ST. PETE BEACH \u2014 City commissioners have directed their legal staff to spell out how the city might seek restitution, move against business licenses or take part in the state attorney\u2019s case against two beachfront businessmen accused of spreading mothballs on the beach to drive off protected black skimmers.<\/p>\n
Commissioners said they want the city recognized as a victim in the case before prosecutors decide how to proceed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t wait for the state attorney to make some kind of deal or not hear our input,\u201d Commissioner Jon Maldonado said.<\/p>\n
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers arrested the two in July: Robert Czyszczon, owner of the Plaza Beach Hotel, and Christopher Monroe, manager of Chris\u2019 Beachside Bar. Investigators said the men scattered about 1,500 mothballs in a critical nesting area behind the hotel, where black skimmers, a state-threatened species, were trying to nest. The case grew out of an incident reported in late April, when volunteers and wildlife officers found the mothballs in the sand.<\/p>\n
Czyszczon denied the accusations after bonding out of jail.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not do it and I\u2019m innocent,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cSimple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maldonado opened the commission\u2019s discussion by cautioning that \u201ceveryone is innocent until proven guilty.\u201d He said the city had responded to the reports with a strong statement promising zero tolerance and pledging to find whoever was responsible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI suggest the commission get ahead of that, that we work through our attorneys with the State Attorney\u2019s Office,\u201d he said. \u201cThat we ensure that as victims, the city being victim, that we present our position to the state attorney\u2019s office and that we ask that we are considered within that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he would push for the maximum sentence if the men are convicted, and that the city should have sanctions of its own ready.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn this case, depending on the severity and the outcome, there could be some very stiff sentences and the city I believe can take additional steps,\u201d he said. \u201cThis would be for the attorney to guide us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Any city action would be separate from the criminal charges, Maldonado said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think that as victims, that we\u2019re due restitution and that we also have the power, in some cases, to pull licenses, specifically liquor licenses, depending on the outcome of this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Maldonado said residents have pressed him on the case, and he credited wildlife officers for the investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a pretty big case for FWC. I applaud them for their efforts,\u201d he said. \u201cThey went above and beyond to try to find the evidence. Now it\u2019s just a matter of proving what they suspect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioner Al Causey asked whether business licenses could be part of the discussion.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything\u2019s on the table,\u201d Maldonado said.<\/p>\n
Vice Mayor Lisa Robinson agreed the city should press for the toughest penalties available, including pulling a liquor license.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re just so lucky that a small child didn\u2019t eat one of those, let alone wildlife,\u201d she said. \u201cI agree with you on that wholeheartedly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayor Scott Tate said he wants legal guidance before the city decides anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs victims, I think we should make sure that we understand what our rights are and the full extent that we could ask of the state attorney,\u201d he said. \u201cI would ask that we just itemize our options here.\u201d<\/p>\n
A city attorney said St. Pete Beach could seek to recoup costs if staff took part in the cleanup or the investigation.<\/p>\n
Tate asked the attorney to itemize the options and costs and bring a report back to the commission \u201cthat says here are potential avenues of remediation given this situation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETE BEACH \u2014 City commissioners have directed their legal staff to spell out how the city might…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-393879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}