"Only in America":
Subject:Carlie Brucia's Killer
This is Joseph Peter Smith's Florida felony rap sheet before his arrest on charges of abducting and killing an 11-year-old girl this week.
• April 26, 1993: Smith is charged with aggravated battery after he hits a 21-year-old woman in the face with a motorcycle helmet outside a Sarasota bar. • Sept. 29, 1993: Smith pleads no contest to aggravated battery and loitering. A judge withholds ajudication, meaning Smith is not convicted of the crime. He gets probation. • Nov. 24, 1994: Smith arrested on a domestic battery charge after confrontation with first wife. Charges dismissed. • July 1, 1997: Smith is arrested carrying a serrated, 5-inch knife concealed in his waistband outside a Kash 'N Karry grocery store. A month later, he pleads no contest to weapons charge. A judge convicts him. Smith gets probation.
• Nov. 7, 1997: Smith is charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment, and battery on allegations he tried to snatch 20-year-old Teri Jo Stinson as she walked alongside a Bradenton road. Stinson, who told cops Smith threatened to cut her, is rescued by a group of tourists who saw the two struggling. Smith argues at trial six months later that he was trying to prevent Stinson from running into the road. A jury acquits him.
• March 31, 1999: Smith is charged with possession of six small bundles of heroin, illegal possession of anti-depressants, pain killers and blank prescription forms. He pleads no contest to the drug charges. A jury convicts Smith and he gets 18 months probation. • May 4, 2000: Smith is arrested after he presents a fake prescription for 250 doses of the pain killer Oxycontin at a Sarasota Walgreen's.
• Aug. 30, 2000: Smith's probation officer notifies the court of his May 4 arrest, which violated his probation. `Probation officer Marcos Olivari recommended increased probation over the option of 5 years in prison.
• Sept. 28, 2000: Smith pleads no contest on the drug charges. He is convicted and sentenced to six months house arrest followed by one year of probation.
• Sept. 5, 2001: Smith is arrested after he tried to buy 100 doses of the pain killer Dilaudid at a drive-through pharmacy using fake prescriptions.
• Nov. 20, 2001: Smith pleads no contest on the probation violations and the additional drug charges. He is convicted and sentenced to 17 months in state prison.
• Jan. 9, 2003: Weeks after his prison release, Smith is charged with possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia. • March 6, 2003: Smith pleads no contest to the drug charges. He is convicted and sentenced to a one-year drug offender program and two years probation.
• Aug. 15, 2003: Smith goes on a cocaine binge and becomes suicidal, records say. He is committed by his family and cops. He was released from Manatee Glens rehab center on Aug. 26. ''He subsequently tested positive for cocaine,'' court records show.
There's no record his probation officers suspended his probation because of his drug use.
SOURCE: Manatee and Sarasota county court records.
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