``He was always a sweetheart to me,'' Moresi said.

Joe Lopardi Jr. has a different impression of Lorenzo, 46. He sought a temporary injunction against Lorenzo in 2004 after Lorenzo e-mailed Lopardi's parents and business partner during a dispute to offer ``insight'' into a sexual ``kink side'' he claimed Lopardi had.

``For my parents, of all people, to get something like that is kind of appalling,'' Lopardi, 33, said. ``It made me think, `What am I dealing with here?' ''

Lorenzo, a man accused of drugging and raping seven men - and linked in a federal affidavit to the deaths of two others - is an enigma to many he encountered.

He is a New York native who settled in Seminole Heights, where neighbors know him as a home inspector quick to help them with repairs.

He also is a sexual dominant who enjoys restraining men during consensual sex, he told federal investigators.

A former volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay, Lorenzo earned praise in the Watermark, a local gay publication, for his charitable work.

Linked Up With Partner

Online, Lorenzo found a kindred spirit in Scott Schweickert, 39, of Peru, Ill., and Orlando. The chat partners discussed using drugs to make ``boys'' submit and shared sexual experiences during Schweickert's visits to Tampa, a federal affidavit released May 20 shows.

``Tell them we are going to party and invite them along,'' Schweickert, using the screen name ``MstrScott,'' suggests in the transcript of one chat in October 2003. ``Tell them we need to stop off at one of our places, drug them there and then that is it for them.''

Lorenzo, using the screen name ``Domdudeforsub,'' replies: ``Easy to make them vanish with no link to us in the least!''

In the affidavit, Schweickert describes how Lorenzo smothered two gay men who were reported missing in December 2003, Jason Galehouse and Michael Wachholtz. It also describes how Lorenzo and Schweickert dismembered Galehouse and dumped Wachholtz's body in his Jeep in a Town 'N Country apartment complex.

Neither has been charged in the deaths. Lorenzo has been held without bail at the Orient Road Jail since November, when he was indicted on federal drug charges accusing him of the sexual assaults. Schweickert was charged May 20 with being an accessory to a drug-related crime.

Friday, federal prosecutors asked for a sample of Lorenzo's DNA to compare to blood evidence found on the hardwood floors and garage of his home at 213 W. Powhatan Ave. The evidence contained DNA profiles of more than one person, prosecutors said.

Lorenzo is promiscuous but has denied raping or killing anyone, his attorney, Donald Harrison, has said.

Shocked At Charges

Even so, the allegations shocked neighbors and acquaintances such as Moresi, who last saw Lorenzo about a year ago at Tropic's, a now- closed south Tampa restaurant.

``It's not the Steve I know,'' Moresi said, adding that some of his friends are in disbelief. ``I've never seen him be mean or rude to anybody. I was never given any cause to be wary of him or afraid of him.''

Even Lopardi said the allegations ``floored'' him. Lorenzo befriended Lopardi's former boyfriend, Jason Snelling, in October 2003 during the couple's breakup.

Snelling, 34, has lived intermittently in Lorenzo's house since Lorenzo's indictment. Lorenzo registered a business named Petworks at Snelling's address in May 2004, public records show. Snelling could not be reached for comment. Police say he is not a suspect in the case.

Lorenzo and Lopardi filed for injunctions against each other in the wake of Lopardi and Snelling's breakup. The courts denied the injunctions.

Lorenzo ``always seemed like a nuisance,'' said Lopardi, a dog groomer, who is about 2 inches taller and 20 pounds lighter than the 5-foot-9-inch, 170-pound Lorenzo. ``I never felt like he could be a physical threat.''

Lorenzo was born Jan. 22, 1959, in Brooklyn, N.Y. His sister, Catherine, of St. Petersburg, and brother, Guy, of Feeding Hills, Mass., have visited him at Orient Road Jail since his indictment. So has George Lorenzo of Palm Harbor, whom jail records list as Lorenzo's father.

None returned phone calls and written messages from reporters. A man answering the phone at George Lorenzo's home said Steven was a ``nice guy'' who was being ``railroaded'' but declined to identify himself.

Snelling is also a frequent visitor to the jail.

Few details about Lorenzo's youth have come to light. He lived in or bought property in Suffolk County, N.Y., and Camden County, N.J., before moving to Tampa in 1994. He lived in an apartment on West Shore Boulevard before buying the Powhatan Avenue house that year, public records show.

Lorenzo worked as an electrician, his attorney said, before starting Cobblestone Home Inspection Services out of his home in 1998.

He volunteered as a youth mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay between October 2000 and December 2002, said Lorie Briggs, the charity's spokeswoman. She declined to elaborate on his involvement, citing a confidentiality policy.

Briggs said Lorenzo passed an extensive background check before the charity paired him with a child. This included a review of his criminal record, driving record and personal references; an interview and a home visit.

Before his current troubles, Lorenzo's only brush with the law was a traffic citation in 1996, records show.

First Reports In 2000

Tampa police first started hearing about him in November 2000, according to police reports cited in federal court papers. A man Lorenzo picked up at Metropolis, a Tampa gay bar, reported he went home with Lorenzo for sex with him and another man. After some drinks, the man told police, he awoke naked on the living room floor with ligature marks on his wrists and ankles, bruising on his genitals, shaved hair on his armpits and pubic area, and ink marks on his chest.

Other police reports between 2001 and 2003 describe similar sexual encounters.

In August 2002, Lorenzo caught the attention of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Court papers show agents traced to Lorenzo's address an order for a chemical used to make gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, a central nervous system depressant known as a ``date rape drug.'' Lorenzo told the agents he used the drug in the past but did not know the chemical ordered was similar.

Federal agents arrested him in June on felony methamphetamine charges during a search of his home. Those charges were not prosecuted, court records show.

Neighbors, including Jim Henglebrok, don't want to prejudge the man they met through neighborhood gatherings. But the allegations make him curious about the handyman who, aside from being openly gay, ``didn't stand out in the least.''

``It just seems extremely out of character with the appearance that he gave,'' Henglebrok said. ``You just don't expect someone could be capable of what he's accused of.''

Reporters Anthony McCartney and Thomas W. Krause contributed to this report. Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800.

Keyword: Missing, to view an online special report about the case involving Steven Lorenzo and Scott Paul Schweickert. Read an affidavit linking the two men to the slayings of two gay men.