1-Woman Crime Spree, Pennzoil Pants, Snakebite Mom

Patch operates 24 daily news sites in the Tampa Bay area and surrounding counties. The following are some of the more unusual, wacky, wonderful or just plain weird stories that have had people talking over the past few weeks:

Snakebite Mom Faces Child Abuse Charge: Video

A 34-year-old Sebring woman faces a possible child abuse charge after the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office finished its investigation into a video that surfaced on Facebook. That video showed the woman’s 1-year-old daughter being struck by a red rat snake that her mother allegedly placed in front of her for the sole purpose of letting it strike.

Russians Didn’t Hack Pasco County Elections: Supervisor

The Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Office was one of three across the Sunshine State to receive malicious emails in the days prior to the 2016 presidential election. A classified document allegedly leaked by a government contractor says those emails were part of a possible cyberattack perpetrated by the Russians to disrupt the national election.

Forbes’ Flub: 7 Cities No Longer Best For Young Professionals

Cigar City is no longer considered one of the Top 25 metro areas for young professionals to pick up sticks and move to in 2017. Thanks to a data error, Tampa is joined by six others, including Anaheim, California; Charleston, South Carolina; and St. Louis, in getting the boot from Forbes’ Best Cities For Young Professionals 2017 rankings.

Brandon Sandy Hook Truther Sentenced

A 57-year-old Brandon woman who pleaded guilty to threatening the father of a boy killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Connecticut, has been sentenced to five months in prison.

Man Stuffs Pants With 15 Quarts Of Pennzoil, DVDs: Video

A 38-year-old Lakeland man’s alleged attempt to shoplift items from a 7-Eleven on Duff Road was doomed from the start, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. The entire incident happened to be witnessed by a detective who was sitting in a parked, unmarked patrol car outside the store as the crime unfolded, the agency reported Monday.

Carjacking, Hit-And-Run Spree Ends In Arrest

A 31-year-old woman faces criminal charges after she allegedly went on what St. Petersburg Police described as a “one-woman crime spree” Monday morning.

The Top Misspelled Word In Florida Is…

What word do Floridians struggle the most to spell more than any other? Thanks to the folks at Google, we now know the answer.