Hillsborough County Sheriffs Department
June 23, 2004, 10 p.m.: Hillsborough Sheriff Deputy Melvin Jones pulled over a 1993 Lincoln Town Car at Orange Grove Drive and Coquita Lane in Carrollwood for a random license tag check. After a few minutes, he informed the driver that he´d have to take her in. The deputy arrested Elizabeth Milton, an 80-year-old widow, for a bad check written nearly two decades ago for $145.93. Jones transported her to the Orient Road Jail, where she was patted down (no word on whether jail staff yelled ¨Spread ´em¨) and put in a holding pen with the other recently arrested people. With her fellow prisoners lying around the floor, the frightened Milton made do by leaning against a wall. When she asked guards for her pills, including nitroglycerine for a bad heart, they denied her request. She started feeling, according the St. Petersburg Times, ¨shaky and sweaty.¨ Milton´s heart held up. She was released at 4:15 a.m. after posting $1,000 bail. We feel safer just knowing that Hillsborough County´s finest are out there, ready and willing to protect us from elderly check-bouncers.
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2004.