PAGE 8A U SUWANNEE DEMOCRAT/LIVE OAK WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1,2010 DETAILS Continued From Page 1A Allen Hughes, 25, is in custody, charged with conspiracy to commit armed robbery in con- nection with the murders, Suwannee County Sheriff Tony Cameron said. Hughes was ar- rested Friday. Cameron said it is not yet clear if Hughes was present during the robbery and murders. Cameron said Hughes is a for- mer employee of the family. "He said he had worked on their farm," Cameron said Friday. Cameron said it's believed the three were preparing to sit down to dinner Wednesday evening when the intruders broke in. Cameron said the bodies were found Thurs- day morning around 7:30 by an employee of the family other than Riegel. The three vic- tims, said Cameron, were found in one room in their 172nd Street home lying face down, side-by-side, each with a single gunshot wound to the back of the head. Cameron said widespread press reports of the three being tied-up are false. He said one gun was used in the murders but it isn't yet known who pulled the trigger. Cameron said money was the motive for the crime and said he believed "the murders and the robbery were planned." "We were told they always had thirty to forty thousand dollars in the house," Cameron said after the press conference. "Do I think there was that much in the house, no. I don't think there was that much in there at the time, I think there was a lot less." Cameron said he believes the three acted alone in the robbery and murders. Riegel said she knew the family for about three years and worked as a personal assis- tant. "They were like grandparents to my chil- dren," she said. She said she made appointments for the ailing Nancy Militello, who has been on dial- ysis for about two years and who required treatment three times a week. Angelo Ros- ales drove Nancy Militello to the doctor. "That's why he was living there with them," Riegel said. Riegel also served as bookkeeper for the Militello family businesses, which range from scrap metal and hay production to a used car business. Riegel said she met Joseph Militello while working for an auction company. When Nan- cy Militello fell ill, and "it was getting hard for her to see," she came to work for them. The Militellos moved to McAlpin from Tam- pa seven years ago to "escape the big city," said Riegel. Riegel said she had a special bond with Nancy Militello. "Nancy was my best friend and now she's gone," she said. Cameron said Howze and Munn may be driving a burgundy over silver, 1995 Dodge Ram 1500 regular cab, two wheel drive pick- up truck, which is owned by Munn's girl- friend. The truck has a covered bed, numer- ous stickers on the back window, and front end damage. "We believe the Florida tag assigned to the truck, H039CW, has been removed and re- placed with a different, unknown tag," ac- cording to a wanted poster. "They have told acquaintances they are going to Michigan or Ohio where they have family members, but they may have headed to the Tampa area where they are affiliated with the Black Pis- tons motorcycle gang." Cameron said authorities are also "search- ing up and down the eastern seaboard and they could quite possibly be located locally in this state still." Howze and Munn are each wanted on three counts of first degree murder, and one count each of home invasion while armed with a firearm; conspiracy to commit home invasion while armed with a firearm; and conspiracy to commit first degree murder while armed with a firearm. Howze is described as 6'4", 280 pounds with a shaved head, blue eyes. He has a tat- too of a Swastika on his inner right bicep and multiple other tattoos. Munn is described as 5'9", 165 pounds, brown hair, hazel eyes with multiple tattoos on his arms, legs, back and chest. If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of Howze and Munn, you are asked to contact the Suwannee County Sher- iff's Office at 386-362-2222 or Florida De- partment of Law Enforcement Special Agent Tommy Roper at 1-800-226-5630. Services for the three will be held locally at Daniels Funeral Home on US 129 North, Thursday at 3 p.m. A separate service and burial will be held in Dade City on Friday. WATER Continued From Page 1A being read in Live Oak? Some city councilmen say they're not. However, the meter readers say they are and the "proof is in the paperwork at City Hall." The topic has been debated a while now, but most recently came to a head last month at a budget workshop when, review- ing the 2010-11 proposed bud- get, Councilman John Yulee asked why the public works de- partment needed a new meter reading truck. Yulee said the department doesn't need one because the meters aren't being read. Not true, say Billy Law and Keith Touchton, the city's only meter readers. "Everybody has this impres- sion that you have to uncover all the dirt and grass from a meter, but it's not true," said Touchton. "If we walked up to every meter and dug out the dirt and removed the grass over it, we would never get finished. Yeah, there's grass growing over it, but most of the time the lid to the meter doesn't even get removed." Touchton said that in some cases, he and Law merely have to lift the lid with a screwdriver, look in, read the numbers and move on. When dirt covers the dial, Law said they use the screwdriver, move the dirt aside on top of the meter, just enough to read the numbers and move on to the next one (both scenar- ios were witnessed by this re- porter on three separate meters). Law said they don't have time to dig out the dirt, and since they only carve a small half inch or so line in the dirt to read the num- bers, the dirt quickly fills back in. They have about 5,200 gas and water meters to read in the city in a 20 day window. That averages to about 130 meters each a day. They said that's not impossi- ble. With their experience, about 30 years between the two, it gets done, they said. On any given day they miss a few, often due to weather, but they get read the next day. As for those that leave coins or rocks on the meter to see if the meter readers stopped by, Touchton said they put them right back when they're finished. "We want people to under- stand that we are trained for this job," he said. "We have the ex- perience and the knowledge that we have to perform this job with accuracy and efficiency." Each meter reader has a hand- held device containing each ad- dress along with its previous reading. Once they see the num- ber on the dial they key it in. The handheld device "learns" a resi- dence's normal usage, so if a number gets transposed or the figure is significantly different than usual, the device emits a loud beep and asks the user if he is certain of the entry. If not he rekeys. Otherwise, the entry re- mains but is downloaded at City Hall and verified by a supervisor. Usually the pair get a number of re-reads in which the supervisor or the device didn't like a certain read. Last month 91 were re- read. In some the mistake was human error. "We do make mistakes, but we have those fail safe systems," said Touchton. "We're only hu- man, people don't realize that we have to work in 100 degree heat all day walking around in rain, dirt. It takes a toll on you and you're going to mess up. But the end result is usually accurate. If not, it gets taken care of." Law and Touchton said some- times you will see them both rid- ing together or just taking it easy under a shade tree. "We have to take breaks every now and again, you just have to," said Touchton. "But that is the perception right there. They ride by and see us and think 'they're not doing ;ii:, iliii-. look at them just sitting there,' but do they ever stop and ask if we're OK in the heat?" In any case, there's plenty of incentive to do the job and do it right, the workers say. "We're monitored very closely [by OMI]," said Law. "By the time I kneel down and lift up the cover, the hard work's already over. Why not go ahead and get the numbers? It would be silly of me not to." Law referred to a recent entry in the Suwannee Democrat Rant & Rave column in which a caller had feared a high water bill fol- lowing a leak, only to find the next month's statement un- changed. Law said they only read the thousands on the meter, not the hundreds. In other words, if a water meter reads "425,099," only the "425" is recorded. "If (the caller) had an inch of water in the kitchen and if it's a basic kitchen size of say 12 by 12, then that's only 98 gallons of water, so that won't even be counted on her bill," said Law. "We only bill by the thousands, not hundreds. You'd have to have 10 inches to get it there." However, he said the "099" eventually rolls over and that is the reason why some people's bill spikes one month for no ap- parent reason. "It's going to get you eventu- ally," said Law. "We try explain- ing this to customers." Law and Touchton both said the most complaints are received this time of year because folks use more water washing their ve- hicles, watering plants and lawns and for other outdoor activities. They say their bill goes up and the complaints start coming in. A minimum bill, for 3,000 gal- lons of water, is $12.08. Facebook fans say... Here's a sampling of postings to our Facebook page following the triple murder in McAlpin. This is a sign of the times...no work, no in- come, no changes in this county to open up new jobs or bring in large business to employee our citizens leads to this!! MONEY! I'm say this wouldn't have happened any way...these men are criminals, but peo- ple will do desperate things in desperate times! WOW--AMAZING WHAT A LIFE IS WORTH THESE DAYS. I know all of these people and it just makes me sick to my stom- ach to think that anyone could and did do this. I hope they have fund with the money because it will be the last money they will have for the rest of their life.SAD-SAD-SAD!!!!!! I have spread their pic- tures all over my wall. No telling what state they are in by now. This is so sad. What businesses did they own? We need to always look out for each other and pay attention (not snoop) to our neighbors! REMAIN AWARE OF YOUR SUR- ROUNDINGS This is horrible for this small county and hope they catch them soon before they harm someone else OMG scary.. 3 murders.. and so close to home.. OMG! What has Suwan- nee County come to? Glad I don't live there anymore. It's not a very nice place to raise a family in anymore. 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