DAYTONA BEATING TIED TO POT DEAL

Daytona Beach police arrested two Indiana drifters Thursday for the beating
with a brick of an Orangeville man after a failed drug deal.

Zachary Gootee, 20, and Jason Andrew Currens, 25, both of Indianapolis,
Ind., were arrested and charged with armed robbery and aggravated battery.
The charges were laid after last Saturday's assault that has left
22-year-old Billy Jobe in hospital in serious condition with head injuries.
The charges carry a $10,000 release bond for each man.

Police said the robbery and attack happened after Jobe, who had driven to
Florida for a vacation with friends, approached two men on the Daytona
Beach pier just after 11 p.m. and tried to buy marijuana from them.

HIT OVER HEAD

The men hit Jobe over the head with a brick and stole his wallet. Jobe's
friends said the thugs took $500 US.

This was the result of a drug transaction," said Daytona police
spokesperson Rob Brinkerhoff.

Jobe was found an hour later by a passer-by and taken into custody by
police, who believed he was drunk. Brinkerhoff said Jobe wasn't taken to
hospital until nearly 11 hours later because police didn't notice signs of
trauma until they saw he was bleeding from the ear.

Three Canadians have been killed in Florida since 1992, including Mark
Fyke, a Belleville teenager killed in Daytona Beach two years ago after he
called his mother from a telephone booth.

Two youths charged with Fyke's murder go on trial May 4 in Daytona Beach.

Copyright (c) 1998 The London Free Press a division of Sun Media Corporation.