Bigdoggie feels big bite from the law

TAMPA UNCUFFED E-mail: Christoper Goffard Tamara Lush

© St. Petersburg Times
published October 24, 2002

Detectives call www.bigdoggie.net a front for prostitution. Defense attorneys say the online escort service qualifies as protected speech under the First Amendment.

But authorities say the self-avowed champion of free speech is censoring the news.

Law enforcement officials who monitor the Web site say they've tried repeatedly to post a recent piece of news on the chat board -- namely, that Hillsborough Circuit Judge Debra Behnke has ruled that a criminal case against bigdoggie owners and alleged customers can proceed.

"Not only is it deleted, but the posting name is banned," said Christopher Brown, the prosecutor handling the case. "For a Web site that claims to be a First Amendment place, it's interesting to me they won't allow public-record stuff on there that's detrimental to their case."

"I think this may come back to bite them," Brown said. "And I may be the biter."

Frank de la Grana, defense attorney for bigdoggie owner Charles Kelly, said he knows the news of Behnke's ruling was posted on the site but wasn't sure if it had been removed. He said the First Amendment isn't the issue, since it's a private Web site.

"Whoever is the monitor of the Web site has the choice of keeping it on or taking it off," de la Grana said.

MISTRIAL MOTION WITH MUSTARD ON IT: The child molestation trial of Tampa landscaper Arnulfo Silva was interrupted for about 20 minutes Tuesday when word got out that -- oops -- one of the witnesses was seen gabbing freely with jurors during a break.

The witness was Stephanie Silva, the defendant's wife, who testified in his defense. When she admitted to Hillsborough Circuit Judge Jack Espinosa that she had been chatting with four jurors, there were muted groans among lawyers in the courtroom.

If Mrs. Silva had discussed the case against her husband, the lawyers knew, it could easily lead to a mistrial.

One by one, Espinosa called the jurors in to find out what the chitchat had been about. The reply: "hot dogs." One of the jurors worked for a meat company, which had apparently piqued Mrs. Silva's interest about what goes into a frankfurter.

Satisfied, Espinosa allowed the trial to proceed, despite the defense's call for a mistrial. The judge expressed dismay that some people were still unaware jurors were conversationally off-limits.

"Just another failure of seventh-grade civics," Espinosa said.

BOOK BAG LEADS TO BOOKING: Two kids decided to break into Causeway Discount Pawn on Oct. 17, said Hillsborough sheriff's deputies.

Problem was, one of the kids forgot to take his book bag out of the pawn shop when he left. Deputies discovered it when they were called to the crime scene.

The book bag contained the 15-year-old's ID. Deputies went to his home in Clair-Mel and arrested him.

"Not a real well-planned burglary," said Sheriff's Lt. Rod Reder. "The moral there is not taking your book bag and ID to do a crime like this."

YOU WANT WHAT?: As Tampa police gingerly investigated the case of a truck that rammed into a Westshore Boulevard real estate office, killing a woman inside the building last Friday, some young water skiers had something else on their minds.

Apparently, one of the water skiers had left his Chevy Blazer in the parking lot of the real estate office before the fatal crash.

Despite swaths of crime scene tape around the parking lot, the would-be skiers -- shoeless and wearing T-shirts that said things such as "Cracker Boy" -- busted through the yellow tape to rummage through the Blazer.

TPD Maj. Scott Cunningham walked over to the young men, looking puzzled. The shoeless guys tried to explain.

Cunningham remained calm.

"A ski rope?"

Cunningham raised his eyebrows. "It's that important?"

One guy who appeared to be wearing underwear on his head nodded.

Days later, Cunningham acknowledged that yes, people often waltz into crime scenes.

"They just think that it's okay, the tape doesn't apply to me," he said. "You can't make the tape any brighter."

-- Christopher Goffard can be reached at 226-3337 or goffard@sptimes.com. Tamara Lush can be reached at 226-3373 or lush@sptimes.com.

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