OMG ! I know these two dancers![]()
By VALERIE KALFRIN , The Tampa Tribune
Tampa Bay Online
Naked photos of two strippers at a city fire station, including one wearing a bikini top and clutching a fire hose, cost a fire captain and former union president hisjob Wednesday.
Capt. Al Suarez was fired and four others suspended after an internal investigation discovered the photos taken Oct. 17 at Fire Station 21 in New Tampa.
Suarez, 44, arranged for two unidentified men and the women, identified only as Jamie and Heather, to visit the station about three weeks before the women performed at his bachelor party in Odessa, investigators said. Tampa police and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement later found 97 pictures from the fire station photo shoot on the Internet, some depicting genitals.
Suarez met Heather through Thee Dollhouse Lounge on West Shore Boulevard. One of the suspended firefighters, Michael Berwald, works there off-duty, investigators said.
During the inquiry, which began in December, officials learned Suarez urged Berwald and the others to lie about his and their involvement. He threatened ``career repercussions'' if they didnot protect his identity and offered to pay one man's salary if he were fired, reports show.
``I am appalled,'' Fire Chief Dennis Jones said. ``Any time we're talking about nude females or anyone nude in the fire station, it's embarrassing.''
Suarez led Local 754 of the International Association of Fire Fighters for about seven years. He married Samantha Ward, who works for the public defender's office, on Nov. 6. Jones, Mayor PamIorio and former Mayor Dick Greco attended the wedding.
Suarez supported Iorio during her mayoral campaign. She said she was surprised and disappointed in him Wednesday.
``Trying to cover it up, then trying to get the others to be untruthful, that kind of behavior is totally unacceptable,'' Iorio said.
Greco also was stunned. ``Al's a real nice guy, but that's a horrific mistake,'' he said. ``You wonder what in the world anybody was thinking.''
Suarez earned about $76,000 a year. He will use annual leave until Feb. 12, when he retires after 20 years with an annual pension of $44,000. The firing means he forfeits $4,707 in unused sick leave.
The firefighters' union said it may appeal. ``We don't want to see anyone terminated over what we'd consider a momentary lapse of judgment,'' union president Larry Parker said.
Reports show Suarez, who was off duty, called Stephen Johnson, a driver engineer and the station supervisor that night, to say he was ``coming by with some friends to take pictures of thefiretruck.'' Suarez asked firefighter Michael Campbell and Berwald to tape garbage bags over the station windows.
Johnson ``expressed dismay'' at seeing one of the women topless but should have called a supervisor, reports state. Johnson, 41, earns about $65,000 a year and will lose about $5,000 duringhis four-week suspension.
Firefighter Michael Layton, 37, will lose about $3,500 in pay over three weeks. Berwald, 36, and Campbell, 25, each will lose about $1,300 in pay over two weeks.
None could be reached for comment Wednesday. Personnel records show none has prior discipline.
An anonymous phone call on Dec. 20 started the investigation.
Jones said he at first thought the complaint was bogus, but within weeks investigators found photos on the Internet with enough detail to identify the truck as one at Station 21.
They also found an online diary from one of the strippers in which she wrote: ``We went to this Fire Dept. and she took a reeeealy cute set of pics of me! It was a lot of fun, but there was atotal audience. There were like 5 guys (cute I might add) that were sitting in chairs gawking ... hehe!''



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but seriously, I must keep a low profile myself, this SC thing isn't good on MY resumé...

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