SEBRING — Sheriff Susan Benton accepted a letter of resignation Monday from a deputy who was charged in April by the U.S. Coast Guard with intoxicated operation of a vessel, while boating in a Pine Island canal. Former deputy Craig Skipper reportedly took an excursion in his boat on April 18, when he was stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard after a complaint was filed. Coast guard officials reported Skipper appeared intoxicated but he refused twice to take a sobriety test, an investigation report by Sheriff's Internal Affairs Officer Lt. Gus Garcia stated. The agency received a complaint that the boat was "operating on plane" (speeding) in a no wake zone and that the boat operator was "exposing himself," Garcia's report stated. ...more

June 24, 2008

TAMPA - A Montana man was injured in a watercraft crash near Clearwater Beach this afternoon. ...more

February 15, 2008

A federal judge jailed a Lutz man Wednesday without setting bail after a prosecutor expressed concern that he presents a danger to the community. ...more

January 31, 2008

TAMPA A federal judge jailed a Lutz man today without setting bail after a prosecutor expressed concern that Mark Koert presents a danger to the community. ...more

January 30, 2008

TAMPA - A criminal complaint has been filed in federal court against a Lutz man accused of ramming a stolen boat into a Coast Guard vessel and trying to hit a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office vessel Saturday as Gasparilla festivities were winding down. ...more

January 30, 2008

TAMPA - Images of a stolen boat and the arrest of Lutz man who led the U.S Coast Guard and Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office on a chase after Gasparilla were released today. ...more

January 28, 2008

A Lutz man in a stolen boat rammed a Coast Guard vessel and tried to hit a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office vessel Saturday night as Gasparilla festivities were winding down, Hillsborough County deputies say. ...more

January 27, 2008

A Lutz man in a stolen boat rammed a U.S. Coast Guard vessel and tried to hit a Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office vessel Saturday night as Gasparilla festivities were winding down, Hillsborough County deputies say. ...more

January 27, 2008