Tampa police fired and arrested another of their own on
Thursday. This time, the charges involve a longtime police sergeant accused of
using a convict's food stamp card.
Police arrested - and Chief Jane Castor fired - Sgt. La
Joyce Houston, a 16-year veteran of the force. Houston, 47, is charged with two
counts of welfare fraud and one count of grand theft. She was released from the
Hillsborough County Orient Road Jail after posting bail set at $6,000, records
show.
The firing comes less than a month after the chief
terminated two officers for unrelated reasons. One officer had been arrested on
charges she stole money from an evidence area. The other was Sgt. Ray
Fernandez, terminated after police investigators said he was not truthful about
his involvement in the drunken driving arrest of a Tampa attorney in January who
prosecutors say was set up.