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Tony Marrero - Hillsborough Law Enforcement Reporter
Tony Marrero

Hillsborough Law Enforcement Reporter

A Baltimore native, I've lived in the Tampa Bay area since 1998 and have been a reporter here for nearly that long. I joined the Times in 2009 and have covered beats ranging from from education to criminal courts. I now cover breaking news and general assignment stories in the Tampa bureau, which means I never know exactly what will come my way on any given day. I like that variety and enjoy digging to tell readers more about the big stories of the day.

  1. Man shot during planned pot deal in Temple Terrace now faces murder charge, records show
    Yesterday• Crime
    Francisco Galvan faces a third-degree murder charge after he and two people he drove to a planned marijuana deal at the Park at Valenza Apartments in Temple Terrace on Jan. 7 were shot, one of them fatally, records show.
  2. Once on promising path, Hillsborough High grad charged with murder in West Tampa shooting
    Jan. 20• Tampa
    Vakarvery Scott is pictured on athletics website of Trinity International University, where he played football in 2019 after graduating from Hillsborough High School. Scott, 20, was arrested last month on charges of second degree murder and aggravated assault in the Dec. 1 shooting of Savannah Mathis and her sister in West Tampa.
  3. Robbery suspect shot after pursuit ends in front of Publix headquarters, authorities say
    Jan. 19• Latest News
    Francisco Cabrera, 27, pictured in a Hillsborough County booking photo from September, was shot by law enforcement and arrested on Wednesday after shooting at officers during a pursuit from Plant City to Lakeland, authorities said.
  5. ‘I am scared for my life’: Victim in Hillsborough murder case feared ex-boyfriend, records show
    Jan. 14• Crime
    Tamika Lorde, 30, was stabbed to death by her ex-boyfriend Trent Diggs in her Thonotosassa apartment last month, Hillsborough authorities say. A grand jury has indicted Diggs on multiple charges, including first-degree murder.
  6. Driver gets 60 days in jail for Tampa hit-and-run crash that killed teen girl
    Jan. 5• Crime
    A man walks by a memorial for Asucena "Susie" Gomez-Hernandez along North 15th Street in Tampa in 2020. The 14-year-old Tampa girl was killed in a hit-and-run crash in January of that year. The driver, Nakeeba Ryan, recently signed a plea agreement that will have her serve 60 days in the county jail. Hillsborough County made safety improvements to that portion of 15th Street after the crash and more improvements are planned for this year, officials said.
  7. Hillsborough deputy, 49, found dead from suicide at Ruskin home, sheriff says
    Dec. 30, 2021• Breaking News
    “He was a guardian at heart,” said John-Michael Elms, who knew Christopher Former for nearly a decade.
  8. Man found fatally shot at Tampa’s Takomah Trail Park
    Dec. 29, 2021• Tampa
    Officers responding to a shooting call at Tampa's Takomah Trail Park on Tuesday found a man with gunshot wounds, police said. He died at the scene.
  9. Man fatally shot in Tampa’s Grant Park neighborhood
    Dec. 28, 2021• Crime
    An 18-year-old man was found fatally shot Tuesday in Tampa's Grant Park neighborhood, police said.
  10. Tampa police chief to hold community forums on gun violence
    Dec. 23, 2021• Crime
    Ruben "Butch" Delgado, Tampa's interim police chief, at podium, will host the first in a series of community forums on gun violence Tuesday.
  11. Body recovered from collapsed Clearwater stairwell. Records show warnings filed.
    Dec. 23, 2021• Breaking News
    Before crews could enter a Clearwater parking garage this week a structural engineer had to check for safety after a stairwell collapsed. The body of a construction was recovered Wednesday morning.
  12. Police release name of worker killed in Clearwater parking garage collapse
    Dec. 22, 2021• Pinellas
    Clearwater police Chief Dan Slaughter, left, talks with other officials on Wednesday in front of the parking garage where a worker was killed two days earlier when a stairwell partially collapsed. At a news conference, Slaughter identified the worker as 23-year-old Mitchel Klock, owner of M Klock Welding Services.
  13. Is Florida’s disinterest helping scuttle FBI’s police use-of-force project?
    Dec. 18, 2021• Florida
    Bullet holes show where Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies opened fire on a pickup truck in Riverview last December, killing 27-year-old Dylan Ray Scott. Deputies said Scott appeared to be reaching for a gun. The Sheriff’s Office said it has been reporting use-of-force incidents like these but the FBI says it's not.
  14. Pinellas paints Park Boulevard Bridge joints blamed in cyclist’s fatal crash
    Dec. 17, 2021• Pinellas
    A structural joint on the westbound shoulder of the Park Boulevard Bridge in Pinellas County is one of four on the bridge that have been painted bright orange to make them more visible to cyclists. The move comes after friends of cyclist Sherry Nowotarski blamed one of the joints for the cyclist's fatal crash in October.
  15. Retired Tampa cop shot by Hillsborough deputy was hard of hearing, neighbor says
    Dec. 8, 2021• Hillsborough
    Tuesday morning's shooting happened at a home on Longcrest Drive in Riverview. An 88-year-old man was killed after he charged at a Hillsborough deputy, who was not injured in the incident.
  16. Tampa surgeon in Tesla struck bicycling banker at about 80 mph, records say
    Nov. 26, 2021• Crime
    Adam Hasebroock, of Tampa, seen here in 2018 after winning first overall in the TRI Pasco triathlon, was killed Nov. 4 when he was struck by a car while riding his bike on Lizards Tail Road in New Tampa. Police arrested the driver, Dr. Philip Henkin, on a charge of vehicular homicide.
  17. St. Petersburg police officer arrested on DUI charge in Hillsborough
    Nov. 23, 2021• Crime
    SPPD Officer Cody Csendom, 26, was arrested on a DUI charge early Monday after striking several utility poles in his personal truck, deputies said.
  18. Florida troopers searching for hit-and-run driver who killed man in Dover
    Nov. 23, 2021• News
    The Florida Highway Patrol is searching for the driver of a Mercury Grand Marquis who fled the scene after striking and killing a 56-year-old man as he worked on a disabled vehicle on U.S. 92 in Dover on Monday.
  19. Appeals court dismisses ACLU class action challenge to bail in Manatee, Sarasota
    Nov. 18, 2021• Florida
    A Florida appeals court has dismissed a class action petition filed by the ACLU of Florida on behalf of 11 people being held in the Manatee County jail and the Sarasota County jail, seen above in a Google image from 2019. The civil rights group says the petitioners are being held on unaffordable bail amounts in violation of their constitutional right to due process.
  20. ACLU of Florida files class action lawsuit challenging unaffordable bail
    Nov. 15, 2021• Florida
    The ACLU of Florida on Monday filed a class-action lawsuit against the state of Florida and sheriffs in Manatee and Sarasota counties on behalf of people being held in county jails in lieu of bail amounts they can't afford. That's a violation of their due process rights, the lawsuit says.
  21. Off-duty Hillsborough detention deputy under investigation in fatal Tampa crash
    Nov. 5, 2021• Hillsborough
    Daniel L. Hernandez's 2020 Ford Mustang is seen after a collision Aug. 20 on North Dale Mabry Highway. Hernandez, an off-duty detention deputy for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, crashed into a car carrying Peter and Krista Richter as the couple was crossing Dale Mabry. Krista Richter died nine days later.
  22. A beloved cyclist crashed on a Pinellas drawbridge. Her friends say it should be made safer.
    Nov. 5, 2021• Pinellas
    Sherry Nowotarski, shown here at Wall Springs Park in Palm Harbor last year, was riding her bike across the Park Boulevard Bridge in Pinellas County last month when she fell and landed in the right lane. She was struck and killed by a passing car.
  23. Tampa interim police Chief Ruben Delgado wants to keep the job. Here’s his backstory.
    Oct. 26, 2021• Tampa
    Then-Tampa police Captain Ruben "Butch" Delgado, center, and then-police Chief Jane Castor, right, attend an event at the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg in 2014. Delgado is now serving as interim police chief and is a presumed internal candidate as Castor, now Tampa's mayor, searches for someone to fill the post left vacant by Brian Dugan, who retired last month. Also pictured is then Major Mike Baumaister, who is no longer with the department.
  24. St. Petersburg police bodycam video of officer shooting teen not being released, officials say
    Oct. 25, 2021• Breaking News
    Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri briefs the media last week after a St. Petersburg police officer shot 17-year-old Christopher Deon Tonsel. Gualtieri said it happened after Officer Leighton Williams saw a gun in Tonsel's waistband and ordered him to drop it, but Tonsel instead pulled out the gun and pointed it at Williams.