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Man pleads guilty in Pasco manslaughter

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By TODD LESKANIC | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 29, 2009

DADE CITY - One of east Pasco's oldest pending cases was finally resolved today when Michael Louis Berencsi pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Berencsi, 56, of Hudson, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the slaying of Roger Ware, an Ohio truck driver who was found beaten in the parking lot of the Dixie Boy Truck Stop on Nov. 4, 2002.

Ware, 59, was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, where he died the following day.

It took Pasco County Sheriff's Office detectives more than a year to track down Berensci. They found him in Plymouth County, Mass., living with his girlfriend's daughter. Officers there arrested him on a second-degree murder charge Nov. 24, 2003.

Berencsi was returned to Pasco County and later posted a $200,000 bail. He remained free until entering the guilty plea Thursday. Berencsi was scheduled to go to trial on the second-degree murder charge Monday.

Authorities said the brawl arose from a domestic disagreement. Ware's ex-wife, Rosemary, told authorities that Berencsi told her he "lost his cool" and beat Roger Ware, leaving him in a pool of his own blood, according to court document.

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