Pick a card, any card

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

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The playing cards are modeled after the famous Iraqi most wanted cards.

Polk County is taking a page from the U.S. military in an effort to catch the county's most wanted suspects and also to thaw out some cold cases.

Much like the Iraqi most wanted playing cards the military distributed, Polk County Crime Stoppers and local law enforcement are handing out cards of their own.

The first people in the county to get the cards will be people who have a first-hand knowledge of the world of crime -- thousands of inmates at the county jail.

"They are going to be sitting there all day playing cards, looking at those pictures," said Wayne Cross of Crime Stoppers. "We think it'll be pretty successful as far as getting some intelligence and information."

Crime Stoppers says it is initially printing up 5,000 decks of the cards. The organization handed the cards out to law enforcement officials at a meeting Wednesday in Lakeland to study cold case murders.

Hector Manuel Marquez, wanted for second-degree murder, is the ace on the most wanted cards.

Local police departments will also hand the cards out at public events.

Crime Stoppers and a Polk County cold case unit are designing similar playing cards with 52 unsolved killings.

Tommy Ray of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement hopes the cards might prompt someone with information to come forward years after an unsolved murder.

"Relationships change," Ray said. "Someone that they were obligated to before. Not to say anything on them. Maybe they've broken up. Husband, wife. They've decided to come forward at this point."

The ace on the most wanted cards is Hector Manuel Marquez. He's wanted for second-degree murder.

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