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Anthony Nicotera - Breaking News Reporter
Anthony Nicotera

Breaking News Reporter

I cover breaking news, much of it focused on criminal justice. I grew up here in Tampa, and graduated from the University of Florida. I previously interned for a New York Times investigative reporter and worked as a staff writer for a small-town Colorado newspaper. I've spent the last four years in the Army, serving as an infantryman in the 10th Mountain Division. I'm glad to be back in the Tampa Bay area and to continue to serve by telling your story.

  1. Tampa Bay’s Jewish community reacts to Sydney attack
    • Pinellas
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  2. Charges dropped against Tampa photojournalist arrested at Miami ICE protest
    • Tampa
    Freelance photojournalist Dave Decker is seen in this undated photo while on assignment at Tampa International Airport in Tampa. All charges against Decker were dropped after he was arrested while covering a protest outside a Miami immigration facility.
  3. Pinellas driver arrested after crash that killed bicyclist, troopers say
    • Crime
    A Seminole man was arrested after leaving the scene of a crash that killed a bicyclist in Pinellas County early Thursday, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
  5. Tampa family awarded $76.8M in damages from fatal crash
    • Crime
    Dana Maria Rivera, 36, was killed in February when an impaired driver crossed the center line and collided with her family's Lincoln Town Car on Gunn Highway in Odessa. Three of her children were hospitalized. A Tampa jury this week awarded the family more than $76.8 million in civil damages after the driver and his wife were found responsible for the crash.
  6. Man who drove semitruck into Tampa strip club convicted of murder
    • Crime
    Jared Fogle is shown in court in Tampa this week. He was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in pirson.
  7. Trial opens for man accused of driving semi into people at Tampa strip club
    • Crime
    Dylan Fogle appears in a Tampa courtroom Tuesday. He is charged with first-degree murder and other charges after prosecutors say he drove a semitruck into a Tampa strip club last year.
  8. Tampa photojournalist arrested while covering ICE protest
    • Tampa
    Members of the Sunrise Movement block a vehicle from entering the Krome North Service Processing Center, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Miami-Dade County, on Saturday. Tampa photojournalist Dave Decker, who captured this image, was arrested alongside 30 activists at the protest.
  9. Racing in Tampa Bay can be deadly. How big of a problem is it?
    • Crime
    A small memorial for Jessica Reisinger-Raubenolt can be seen off of Bayshore Boulevard and West Knights Avenue in 2018. Reisinger-Raubenolt, 24, was struck while pushing her baby in a stroller on May 23, 2018. Investigators said the driver was racing.
  10. Former Hillsborough detention deputy sentenced to 15 years for deadly crash
    • Crime
    Daniel Hernandez, a former detention deputy with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, was sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday for the 2021 crash in Tampa that killed 65-year-old Krista Richter.
  11. A Dunedin cold case was solved with DNA. Then the letters arrived
    • Crime
    Gregory Thompson, 64, pleaded guilty to sexual battery and tampering with physical evidence Monday morning. Thompson was arrested for the sexual battery in 2021 after investigators resubmitted DNA evidence from 1999 to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
  12. Pickup driver fatally strikes boy, 2, in Dade City, troopers say
    • Pasco
    A 2-year-old boy died after being struck by the driver of a pickup truck Friday in Dade City, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
  13. Spoto High School campus safety monitor arrested on child pornography charges
    • Crime
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  14. Tampa jury finds woman guilty of manslaughter in killing of rapper Julio Foolio
    • Crime
    Alicia Andrews testifies at her trial in the murder of Jacksonville rapper Julio Foolio on Friday. Andrews told jurors she was only in Tampa to spend time with her boyfriend and that she was not aware of any plot to murder the rapper, whose real name was Charles Jones.
  15. 5 men sentenced to life in prison for Tampa murder of 4-year-old Suni Bell
    • Crime
    Jaylin Bedward, left, and Andrew Thompson, center, attend closing arguments during their murder trial Sept. 15 at the George Edgecomb Courthouse in Tampa. They and three other men who were convicted during the trial of murder and other crimes in connection to the 2021 shooting death of 4-year-old Suni Bell were sentenced Wednesday to life in prison.
  16. Seagrass is key to Tampa Bay’s health. It’s getting planted on Tampa Electric property
    • Environment
    Nikki Jackson and Zach Procter of AquaTech Eco Consultants spent several hours planting an acre of seagrass outside of Tampa Electric Co.'s Big Bend Power Station on Oct. 16, 2025.
  17. Man faces DUI manslaughter charge in deadly Largo crash
    • Crime
    A Pinellas Park man faces a DUI manslaughter charge after police say he drove off the road and into a treee, killing his passenger in Largo early Sunday.
  18. Person driving truck hits and kills 48 birds at Florida dock
    • Crime
    Dead birds are shown at a Florida dock after a person in a truck plowed through them, killing nearly 50 of them.
  19. Man dies after being hit by Pinellas school bus in Oldsmar
    • Pinellas
    A man was killed in Oldsmar Wednesday morning after he was hit by a Pinellas County school bus.
  20. Man sentenced to 5 years in prison in Tampa DUI manslaughter case
    • Crime
    Pjeter Nesti Paci is seen in this booking photo from the Pinellas County Jail following his arrest Nov. 1, 2024, on a DUI manslaughter charge. Paci, 28, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison.
  21. Former Tampa police officer arrested on charges of using forged credentials
    • Crime
    A former Tampa police officer has been arrested by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
  22. 2 people found shot to death in Tampa’s Lowry Park Central neighborhood
    • Crime
    Tampa police are investigating the deaths of two people who were found Friday morning.
  23. Police find 21 malnourished cats in man’s car at Clearwater Starbucks, reports say
    • Crime
    Altogether, police found 21 cats and the remains of three more in cages inside a Ford Focus Monday afternoon, reports state.
  24. Tampa police investigate suspected murder-suicide in Bayshore Gardens
    • Tampa
    Tampa police have begun an investigation into the deaths of two people found at a Bayshore Gardens address.