8B | Friday, July 11, 2008 | St.
Petersburg Times ****
From the front page >
. FRIES continued from 1B
French fry
grandmother
is acquitted
tified that Merola was visibly agitated and ver-
bally abusive to Parco.
Parco told the court Merola said she hoped
he was Christian because he was “pure evil and
going to hell.”
Merola did not testify, and the defense did not
present any witnesses.
Sue Cushell, whose daughter videotaped the
arrest, said Parco was very calm throughout the
ordeal.
Merola, on the other hand, “wagged her fin-
ger in his face and gave him a piece of her mind,”
Cushell said.
McDonald’s shift manager Sarah Curtis said
she had to deliver food for nearly an hour to
stuck patrons. And it took her two tries to get
Merola to take her unsalted fries.
Police Cpl. Carl Conyers said he advised Parco
to arrest Merola, despite his repeated attempts
to defuse the situation.
“He did not want to take her to jail,” Conyers
said.
Parco was later cleared by police supervisors
of any policy violation in the way he handled
Merola’s arrest.
But in May, Parco resigned from the Police
Department during an internal affairs investi-
gation of allegations that he behaved inappro-
priately March 29 when responding to a child-
custody call.
Witnesses told investigators that he offered a
15-year-old girl chewing tobacco, fired his Taser
into his cruiser windshield to demonstrate how
it worked and showed the teen a computer video
of a cow being Tasered. He denied doing those
things, but electronic usage logs on the com-
puter and Taser indicated otherwise.
Defense attorney Steven Andrews said he and
Merola learned a lot throughout the trial and
felt sorry for Parco in the end.
“There’s no winners here,” Andrews said.
After the verdict, Merola said little herself and
was cut off by her attorney several times when
she began to speak.
. AL-ARIAN continued from 1B
Judge grants Al-Arian bail
In late 2005, a Tampa jury acquitted
him on eight of the charges and dead-
locked on nine others. In May 2006,
Al-Arian accepted a plea agreement
for helping associates of a terrorist
organization with nonviolent activi-
ties. He finished serving his 57-month
sentence in April.
Under the terms of the plea deal,
Al-Arian would have been deported
“expeditiously” as soon as the sen-
tence was done, but a federal prosecu-
tor in Virginia wanted him to testify
before a grand jury investigating an
Islamic think tank in Herndon, Va. Al-
Arian refused, saying it violated the
terms of his plea agreement.
Al-Arian’s trial on the criminal
contempt charges is scheduled for
mid August. If found guilty, he could
remain in prison for years.
Al-Arian’s attorney, Jonathan
Turley, said, “The government has
painted itself into a corner with Dr.
Al-Arian. … Either it must release him
on bond or deport him very soon.”
What “soon” means is not clear.
Arturo Rios Jr., a St. Petersburg
lawyer specializing in immigration
issues, said it’s not uncommon for a
judge to grant bail and then for immi-
gration officials to take custody of an
individual.
Once Al-Arian is in the custody of
ICE, authorities will have 48 hours
to give him a notice to appear, which
Rios described as a summons to begin
the deportation process. He said
deportation could happen within 60
days from that point or take up to a
year, depending on the case.
In a separate order from Al-Ari-
an’s conditions of release, which
include him posting $340,000 he has
in his retirement pension, U.S. Dis-
trict Judge Leonie Brinkema said
that ICE has filed an immigration
detainer with the U.S. Marshal Ser-
vice. Brinkema ordered that once Al-
Arian posts bail, he must be released
into the custody of ICE. Officials are to
Nahla Al-Arian and Leena Al-Arian, Sami Al-Arian’s wife and daughter,
who live in Cairo, react with joy to a federal judge granting bond.
make Al-Arian available for all hear-
ings in his criminal case.
After court Thursday, Turley called
the contempt case is “a ruse.” Al-Arian
has spoken with prosecutors about
the think tank and has even agreed to
take a polygraph test. What the pros-
ecutors really want, said Turley, is Al-
Arian to answer questions about the
Florida case, “which is a clear viola-
tion of the plea agreement.”
Prosecutors in Virginia could not
be reached for comment.
Linda Moreno, who represented
Al-Arian at his 2005 trial, cheered
the judge’s ruling. “I’m so happy that
Judge Brinkema restores the confi-
dence that Americans are due in our
system of justice,” she said.
Becky Steele, regional director for
the American Civil Liberties Union of
Florida, said the judge appears to be
holding the executive branch account-
able.
“The heartening thing for me here
tampabay.com for the latest news
MEG LAUGHLIN | Times
is that the system seems to be working
and that the judge is making an inde-
pendent assessment of what seems to
be persecution by the government,”
Steele said.
But lawyer Eddie Suarez said he
doesn’t think the ruling does much.
“At the end of the day, I’m not sure
we’ve accomplished a whole lot,”
Suarez said. “He’ll still be held on
these immigration issues.”
If Al-Arian is released on bond, his
wife, Nahla, 47, said she and two of
her children will return from Cairo to
the United States to reunite with her
husband and their three other chil-
dren.
On the other hand, the family will
wait to reunite in Cairo if Al-Arian is
deported soon.
“Either way, it looks as if we will
finally be a family again,” Nahla said.
Meg Laughlin can be reached at
mlaughlin@sptimes.com.
. MINDFREAK
continued from 1B
Will he
survive
the blast?
have talked about today’s meet-
ing, Angel’s representatives this
week performed their own disap-
pearing act. Contacted Wednes-
day, they said they would call
right back. They never did. They
also didn’t return calls Thursday.
Asked about the secrecy, Mayor
Frank Hibbard said, “They don’t
like divulging what they’re doing
for preparation purposes.
“They don’t want people
watching the process, watching
what they do,” he said.
Hibbard, who has long wanted
the rundown building removed,
said he is not concerned with the
methods, only the results.
“All I care about is that the
Spyglass disappears,” he said.
“Whether it’s a bulldozer, dyna-
mite or an illusionist, it better
disappear.”
City officials say they aren’t
quite sure how the Clearwater
made the list of cities the enter-
tainer is considering. They only
know an A&E producer con-
tacted them about it recently.
The show would reimburse
any city costs to stage the event,
city spokesman Doug Matthews
said. He said he understands
that A&E wants to start promot-
ing the show’s fourth season in
the next week or so.
“It would be extraordinary
publicity because it’s a popular
show,” Matthews said. “To do it
live and feature Clearwater and
the new BeachWalk and all the
things we’re doing — you can’t
put a price on that.”
Times researcher Caryn Baird con-
tributed to this report. Mike Donila
can be reached at mdonila@sptimes.
com or (727) 445-4160.
. BIOGRAPHY
Criss Angel
(Christopher Sarantakos)
Age: 40.
Residence: Las Vegas.
Career: Learned his first
magic trick from his aunt
at age 6. Performed at par-
ties and restaurants, a local
cable TV show and some
television specials before
staging 600 off-Broadway
performances in New York.
Then created Criss Angel
Mindfreak, which debuted
in July 2005. Last season
the show attracted 2.7-
million viewers. Also has
appeared on late-night talk
shows, Larry King, Oprah
and CSI: New York.
Quote: “I consider myself an
artist who uses many differ-
ent paintbrushes to create
the image I want, whether
it’s using illusions, magic,
mentalism, hypnosis,
escapes, performance art
or music.” (Chicago Tribune,
Aug. 6, 2006)
. SENTENCING
continued from 1B
57 months
for data thief
van said he did it because he was
desperate. His wife was unem-
ployed and he had no money in
his 401(k), he said.
“I (in) no way intended to cause
anybody any grief or hardship,”
Sullivan said in
court. “Every
week it hap-
pened, I regret-
ted it … but it
didn’t stop me
from doing it.”
Sullivan’s
actions caused
C e r t e g y t o Sullivan
notify about
8.4-million Americans — includ-
ing 460,000 Floridians — that
their data had been methodically
stolen over a five-year period.
Seven class-action lawsuits
resulted, and six remain, which
are in various stages of being set-
tled, Palermo said.
The people who sued Certegy
over their information being sold
have won a judgment for attor-
neys’ fees of about $2.35-million,
according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said victims
included residents of all 50 states,
the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico
and military personnel overseas.