1986: A local Make-A-Wish chapter forms in Sarasota. It covers nine West Central Florida counties.

1993: After moving the main office to Tampa, chapter President Robert A. Herce makes Crooks executive director. Meanwhile, an auxiliary that formed to succeed the chapter in Sarasota files dissolution papers with the state.

1994: The Sarasota auxiliary resumes business without reregistering and thus begins operating without regulatory oversight. Barbara Lancer assumes control. The Tampa chapter allows it latitude because of the money it raises.

1995: Night of the Iguana, an annual Make-A-Wish fundraiser that becomes one of Tampa's premier social events, begins.

1997: Delores and Jack Crooks file for bankruptcy and include among their debts personal charges on a Make-A- Wish credit card.

1998: Herce tells board members that the Sarasota auxiliary violates a number of Make-A-Wish rules and its existence could threaten the chapter. A bankruptcy court discharges the Crookses of their Make-A-Wish debt.

FEBRUARY 1999: Chapter officials hide records of the Sarasota operation to keep a national Make-A-Wish examiner from discovering it.

JUNE 1999: A collection agency seeks repayment of Delores Crooks' credit card debt from the national Make-A- Wish Foundation. Crooks is suspended and later fired; Herce immediately briefs Alvarez.

AUGUST 1999: Crooks' attorney, Lynn Cole, arranges her first meeting with federal and state authorities.

SEPTEMBER 1999: Crooks is charged with fraud and theft over her use of the credit card.

JANUARY 2000: The first in a series of judicial scandals rocks the Hillsborough County Courthouse. Over time, five judges resign, and a federal- state task force is formed to investigate political corruption and organized crime in Tampa.

JULY 2000: State Attorney Harry Lee Coe III commits suicide after agents begin investigating him for official misconduct.

JANUARY 2001: Alvarez assigns Circuit Judge Herbert Baumann, appointed to the bench the previous May, to criminal court, where Baumann inherits the Crooks case, although he has told Alvarez that he has no criminal experience and prefers a civil court assignment.

MARCH 2001: Crooks pleads no contest and is sentenced to jail after former Make-A-Wish colleagues urge Baumann to punish her severely.

MAY 2001: Alvarez moves Baumann to civil court, Baumann's preference, effective in July.

JUNE 2001: Crooks is released from jail and completes her sentence on house arrest, then serves four years' probation. Notes in her probation file mention more meetings with corruption investigators.

MARCH 2003: Rocky Rodriguez, a high-profile commander with the sheriff's office and past president of the Make-A-Wish cahpter, retires to avoid dismissal after he is found to have violated a number of sheriff's office policies.

JULY 2003: State regulators accuse Circuit Judge Gregory P. Holder, long an Alvarez foe, of ethical violations for allegedly plagiarizing an academic research paper. Holder's attorneys say he is not guilty and is being framed.

DECEMBER 2003: Documents reveal that Holder has been an FBI informant in the corruption probe and has given agents leads on things such as bribery. In one document, Holder also accuses the FBI of letting the investigation stall.

MAY 2004: Crooks has her last documented meeting with state investigators.

JUNE 2005: Holder says under oath at his ethics trial that the corruption investigation's targets include Alvarez and Rodriguez. State judicial overseers clear Holder of wrongdoing.

Michael Fechter