Buster

The theft of a man’s prosthetic leg has resulted in strong-arm robbery charges, cops say.

According to investigators, Larry Stothers, 41, accused the victim of stealing a backpack. So Stothers and a cohort, 31-year-old Jayson Rappa, allegedly confronted the man Saturday afternoon in Largo, Florida.

“A fight occurred between all parties,” according to an arrest affidavit. “And in the course of the fight a prosthetic leg was taken from the victim.” The man whose leg was stolen fled the scene and sought police assistance.

Officers arrested Stothers and Rappa about an hour later, and charged each man with strong-arm robbery, a felony. Stothers (left) and Rappa are pictured in the above mug shots.

Court records do not indicate whether the victim’s leg was recovered.

A supermarket manager was pelted with boxes of frozen pizza by a Pennsylvania man who refused to wear a mask inside the store when approached by the worker, police allege.

Cops today announced that Patrick Steiner, 35, has been charged with harassment and disorderly conduct in connection with an incident last month at a Giant Eagle store near his home in Altoona, a city about 80 miles east of Pittsburgh.

According to the Logan Township Police Department, Steiner was inside the Giant Eagle on a Thursday afternoon when he refused to wear a mask when approached by the store manager.

Steiner, investigators charge, then “threw boxes of frozen pizza at the manager and fled the store.” The victim provided cops with the license plate of Steiner’s car, which resulted in a traffic stop and the alleged pizza pelter’s arrest.

Police did not indicate whether Steiner intended to purchase the pizzas or just retrieved them from a freezer for use as makeshift munitions.

A 74-year-old Florida landlord shoved a female tenant and then stole a Donald Trump flag that was displayed in the victim's yard, police charge.

Cops say that Joseph Mazzara yesterday afternoon went into the “closed backyard of the victim to steal a Trump flag.” Mazzara, who owns the small apartment building where the woman lives, “had no right to enter the residence and was not performing his official landlord duties,” according to an arrest affidavit.

Around 2:30 PM Monday, Mazzara arrived at the property (seen below) in Indian Rocks Beach, a city in the Tampa Bay area, and “forcefully pushed” Lisa Marie Pelland, 60, to gain access to the sideyard. After pushing Pelland, Mazzara “took the Trump flag and left the scene,” police reported.

Pelland told cops she suffered minor bruising and had “grease/dirt marks on her arm from the defendant touching/striking her.”

Pictured above, Mazzara was subsequently arrested and charged with felony battery. The enhanced count stems from the fact that Mazzara has a prior battery conviction (he was found guilty in 2017 of choking his daughter).

Mazzara was freed last night from the county jail after posting $2500 bond. The arrest affidavit does not indicate whether the Trump flag was recovered, or why Mazzara was not charged with theft.

While Mazzara and Pelland are both registered voters, neither has declared a party affiliation, records show.

After repeatedly being asked to wear a mask inside an Ace Hardware store, a Florida Man allegedly coughed directly in the face of an employee before backhanding the victim and then striking a customer in the face, cops charge.

Russell Wood, 51, was arrested for battery following a confrontation yesterday afternoon at store in Largo, a city in the Tampa Bay area. The 6’ 6”, 200-pound Wood was booked into the Pinellas County jail on the misdemeanor count. A judge this morning set his bond at $250.

Police charge that Wood (seen at right) was asked by employees to leave the hardware store since he “refused to wear a mask.” While being asked to vacate the business, Wood “turned around and coughed directly in the face" of a male employee, according to an arrest affidavit.

Wood then “took a small step backward and slapped the victim with the backside of his hand,” cops say. While subsequently “being ushered out of the business,” Wood “struck a customer in the face as well.” Police allege that Wood also threatened to burn down the hardware store.

Wood fled the scene, but was quickly apprehended by Largo Police Department officers. “The defendant advised he was defending himself and admitted to striking the victim,” a patrolman reported.

Wood’s rap sheet includes convictions for drunk driving (twice), violating probation, and habitually driving with a suspended or revoked license.

A Florida Man yesterday choked his pit bull to death after the dog bit his girlfriend on the ankle, according to a criminal complaint.

Joseph Wayne Walker, 38, allegedly killed the animal in the front yard of his Pinellas Park home around 1 AM Sunday. Walker, seen at right, was charged with cruelty to animals, a felony, in connection with the strangling of the 10-year-old canine.

Cops say the 25-pound pit bull bit Walker’s girlfriend, resulting in a laceration to her ankle. When the woman entered the house to clean the wound, she told Walker--who was asleep at the time of the dog bite--what occurred.

Walker, cops allege, responded by bringing the dog to the home’s front yard, where he straddled the animal and “choked it using two hands.”

During subsequent police questioning, Walker reportedly admitted to killing the dog, and told officers that it “took a couple of minutes for the dog to die.” Walker, cops noted, had “scratch marks on his stomach from the dog trying to get out of the chokehold.”

The arrest affidavit does not disclose how police learned of the strangulation.

Walker was released early today from the county jail after posting $10,000 bond. A judge has ordered Walker to be outfitted with an alcohol monitor and has barred him from having any pets.

Walker is a felon whose rap sheet includes convictions for domestic battery; marijuana possession; drunk driving; obstructing police; felony battery; criminal mischief; and violating a restraining order.

For the second time in a week, a businessman has been charged with fraudulently securing Paycheck Protection Program loans that were then used to purchase a Lamborghini.

Federal agents today arrested Lee Price, a 29-year-old convicted felon, in connection with a criminal complaint charging the Houston, Texas resident with bank fraud, wire fraud, and two other felonies.

According to investigators, Price filed a pair of fraudulent applications for PPP loans earmarked for businesses in need of emergency relief due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Price received a total of $1.6 million in PPP loans for two separate companies.

The applications submitted by Price, prosecutors allege, contended that the two firms had numerous employees and significant payroll expenses. The federal probe, however, determined that neither company “has employees nor pays wages consistent with the amounts claimed in loan applications.”

Instead of using the government funds for legitimate purposes, Price (seen at right) allegedly spent loan proceeds to buy a 2019 Lamborghini Urus for $233,000. He also allegedly spent PPP funds on a $14,000 Rolex watch, real estate transactions, clothing, liquor, and a new $85,000 Ford F-350 pickup truck. Additionally, some of the money covered Price’s tabs at Houston strip clubs and other nightspots.

In Price’s loan application for 713 Construction LLC, the 88-year-old man identified as the firm’s CEO had died a month before Price submitted the PPP application. The $752,452 loan, received from Harvest Small Business Finance, was purportedly intended to help retain 30 jobs.

The dead man whose name appears to have been appropriated owned a wine store in Cleveland, Ohio, and had “no known connection to 713 Construction,” according to a criminal complaint.

According to a U.S. Government database of PPP loan recipients, Price’s Price Enterprise Holdings LLC had two loans approved in late-June, one from Radius Bank (for between $350,000 and $1 million) and another from Customers Bank (for between $1 million and $2 million). While approved, the larger loan was not funded, prosecutors say.

According to Texas Secretary of State records, Price Enterprise Holdings was first licensed to do business in late-April.   

Price made his initial appearance this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Houston, where a magistrate judge ordered him locked up in advance of a detention hearing Thursday.

According to Texas state court records, Price is a "habitual offender" who has been convicted of robbery and forgery. He is currently facing charges in three separate state criminal cases (two involve his alleged tampering with government records, while he is accused in the third case of being a felon in possession of a firearm). In light of Price’s arrest on federal charges, state prosecutors today filed bond revocation motions in all three of his pending cases.  

On July 27, federal prosecutors announced the filing of felony fraud charges against David Hines, a Florida man who received nearly $4 million in PPP funds. Hines, 29, is accused of using $318,000 in loan proceeds to purchase  a 2020 Lamborghini Huracán Evo.