2ND MAN CHARGED IN TEEN'S DEATH

NEW PORT RICHEY - A Pasco County grand jury indicted two men Friday in
the execution-style shootings of two Land O' Lakes High School students.

The 15-member panel, meeting in West Pasco, charged Faunce Levon
Pearce, 37, and Lawrence Joey Smith, 22, both of Leland Avenue near
Shady Hills, with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Robert
Crawford, 17, a high school senior from Wesley Chapel. The men also
were charged with attempted murder in the shooting of Stephen Tuttle,
16, a freshman from Land O' Lakes.

An Amoco gasoline truck driver found Tuttle stumbling in the middle of
State Road 54, two miles west of U.S. 41, about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Tuttle was bleeding and disoriented. He had been shot once in the back
of the head. Before he was flown by helicopter to St. Joseph's
Hospital in Tampa, he told paramedics that Crawford also had been shot.

Crawford was found lying face down in a ditch. He had been shot twice
in the back of the head.

Tuttle remained in critical condition Friday in the hospital. Doctors
were unable to safely remove a .40-caliber bullet from his head.

Smith was arrested Tuesday night. At that time, investigators said he
had pulled the trigger after ordering the two teens out of a car on
S.R. 54. But on Friday, detectives wouldn't say which man they believe
actually fired the shots.

Investigators have been unable to find Pearce, who reportedly fled to
North Carolina. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Pearce was the manager of a small group of cottages off of U.S. 41 in
north central Pasco. Smith and his 15-year-old girlfriend, whose name
is being withheld by The Tampa Tribune, moved into one of the cottages
four months ago after living for three months with her parents in
Hillsborough County.

The girl's mother said she allowed the arrangement because of Smith's
behavior.

``He had proven to me that he was well-mannered and very caring,'' she
said. ``He had helped me out around the house and taken care of her
when she got sick.''

After moving into the cottages, Smith helped Pearce with maintenance,
his girlfriend said.

A few weeks after moving in, Pearce approached Smith, along with at
least one other man living there, and asked if they would like to earn
extra money by helping him make drug deliveries, Smith's girlfriend
said, and they agreed.

After the first delivery, Smith's girlfriend told police, Pearce took
control of their lives. He often waved a .40- caliber pistol at the
men and their young girlfriends, witnesses said, and bragged about
being willing to shoot anyone who crossed him. They often feared for
their safety, they said, but did not move out.

On Tuesday night, Smith's girlfriend said, they were in their cottage
when a friend knocked on the door and said Pearce had gone to meet two
teenagers for a drug deal and had been robbed. Minutes later, Pearce
arrived, she said. Smith, Pearce and two other men got into a brown
Firebird and went to get the money back, witnesses said.

Hours later, Pearce called his live-in girlfriend and told her to get
packed, Smith's girlfriend said, then returned to the cottages and
dropped off the three men.

He told his girlfriend to get in the car, and grabbed their 4-
year-old son. Pearce told Smith and the others he was dropping his son
and girlfriend off at her mother's in Orlando, then he was headed for
North Carolina, two witnesses said.

But before he left, Pearce bragged about shooting the teens involved
in the drug deal, witnesses said. He also threatened to kill Smith and
the other two men, along with their girlfriends and children, if they
talked to law officers about the shootings, witnesses said.

Within a few hours, Pasco sheriff's detectives arrived. They
questioned the residents. Two of the men named Smith as the shooter.
Smith's girlfriend denies that allegation and said it was made out of
fear.

``If they told the truth, they know they would be shot,'' she said.
``He may have beat those guys up a little, but he didn't shoot them.''