said, sobbing. "He would give you the shirt off his back. He certainly didn't deserve this."

"He was a wonderful guy," Darren Depledge said. "He had a good heart."

Stephanie Oaks said she will continue to run the bar and raise her daughters and live in her house on Lakewood Road.

"I'm staying in my home," she said. "It's my home."

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