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Officer On Leave After Allegation

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By MARK DOUGLAS

mdouglas@wfla.com

Published: November 13, 2008

A Tarpon Springs police officer has been placed on paid administrative leave while authorities investigate whether he inappropriately touched a high school girl.

Cpl. Michael Kazouris, 35, was placed on administrative leave Wednesday morning. He has spent more than 11 years working as a school resource officer in Pinellas County schools. A criminal investigation is ongoing.

Kazouris had worked at Tarpon Springs High School on temporary duty since January, officials said. Police would only say the allegations involve accusations of inappropriate contact with a 17-year-old girl who attends the school.

Another Tarpon Springs officer, John Spatz, 33, was also placed on administrative leave with pay Wednesday because of an unrelated incident, the department said. An internal investigation is ongoing. The department wouldn't release any details but said the incident involving Spatz doesn't involve a criminal act.

ELSEWHERE

Girl, 15, Fatally Shot At School

FORT LAUDERDALE - A 15-year-old girl was fatally shot at a Fort Lauderdale high school Wednesday during an argument with another female student who police were questioning as a suspect.

The body of sophomore Amanda Collette was found on a hallway floor at Dillard High School around 11 a.m. She was shot in the torso during the argument with the other girl while students were changing classes, police said.

"This is a situation where we are more than heartbroken," said Jim Notter, the superintendent of schools for Broward County.

The 15-year-old suspect left campus and walked across the street to a restaurant called Captain Crab's Take-Away, where she called authorities and alerted them that "she had shot her friend," said Sgt. Frank Sousa, a spokesman for the Fort Lauderdale Police.

HILLSBOROUGH

Woman Charged With Prostitution

TAMPA - A Tampa woman with three prior convictions for prostitution was arrested early Wednesday on more charges, including criminal transmission of HIV.

Joana Griffin, 46, was arrested at 1:46 a.m. near 26th and Nebraska avenues after police say she offered to perform a sex act on an undercover officer for $40.

She later told police she is HIV-positive, according to arrest reports. She told the officer she learned she had HIV two years ago.

During the arrest, officers found a glass tube pipe and a metal push rod in her jacket pocket. Residue from the pipe tested positive for cocaine.

Griffin, whose first name also is spelled Joann on the Hillsborough County Jail Web site, has been charged with criminal transmission of HIV, solicitation to commit prostitution, possession of crack cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia.

She remained in Orient Road Jail on Wednesday. Her bail was set at $6,500.

Deputies ID Body Found At Complex

TAMPA - A person walking though a Tampa apartment complex Wednesday morning found a homicide victim's body, Hillsborough County deputies say.

When Darrell A. Vance, 29, was found about 12:45 a.m. in a grassy area between buildings at the Royal Park apartments, at Sligh Avenue and 56th Street, Vance only recently had been slain, sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.

Vance, of 4411 Snapper St., had upper-body trauma, the sheriff's office said in a statement. Deputies aren't saying what caused the upper-body trauma.

A staff and wire report

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