Tony MarreroHillsborough 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.
/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/tbt/30841d7b-bd23-4841-9d1d-8170ea76fc4a.png "Tony Marrero - Hillsborough Law Enforcement Reporter")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/3CSGRMSNMVDT5IPB3NK4XMD5HQ.jpg "Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Cpl. Matt Aitken, center, holds his 9-year-old daughter's hand as he walks out of Bayfront Health St. Petersburg on Friday, five days after he was shot by an auto burglary suspect. Walking with Aitken, at right, is Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.")
:format(webP)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/3MHWQBOSL5CDFBFMMTHIIPZTC4.jpg "Aurelian Frumosu, 41, of Clearwater is pictured in a booking photo taken Friday after his arrest on second-degree murder and armed burglary charges. Clearwater police say Frumosu entered a home on Pineview Avenue on Thursday and fatally stabbed 61-year-old Scott Christy during a struggle.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/AWVMS66A5JHHJNVWO6TUOEYO64.jpg "A screenshot from a video released by the Utah Department of Public Safety shows a helicopter crew hoisting hiker Ed Smith to safety from the Buckskin Gulch canyon in southern Utah on Monday. Smith is a physician associate and chief clinical officer for the Orthopaedic Medical Group of Tampa Bay. Two hikers with him who also work at the practice, Dr. Jeffrey Watson and William \"Bill\" Romaniello, were killed when floodwaters tore through the canyon, authorities said.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/23UNBDMOC5BW5EBVMYSJ3MSVHY.png "A 55-year-old road construction worker died after the driver of an SUV struck him Thursday on 118th Avenue North in Pinellas Park, troopers said.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/STRPVD6JFRBS5OKSRYRYAXCSWY.jpg "This screenshot from surveillance video released by the Clearwater Police Department shows Johnathan Stanley, 20, at Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach on Tuesday — the day that police say Stanley fatally shot 22-year-old Rodney Sweeney in the nearby Surf Style shop at 315 S Gulfview Blvd. Stanley was arrested on Wednesday on a charge of second-degree murder.")
:format(webP)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/YD5KPPYH25ABNCDQL3GRBYRYXE.jpg "Rickey Rogers, 45, is pictured in a booking photo after his arrest on a DUI charge in Pinellas County on Wednesday. Rogers was fired from his job as a Pinellas County Sheriff's Office deputy after his arrest.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/O2LMDRTWNVFWHMMWZ5I4B3WCUY.jpg "Christopher Newman, left, and his brother Reid Newman are pictured in a public post on the Facebook page of their mother, Cheryl Strang, on Jan. 18 announcing their funeral service information. The brothers fatally shot each other on Jan. 6 after an argument escalated while they were hanging out at a Hernando County home owned by Christopher Newman, a St. Petersburg plastic surgeon, a Hernando County Sheriff's Office investigation found.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/6DH3T72KGBF3NEVGARP7RV7BZU.jpg "The Falkenburg Road Jail in Tampa is seen in a Google image from 2018. Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office detention Deputy Marlon Blankenship resigned amid an ongoing investigation into allegations he sold THC oil vape pens and edibles to inmates in the county jail.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/434OPASB4VC4FAZGG7EMULADXM.jpg "Omar Bravo, left and Fidencio Robles are seen in booking photos released by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office on Monday. Bravo and Robles are high-ranking members of the Latin Kings gang and were among 21 people arrested last week as part of a months-long drug operation by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to the Sheriff's Office.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/YAP7AT5O5BBD7GSJEBPDRR6L2I.JPG "John Bennett, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor's chief of staff, speaks during a Tampa City Council meeting in March 2022. Castor says a rumor circulating that she plans to make Bennett the city's next police chief is \"complete nonsense.\"")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/2O43RSW6LRFQDCJAX6Q54ADAEM.png "A 62-year-olld woman was found dead inside a fire-damaged home in Dunedin on Monday, deputies said.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/QVIMCSHRVJC6FKAWZC6KVCHEYI.JPG "Julie Schenecker testifies in a Tampa courtroom in October during a hearing on her request for a new trial. Schenecker was convicted in 2014 of murdering her two teenage children.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/5NLN4GY6NBA5FAYSZD6CR32YUM.jpg "Moises Escoto, left, and Joel Lutz were arrested this month on multiple charges including human trafficking after investigators found they has sex with minors they met online, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/3NU64WXHNBE2JMN67V4GTHLPGI.jpg "A crane truck is seen on Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard near Old Coachman Road in Clearwater on Friday after the driver ran a red light and struck 19-year-old Isaiah Edward Baker Castellano as he tried to cross the westbound lanes of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard on a skateboard, according to Clearwater police.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/CXQZNQ6CERDLDI43CTVLC64TL4.png "A Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office deputy was arrested on a DUI charge after a traffic stop in Tampa late Thursday, according to the Sheriff's Office.")
:format(webP)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/H54TGY6CIVBC5NUVGRHKADRYAI.jpg "Shakerra Long, 30, was arrested Thursday on a second-degree murder charge in connection to the death of Brian Graham, 43, who was found dead in a St. Petersburg home on Tuesday. Police say Long and Graham were in a domestic relationship and Long fatally stabbed Graham on Sunday.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/OBJ2XGDDP5FABP3EAGJH6QDBXQ.JPG "Billy Bennett Adams III, left, sits beside Assistant Public Defender Donna Perry during his murder trial on Jan. 24 in Tampa.")
:format(webP)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/ZXZAU5XBZBG5HIB22YOZESW2LA.jpg "Isabella Angelina Scavelli, a 17-year-old junior at Hernando High School in Brooksville, was killed in a shooting in South Brooksville on Tuesday, school district officials said.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/3GXPG376TBETPP33NTLBO7VY74.jpg "The Village Lakes Shopping Center in Land O'Lakes is pictured in a Google image from September 2022. Two people were wounded by gunfire at the center on Monday after four adults got into an argument there, Pasco deputies said.")