STRAWBERRY CASE SPARKS THREATS AGAINST 5 JUDGES

TAMPA - Sheriff's Deputies Are Investigating, But Courthouse Security
Is Not Being Increased

Five Hillsborough County judges received threatening telephone calls
after Circuit Judge Florence Foster sentenced Darryl Strawberry to
another drug treatment facility for his fifth probation violation,
sheriff's and court officials said Friday.

``We're doing an investigation,'' said Maj. Rocky Rodriguez of the
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. ``We are attempting to identify
someone. The judges are concerned.''

Rodriguez declined to elaborate.

The calls - Foster got one - were left on the judges' answering
machines between 10 and 10:30 p.m. Thursday by a man who said:
``Citizens Against Foster. Let-'em-go-Flo. We're coming.''

Foster, who has long had a reputation for leniency with drug
offenders, is sometimes called ``Let- 'em-go-Flo'' at the courthouse.

Calls also went to judges Greg Holder, Eric Myers, Sam Pendino and
Raul C. Palomino.

``The call was threatening and it was taken ... seriously by my
office,'' said Holder, a judge in the civil division. ``I was very
concerned for Judge Foster.''

Foster's office was crowded with sheriff's investigators Friday. She
did not return telephone calls.

Myers and Palomino were unavailable for comment.

Pendino said he did not think the call was threatening.

Court Administrator Mike Bridenback said despite the calls, security
at the courthouse would not be increased.

``We're waiting on the sheriff's office to do their investigation,''
Bridenback said.

The 39-year-old Strawberry, who suffers from colon cancer, depression
and cocaine addiction, has been in and out of rehabilitation
facilities and hospitals.

On March 29, he violated drug probation for the fifth time by
vanishing from a treatment center in Tampa and going on a four-day
cocaine binge.

Foster earlier had promised to send Strawberry to prison if he
violated probation again. Instead, she sentenced him Thursday to
Phoenix House, a strict drug treatment center near Ocala that works
in conjunction with the Department of Corrections.

Foster was lobbied intensely by people who thought Strawberry should
be ordered back into treatment, and by others who thought he should
go to prison.

The judge is no stranger to controversy. In the mid-1990s, a group
called Mothers Against Judicial Injustice tried to get Foster removed
from the bench for her rulings in custody cases unfavorable to its
members.

Sheriff's Maj. Richard Cipriano said threats against judges are
``very infrequent and typically are made by defendants who believe
they've received an unfair sentence or decision.''

But Chief Judge F. Dennis Alvarez said threats are taken seriously.

``Too many things have happened across the country,'' Alvarez said.
``You always have to report this to law enforcement.''