Archive for December, 2009

Tampa Adult Entertainment: It’s a second chance child care program

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

Since 1985, the Department of Children and Families has cleared 5,803 people to work with kids despite serious records. Their ranks include former cocaine users, prostitutes, spouse abusers, burglars and, in rare instances, kidnappers and killers.
The practice, currently under review at the state’s highest levels, gives second chances to felons who profess to have turned their lives around.
“This is the Department of Children and Families,” explained agency Secretary George Sheldon, “and I think we need to be consistent with the concept that people can be rehabilitated.”

To be disqualified, applicants had to have been guilty of serious crimes — most commonly, felony drug offenses, felony theft or domestic violence, or of misdemeanors that speak to character, such as prostitution.

Spring Page, 50, had been in and out of jail, including prison time for burglary and grand theft. At age 35, records show, she pleaded no contest to prostitution.

See the full article from “Tampabay.com”

Tampa Adult Entertainment: County not liable in inmate’s case

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

Ramsey, now 50, was transferred to the Orient Road Jail from Orange County on Nov. 1, 2004, on a felony prostitution warrant. She testified that she told the intake nurse she had a history of cervical problems and vaginal bleeding.

See the full article from “Tampa Tribune”

Tampa Adult Entertainment: Sex offender maps–what they don’t tell us

Friday, December 11th, 2009

When I searched downtown St. Petersburg, little blips covered the map like one of those terrifying sex ed pictures of an STD rash. When you click on the bubbles, pictures and addresses pop up. I don’t know which is more disturbing, mug shots of the standard creepos–sloppy men frowning–or the photos of clean-cut men smiling. But, surprisingly, the number of sex offenders or their pictures wasn’t what disturbed me most about the site. For me, the most troubling thing was that this site doesn’t provide the specifics of what these offenders were charged with.  All are simply listed under the blanket terms, Sexual Predator or Sexual Offender.
Granted, that to land on these lists, you have to do more than simply engage in a crime related to sex. For instance, most prostitutes and Johns aren’t listed on this site. (If you’re interested, The Palm Beach Post gives a detailed and simple breakdown of the crimes that classify offenders and predators).  Still, there’s a world of difference between a rapis …

See the full article from “Creative Loafing Tampa (blog)”

Tampa Adult Entertainment: Jury sides with sheriff’s office over inmate’s medical claim

Friday, December 11th, 2009

Ramsey was taken by ambulance to Tampa General Hospital on Dec. 1 after clinic officials called 911. She had blood transfusions and surgery two days later.
Deposition from the surgeons read during the trial said their treatment wouldn’t have changed if Ramsey had been brought in any earlier. They said they found a tumor slightly larger than a golf ball.
Thea Clark, the sheriff’s attorney, argued that the agency wasn’t responsible for the medical decisions of Prison Health Services.
Trentalange argued deputies aggravated and extended Ramsey’s suffering by disciplining her Nov. 28 rather than sending her to the infirmary.
Ramsey, 50, was transferred to the Orient Road Jail from Orange County on Nov. 1, 2004, on a felony prostitution warrant. She testified she told the intake nurse that she had a history of cervical problems and vaginal bleeding. Ramsey said she had planned to seek private medical help but never did because of her arrest.

See the full article from “Tampa Tribune”

Tampa Adult Entertainment: Woman who peed blood says jailers ignored pleas

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Ramsey, 50, was transferred to the Orient Road Jail from Orange County on Nov. 1, 2004, on a felony prostitution warrant. She testified she told the intake nurse that she had a history of cervical problems and vaginal bleeding. Ramsey said she had planned to seek private medical help but never did because of her arrest.

See the full article from “Tampa Tribune”

Tampa Adult Entertainment: Former inmate testifies Hillsborough jail ignored medical crisis

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Ramsey had been arrested on felony prostitution charges and landed in the Hillsborough County Jail on Nov. 1, 2004.
On Nov. 28, at the jail, she noticed atypically heavy vaginal bleeding and clotting. “It was the worst amount of blood I had ever seen,” Ramsey testified Tuesday.
The incident caused a disruption at the jail, she said. But instead of getting her care, the staff put Ramsey into isolation for causing a disruption, said her attorney, Mike Trentalange.
The next afternoon, a jail nurse examined her and sent her to Tampa General Hospital, she said.
There, Ramsey was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Doctors removed a 2-inch mass and performed a hysterectomy, she said.

Ramsey has been arrested about 30 times on charges that include prostitution, cocaine possession, forgery and fraud, Florida Department of Law Enforcement records show.

See the full article from “Tampabay.com”

Tampa Adult Entertainment: Police arrest 10 in Char-Pal Lounge drug sting

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

The family that owns Char-Pal has faced this sort of scrutiny before. In 1970, the bar became the centerpiece of a federal extortion case against New York mobsters Hill, Jimmy Burke and Cosmos “Casey” Rosado.
Raul and Luis Charbonier called upon the enforcers to collect a gambling debt from a Temple Terrace bar owner.
Instead of throwing Gaspar Ciaccio in the lion cage at the zoo as the film shows, Hill, Burke, Rosado and the Charboniers were accused of kidnapping him, pistol-whipping him, taking him back to Char-Pal’s back room and beating him until he agreed to pay $8,000 in bets on baseball.
One of the men threatened to drown Ciaccio in a pond at Busch Gardens, stuff his children into a refrigerator and force his wife into prostitution if he didn’t pay.

See the full article from “Tampabay.com”

Tampa Adult Entertainment: Ybor City’s secrets shared

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Because there are stories of prostitution, murder and crime, organizers do not recommend the tour for children.

See the full article from “Tampa Tribune”

Tampa Adult Entertainment: Turning fantasy into reality: ‘Wonderland’ musical opens to great fanfare in Tampa

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Dacal’s potential as a dancer was important, since Wonderland choreographer Marguerite Derricks is one of the show’s leading assets. Her credits range from flashy Gap ads to the Austin Powers movies to the recent remake of Fame.
“I was inspired by Cyd Charisse for Janet’s character,” Derricks says. “I had all these big ideas, but I didn’t know what she could do. Then she blew us all away with her dancing.”
Dacal went to Coral Park Senior High School in Miami and has a communications degree from Florida International University. Before heading to New York to work in the theater, she was a backup singer for Gloria Estefan, Jon Secada and Luis Enrique in Miami.
Wildhorn likes to shape his shows to the talent. His ex-wife, Linda Eder, played the prostitute Lucy in Jekyll & Hyde, and until they divorced about five years ago, he often called her his muse. He describes Dacal’s singing style as “something like Nora Jones meets Donny Hathaway.”

See the full article from “Tampabay.com”

Tampa Adult Entertainment: Trinity Rotary steps up to table

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

The majority of chronic runaways become victims first, Bennett pointed out, but when left on the street with no legitimate way to acquire food and shelter, they sometimes become part of street survival crimes, such as drug dealing and prostitution.

See the full article from “Tampa Tribune”