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EX-BUCS WORKER GETS 10 YEARS IN ONLINE SEX STING

 
Published June 21, 2012

TAMPA

A former employee of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday for using a cellphone and computer to arrange sex with someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl. Brian Weiss, 39, of Tampa, a luxury suite salesman for the Bucs before he was fired last year after his arrest, also was sentenced to 10 years supervised release after he finishes serving the prison term. He must also register as a sexual offender. Weiss was arrested in a June 2011 sting in Clermont by a law enforcement officer posing online as the 14-year-old, prosecutors said. Weiss, whose attorney said has no previous criminal record, claimed he never intended to have sex with the girl, but prosecutors noted that he was carrying condoms at the time of his arrest. A jury convicted him in March. The sting, which netted 31 other arrests, was called Operation Summer Nights by the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

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Redington Shores

Boy, 2, falls from second-story unit

Authorities were investigating how a toddler fell from the balcony of a second-story apartment Wednesday morning. The incident happened about 11 a.m. at 18205 Gulf Blvd., said Alison Shanabrook, spokeswoman for Seminole Fire Rescue, one of the agencies that responded. The 2-year-old boy was taken to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg with minor injuries, said Indian Shores police Sgt. Jeff Rawson, and his fall appears to be accidental.

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MALONE, N.Y.

Ex-area teacher guilty in teen rape

A former teacher at Bay Point Middle School in St. Petersburg, who was acquitted of child molestation charges in 1996, was found guilty Wednesday in a New York court of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2009. A jury in Franklin County, N.Y., found Michael Scaringe, 63, guilty of rape, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child, the Plattsburgh Press-Republican reports. Scaringe, who at the time was the director of the Saranac Lake Youth Center, took the girl to his home in 2009 and had sex with her. Sentencing was set for Aug. 1. Scaringe was acquitted in 1996 of molesting a 14-year-old student at Bay Point, where he worked as a substitute band teacher. His trial in that case included testimony from a former student at the private Canterbury School of Florida, who claimed that Scaringe was known for engaging in sexual behavior with students when he worked there in 1993.

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ST. PETERSBURG

Shooting victim refuses treatment

A man suffered a superficial wound to his leg during a shooting reported Tuesday night near 28th Street and 18th Avenue S, police said. The man refused medical treatment and would not cooperate with officers, police said. Numerous people at the scene reported hearing shots fired about 9:15 p.m. Officers secured the parking lot of an abandoned building with crime scene tape near 2701 18th Ave. S. A second area, near a wooded field on the south side of 18th Avenue, was also taped off for about an hour as police investigated. Police did not release any other details about the incident.