TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Fight, Arrests, Closure - Dunedin Motel Has Busy Morning

ADVERTISEMENT

By SHERRI ACKERMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 12, 2008

Related Links

• Motel Shut Down

  Mark Miller

  Monteze Lemon

  Christopher Starling

  Karla Brown

  Ervin Smith

DUNEDIN - A motel fight early Saturday led to the arrests of five people and resulted in the fire marshal's office shutting down the business.

Pinellas County sheriff's deputies discovered one of those arrested, 50-year-old Mark A. Miller, who lived at the Dunedin Cove Motel at 1220 Main St., had six outstanding warrants, including five for failing to appear to court on charges of writing worthless checks.

The arrests began after a fight broke out in the motel parking lot about 7:10 a.m., according to reports.

Deputies arrested Monteze S. Lemon, 26, who lived at the motel; Christopher J. Starling, 25, of 3814 2nd Ave. S. in St. Petersburg; and Karla J. Brown, 43, of 11919 Bethwood Ave. in New Port Richey.

While deputies were arresting those three, they received another complaint that some of the other motel residents were behind on their motel bills. Dunedin Cove management asked that the residents be removed from the property.

Deputies discovered two of those residents, including Miller, had outstanding warrants. The second one was Ervin D. Smith, 26, who was arrested for failure to appear on charges of possessing crack cocaine.

A sixth person was issued a notice to appear for possession of marijuana.

Wait, it's not over.

According to the sheriff's office, someone from the fire marshal's office also arrived at the motel after receiving reports of numerous safety violations. Officials found the property was uninhabitable and evacuated the premises.

Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144 or sackerman@tampatrib.com

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT