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Tampa Bay’s hometown hero, Hulk Hogan, is scheduled for an appearance on Larry King Live on CNN tonight.

Hogan is going through a rough patch: his marriage is crumbling, his son is sitting in the Hotel Graybar for a few months after nearly killing his friend in a car accident and his daughter is pissed off cuz Daddy is dating her former BFF.

The Hulkster’s even gotta put up with low-rent paparazzi chasing him around Wal-Mart with his Brooke-lookalike gal pal. (Video on TMZ.)

Of course, this type of dysfunctional Hulkamania is nothing new to Creative Loafing readers. In 2006, we told you the story of how Hulk (aka Terry Bollea to those who knew him growing up a South-of-Gandy kinda guy in Tampa in the 1970s) pushed to get an innocent man arrested after he believed the guy ripped off his dear old mother, who lived in a lower middle class home even as the Hulkster enjoyed his Belleair mansion. From “Body Slammed:”

The shaming of William Guevara began early on a summer morning. At 7:30 a.m., July 9, 2004, Guevara and his wife Judy were awakened by banging on their front door. Judy went to the door in her robe to find officers from the Tampa Police Department waiting to arrest her husband.

MUGGED: The police mug shot of William Guevara taken the day of his arrest. “They didn’t even let me comb his hair,” his wife said.

Officers gave Guevara little time to dress before handcuffing him behind his back. “They didn’t even let me comb his hair,” Judy says.

Two years later, Guevara still suffers from the arrest. As he tries to tell his story, he slumps forward, his voice breaking, barely able to utter a word. Tears fall from his eyes onto his guayabera shirt. His wife must speak for him.

Guevara is a small man, 60 years old, neatly dressed, with white hair and a moustache immaculately cared for. He doesn’t look like a criminal. But on that July morning, he was treated like a criminal.

His accuser? Pro wrestling icon Hulk Hogan. In the star’s eyes, William Guevara — who had cared for years for Hogan’s elderly father and mother — was a thief. Police charged Guevara with third-degree grand theft, exploitation of an elderly person and fraudulent use of a credit card.

It was all a mistake.

The story went on to detail how Guevara was a caretaker for Hulk’s aging parents and how Hulk rarely visited them and left them dependent on Guevara for assistance, the caretaker insisted. Guevara would have settled for an apology from Hulk for his wrongful arrest, but he never got one.

Read the full account here, along with dozens of hilarious pro-Hulk comments.

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