Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office

Hillsborough County deputies arrested a Tampa woman after she allegedly crashed a stolen SUV into a patrol car while trying to evade capture. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said its Real Time Crime Center flagged the vehicle, reported stolen by Tampa police, parked at a business complex on East Fletcher Avenue. When deputies tried to box in the SUV, the driver fled, nearly striking a deputy and hitting a patrol car in the process. Deputies later used a PIT maneuver to stop the vehicle near North 37th Street and Cambridge Woods Drive. The driver, identified as 27-year-old Jessica Johnson, faces multiple charges.

A new Florida law took effect this week establishing a 1,000-foot buffer zone around schools, making it a second-degree felony to discharge a firearm on school property or within that perimeter. The provision, part of the state's 2026 school safety package championed by state Rep. Michelle Salzman, responds to incidents of nearby gunfire that put students at risk even when shootings were unrelated to the school itself. Exceptions apply for lawful self-defense or firearm use by property owners on private land.

Anyone arrested under the new discharge provision must be held in custody rather than released immediately, and offenders face up to 15 years in prison. Law enforcement agencies, including the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, say the measure gives deputies a stronger enforcement tool. Most other elements of the broader safety law, including new training, mental health resources, and the Guardian Program allowing college faculty and staff to carry firearms on campus, took effect earlier this year, drawing mixed reactions from students who have pushed for different approaches to campus gun violence.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office in Wimauma, Florida, arrested Erick Moreno after deputies canvassing the neighborhood found the back sliding door of a home wide open. Inside, they discovered Moreno asleep on the homeowner's couch, wearing her shoes. The homeowner told deputies only she and her father should have been in the house, prompting officers to search and find the suspect still inside. Authorities say Moreno had also tried to break into another nearby home earlier that night, attempting to ring the doorbell and enter a code on a keypad.

Moreno initially faced five charges, including burglary of an occupied dwelling with a weapon, tied to a screwdriver and box cutter allegedly found on him. A judge found no probable cause for the weapon-related felony but upheld probable cause for burglary of an occupied dwelling, reducing the charges to four. He was granted a $25,500 bond, but an immigration hold from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement means federal agents may take him into custody before he can be released.

A 17-year-old has been arrested after allegedly calling in a bomb threat to Spoto High School in Hillsborough County, Florida. Deputies said a school receptionist received a call on Aug. 19 in which the caller asked if he had reached Spoto, claimed a bomb had been planted on the first floor of a building, and warned that people were "going to die." A search of the school turned up no explosives.

Investigators traced the call to a phone belonging to the parent of a Spoto senior, and the family confirmed ownership. A review of the phone's call history linked the teen to the threat. He now faces charges of making a false bomb report, unlawful use of a two-way communications device, and disrupting a school campus. Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister warned that threats against schools will be treated seriously and pursued aggressively.

Hillsborough County, Florida deputies arrested Joe Talmadge Butts, 56, on suspicion of stealing hundreds of dollars' worth of tools from a work truck parked at a business on Windhorst Road. Authorities say the theft occurred on a Friday, with surveillance video showing a suspect opening the truck's passenger door and later loading bags onto a trailer pulled by a bicycle.

The following day, deputies located Butts riding the same bicycle and pulling the same trailer seen in the security footage, leading to his arrest. During the arrest, deputies also found methamphetamine in his pocket. Butts was booked into the Hillsborough County Jail on charges of third-degree grand theft, burglary of an unoccupied conveyance, and possession of a controlled substance.