A Valrico real estate speculator with the personality of a Dickensian villain has quietly purchased land that homeowners in Pinellas County thought was theirs. In an effort that looks an awful lot like extortion, Don Connolly has tried to intimidate those homeowners into paying him exorbitant prices for the slivers of property. He erected a fence across back yards in Tarpon Woods and notified residents of waterfront homes on Boca Ciega Bay that he owns the land under their docks. In all, Connolly has purchased 50 tax deeds in the county, so more property owners could be surprised.

Perhaps the most outrageous fact in these sordid dealings is that Connolly apparently acted within the law. Pinellas County officials sold Connolly tax deeds on the land and did so without arousing the suspicion of adjacent property owners or protecting their interests.

Now, those officials -- the property appraiser, tax collector and clerk of courts -- should do what they can to protect unsuspecting homeowners from such devious actions. And they should work with local legislators to rewrite the law that allowed it to happen.

Connolly could end the melodrama by doing the decent thing, but that's not likely. He paid less than $1,000 for the Tarpon Woods property, which holds a drainage pond that residents thought was community property. He has offered to sell that land for $30,000 per house. To pressure the residents, he erected a ragged wood fence painted pink to block their view of the pond. Connolly bought the strip of submerged land behind 61 houses on Boca Ciega Bay -- which residents thought was state-owned -- for $2,000. He has threatened to fence off the docks unless each household pays him $5,000 (a $300,000 profit).

These aren't his first attempts at profit through intimidation. Connolly threatened to put junk cars on a lot next to a house in Manatee County unless the owners paid him $20,000. And he parked a trailer behind a Pinellas Park house where he had a tax deed on a 16-foot strip of land. He also threatened to tear down the homeowner's chain link fence unless he was paid $10,000. Now, Connolly is being investigated for a questionable deed he holds in Manatee County.

Whether Connolly has a change of heart or not, Pinellas County officials need to act quickly to protect homeowners. Tax deeds are sold on property whose taxes have gone delinquent for at least two years, but the process can be exploited, as Connolly has shown.

County officials should give immediate relief to property owners threatened by Connolly by looking for errors in his deeds and by using existing ordinances where they can to stop his most outrageous behavior, such as erecting unsightly fences or parking junk cars in residential areas. Tax officials in some counties take it upon themselves to notify affected parties in upcoming tax deed sales, and Pinellas County officials should do so as well.

A permanent fix, however, will require a change in state law. The Legislature could require common property in a subdivision to be taken off the tax rolls and automatically deeded to the appropriate homeowners, which is already done with condominiums. Then, property that serves a public purpose or has no potential for improvement would be beyond the reach of unscrupulous speculators.

As soon as possible, lawmakers should fix the notification portion of the tax deed law. While the current law requires public notice of a sale, it comes in the form of a brief, legalistic ad, often placed in an obscure publication that is not widely distributed. Many of the problems created by Connolly's tax deeds could have been avoided if adjacent landowners had known about the property's status. They could have questioned the validity of the deed or bid on the property themselves. In addition to an ad, direct notification of adjacent property owners should be a necessary step before a tax deed is sold.

County officials are meeting with the county attorney next week to devise a strategy to address those matters. They should act before more homeowners face threats to their peace of mind and property values.

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