First mayor goes berserk, vice-mayor promptly busted for trying to get him off the hook.
PORT RICHEY — Another mayor is behind bars.
This time it’s acting mayor Terance Rowe, 64, who was arrested Wednesday by Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents on charges of obstruction of justice, conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice and use of a two-way communication device to facilitate the commission of a crime.
Rowe was the second mayor in this town to be arrested in 20 days. He was vice mayor until the Feb. 21 [bold]arrest of Mayor Dale Massad, 68, who is accused of firing at a Pasco sheriff’s SWAT team[/bold] that was arresting him on allegations that he was practicing medicine without a license in his home.
Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco said afterward that Massad was “lucky he’s not dead.” [bold]The sheriff called Massad a violent drug user who kept weapons in his home. Massad also had several prior run-ins with law enforcement and lost his medical license in 1992 over the death of a 3-year-old patient.[/bold]
Agents said the allegations against Rowe are tied to the allegations against Massad case, but did not say how. “It’s related but it’s an off-shoot,” said Special Agent in Charge Mark Brutnell, of FDLE’s Tampa office, about the connection. “From information we received, (Rowe) was conspiring to inject himself into an active criminal investigation.”
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Ex-Port Richey mayor held without bail; says he didn’