November 2011
86 posts
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Mom upset school's guest speaker was a Hooter's... →
One mom is upset that the Great American Teach-In guest speaker at her child’s school — a Clearwater K-12 public school that serves students with emotional and behavioral disabilities — was a Hooter’s waitress, reports theSt. Petersburg Times.
The Great American teach-In is a day where professionals all over the country go to schools to talk a bit about their jobs.
The waitress...
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One killed in Miami-Dade restaurant shooting →
One person is dead, a second hospitalized in critical condition after a shooting at the popular La Cuerva USA Café on Bird Road in west Miami-Dade, CBS-Ch. 4 reported.
Miami-Dade police spokesman Det. Javier Baez said it started with a fight between four individuals. During the confrontation, one of the individuals pulled out a gun and fired several shots at the restaurant at 8870 Bird Road.
...
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Monkey on the loose in Palm Coast →
Flagler County’s newest “most wanted” is not a bank robber or a violent criminal — it’s a monkey!
The animal was spotted this weekend in Palm Coast and got away.
Although the missing monkey has a growing fan base, but law enforcement isn’t monkeying around in trying to catch the fugitive primate.
Jack VanDegrift drove down his street Sunday to find the area...
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Retired priest arrested in bathroom sex sting →
A retired Catholic priest was one of six men arrested in Holly Hill as part of a sex sting in a public bathroom.
According to our news partners at the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Paige Blakely was arrested last Thursday after an undercover officer said the 61-year-old exposed himself inside the bathroom.
Blakely is a former pastor at St. Ann’s Catholic Church, in DeBary. He retired in...
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Carnival employee accused of sexual acts with a... →
A Carnival Cruise Lines employee has been charged with engaging in sexual acts with a minor, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern United States said in a releaseTuesday.
According to the criminal complaint filed, Kert Clyde Jordan, 35 of Grenada engaged in a sexual acts with a 14-year old while she was on vacation with her family aboard the Carnival Liberty.
Jordan – a waiter...
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Dog bites girl, is stabbed by girl's grandfather →
Pinellas County Sheriff’s deputies say a dog bit a 4-year-old girl and then the girl’s grandfather stabbed the dog twice in the neck with a pocket knife.
The incident happened shortly before noon on Monday at an outdoor seating area of a McDonald’s restaurant.
Authorities say the dog, the dog’s owners, the child and her grandfather all knew each other. The dog...
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Men killed by SUV while fighting in road →
Authorities say two men fighting in the middle of a southwest Florida road were fatally hit by an SUV.
The Florida Highway Patrol reports that 47-year-old John William Barr and 45-year-old Jerry Bramlett were involved in a physical altercation Sunday night in the middle of a North Fort Myers road.
As two vehicles were approaching the men, officials say the lead vehicle swerved into another...
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Deputies seize 28 guns, arrest 25 suspects in... →
The weapons, some appearing more menacing than others, all have their own history, but the majority ended up in the same place: in the hands of convicted criminals.
On Monday, members of a special gun squad with the Broward Sheriff’s Office unveiled an arsenal of weapons they said they seized during a one-month campaign called “Operation Bullseye.”
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Police hunt for woman who stole handbag containing... →
A purse containing a firearm was stolen from a woman while she was shopping in a West Melbourne Wal-Mart on Sunday, police report today.
According to a press release from the West Melbourne Police Department, two women were shopping in the produce section of the store, which is at 845 Palm Bay Road. When the women turned their backs on their shopping cart, an unidentified female grabbed the...
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Man accused of up-skirting shares his method with... →
Be wary of men tying their shoes — especially if their shoes have velcro with no laces in them.
Like this guy. Armando Tiburcio Pineda, 30, was busted for up-skirting at a Lee County park, reports the Naples Daily News.
The Bonnita Springs man allegedly told deputies he took the videos while he would tie his shoes; deputies noted Pineda’s shoes were fastened by velcro, with no laces in...
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Woman accused to stabbing neighbor over $5 →
When her neighbor wouldn’t give her some cash, an Oakland Park woman used a steak knife to avenge her financial rejection, authorities said.
Dorothy Cooper, 59, stands accused of stabbing her neighbor, Robert Martin, after he refused to give her $5, according to a Broward Sheriff’s Office affidavit.
At a first appearance hearing on Monday, Judge John “Jay” Hurley...
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Woman wakes to find burglar inside her apartment →
A woman had the fright of her life after she found a stranger inside of her home at Orlando’s 55 West apartment complex.
Police said at about 10:50 p.m., the 24-year-old was in bed asleep when she heard footsteps coming down her hallway. She told them at first she thought it was her roommate, but she then saw that it was a stranger in her home. The victim then yelled, “who the hell...
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13-year-old accused of starting fire in school... →
A 13-year-old is charged with arson, after deputies said she was caught setting a fire in her middle school bathroom.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Department said it happened Monday, just before 1:30 p.m. in the girl’s locker room at Eustis Middle School. Investigators said she started the fire by pouring gasoline on the floor out of a bottle.
The teen’s gym teacher told...
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More cats than inmates at Fla. prison set to close →
Authorities say dozens of cats that snuck into a Florida prison will be found new homes before the facility closes next month.
As many as 80 cats have burrowed under fences and taken up residence at the state-run prison in Belle Glade. Prisoners have been feeding the animals, even though rules prohibit that.
The 1,000-inmate prison closes Dec. 1. Officials tell The Palm Beach Post (...
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Man dialed 911 67 times →
Deputies say a Tampa man called 911 67 times over a two-hour period.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office arrested 37-year-old Clarence McDonald on Tuesday after deputies pulled over the car he was riding in. They say he started calling 911 operators on Monday night, reporting that he had been shot at and was being shot.
Officials say McDonald never provided his location.
The...
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'Garbage man' swindling suspect arrested →
A 57-year-old felon with multiple theft convictions was arrested Tuesday on charges that he defrauded Titusville residents while posing as their garbage man.
Ezzard Charles Guilford was handcuffed at his South Street home in connection with six counts of scheming to defraud and four counts of exploitation of the elderly.
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Two charged in alleged kidnapping in Delray Beach →
An Orlando teenager is facing charges for staging his own kidnapping to extort a ransom from his father, according to Delray Beach police.
The 17-year-old disappeared from the Chris Evert/Raymond James Pro-Celebrity Tennis tournament in Delray Beach on Sunday morning. He later called his father claiming his captors were demanding $50,000 for his release, police said.
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Mother accused of fighting another student at... →
A woman was arrested Tuesday for going to her daughter’s school, hitting a student and telling her daughter to fight another student.
According to students and parents at the school, The Mom says she was tired of her daughter being bullied.
Leslie Thomas, 30, was arrested at Lockhart Middle School. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office says Thomas went to the school’s cafeteria...
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Report shows woman shot by deputy had taken meth →
A toxicology report shows that a Florida woman who was fatally shot by an East Tennessee deputy after slashing him and trying to drive away in his patrol car had taken methamphetamine and several other drugs.
Bradley County Sheriff’s Maj. Jon Collins told the Cleveland Daily Banner that a report received Monday shows meth, lidocaine and other drugs in the body of 30-year-old Armetta...
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11-year-old boy on bike hit by FedEx truck →
An 11-year-old boy is in stable condition after he was hit by a FedEx truck while riding his bike home from school.
It happened on Fiske Avenue after the child left Golfview Elementary.
Police said the truck’s driver saw kids in the crosswalk and stopped.
The child’s bike chain had come off, and he was bending over to fix it.
The driver thought he had cleared the boy, but ended...
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Credit union employees pistol-whipped during... →
Two people are hurt after being pistol-whipped during a bank robbery Wednesday morning in Orange County.
One person was in custody, but authorities are still looking for another suspect.
SWAT teams and deputies shut down part of Orange Blossom trail as they searched for the man who robbed the Sunbelt Credit Union.
Deputies said just before 8 a.m. the credit union was just opening when two...
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Man convicted of murdering girlfriend →
A Tampa Bay area man has been convicted of kidnapping and killing his girlfriend.
A Hillsborough County jury found 41-year-old Vincent Brown guilty Wednesday of first-degree murder and kidnapping. The same jury on Saturday will recommend whether Brown should receive the death penalty or life in prison. A judge will make the final decision.
Jennifer Johnson’s body was found at an...
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Worker killed after tractor hits electrical wire →
Authorities say a Tampa Bay area farm worker was killed after a metal boom on his tractor came in contact with a live electrical wire.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office reports that the tractor 44-year-old Fernando Melechor was driving hit the wire Wednesday afternoon. The Bradenton Herald ( http://bit.ly/vIZ3Uc) reports that he was electrocuted when he got off the tractor and touched...
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Cops searching for manatee violators find pot... →
Two Boynton Beach marine officers patrolling for manatee season hit a “jackpot” when they discovered a boat trying to smuggle in enough marijuana to rival a sea cow in weight – about 1,300 pounds of it, worth $1.2 million in street sales, police said. The suspects set sail from the Bahamas. Officers Gregg Koch and Darin Hederian grew suspicious after seeing a 31-foot center console...
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Boy arrested after taking truck from impound lot →
Authorities say a 10-year-old central Florida boy broke into an impound lot by scaling a 10-foot chain-link fence and stole a pickup truck.
Eatonville police spokesman Eric McIntyre says the boy drove the truck through a fence Wednesday and took off down the street. Someone noticed a child driving and called police. The boy drove several blocks, throwing the truck into reverse to avoid police...
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Pregnant woman pushing stroller struck by car →
Despite efforts overnight by doctors at Tampa General Hospital, the unborn baby of a woman hit and killed by a car Wednesday night has died as well.
The 27-year-old pregnant mother, Monica Alvarez, was pushing a stroller, along with Shanita Little, 24, and her child, Marquisha Wilson, 1, also in a stroller, when the crash happened just before 8 p.m. at 43rd Street North and Hillsborough Avenue...
Bomb found next to dead man in Deltona home →
A bomb squad was called to a Volusia County home early Thursday to investigate a suspicious device found next to a dead body.
Deputies said it all started just before 3 a.m., when they responded to reports of a shooting at a home on the 3200 block of Partridge Street.
Patridge Street was shut down at Bonview Avenue for several hours early Thursday, but has since reopened.
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Man shot in butt at Orlando motel →
Orange County deputies are investigating a shooting that sent a man to the hospital.
Just after 3:30 a.m. Thursday, deputies responded to the Knights Inn off Orange Blossom Trail. Investigators said one of the rooms was shot into several times.
A man inside suffered a gunshot wound to the buttocks. His injuries are non-life threatening. There is no word yet on any arrests.
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Nearly 100 evacuated from nursing home after... →
The cause of the carbon monoxide leak in a nursing home eaarly Thursday was a faulty stove, said a spokesman from West Palm Beach Emergency Management.
“Not all the burners were working on the stove,” said Allan Orton, emergency management coordinator for the city of West Palm Beach. “Everyone’s back inside. They’re having lunch.”
At 8:52 a.m., West Palm...
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Officer accused of helping drug ring linked to... →
An Opa-locka police captain has been arrested on charges he helped a violent drug-trafficking ring linked to a deadly Brink’s robbery in Miramar last year, authorities said Thursday.
Capt. Arthur Balom, 44, of Miramar, is a “corrupt” cop who helped a “violent, multi-kilo drug-trafficking organization,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge John V. Gillies.
Balom is...
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Former Disney reservations clerk acquitted of rape →
A former Disney reservation clerk was found not guilty of rape charges.
An Orange County jury acquitted Wilbert Brookins Wednesday.
Prosecutors said he raped a woman in her room at a Walt Disney World resort in February.
But the jury acquitted him, even though the defense didn’t even put on a case.
In closing arguments, his lawyer told the jury the woman sent texts to Brookins after...
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Despondent man answers Florida deputy's friend... →
A Facebook friend request from a Pasco County Sheriff’s deputy may have saved a despondent man’s life. Officials in Odessa, about 25 miles north of Tampa, said an armed man barricaded himself in a backyard shed Wednesday and told his wife he was going to “do something to make the cops kill me,” according to a police report released Thursday. The man’s wife told...
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Cop accused of shooting at fellow officer had... →
The Lauderhill police officer accused of trying to gun down his colleague had a history of disciplinary incidents, according to Internal Affairs files released Thursday afternoon.
Kristopher Bieger, the 30-year-old son of a retired Hallandale Beach cop, faces charges of attempted first-degree murder and discharging a firearm from a vehicle after he fired 10 shots at a fellow officer who refused...
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Sewage leak causes smelly problem →
Utility crews have stopped a large sewage leak in Sarasota that caused a foul-smelling pool outside of a public park and spillage into Sarasota Bay.
The leak was stopped early Thursday morning. Officials say the untreated waste had been spewing from a broken sewer main for 24 hours.
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune (http://bit.ly/tNc0fL) reports that an estimated 40,000 gallons of waste water is...
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Suspect held in death of man in car trunk →
Deputies in Tampa say they suspect a 35-year-old man played some role in the death of an elderly real estate developer whose body was driven to the sheriff’s office in the trunk of a car.
The sheriff’s office said Thursday that James Monroe Sheets II was arrested and charged with stealing a car belonging to the victim, 79-year-old Henry Shell. An unidentified person drove...
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Fla. man lured to Ohio by Craigslist job ad found... →
A judge issued a gag order Friday on behalf of a juvenile suspect in the killing of one man and the wounding of another who had responded to a phony job ad on Craigslist. The boy’s attorney sought to stop authorities and prosecutors from speaking about what the lawyer described as a “highly sensational” case. Noble County Sheriff Stephen Hannum said in an email Friday that he...
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Cabbie shot in Pompano Beach →
The Broward Sheriff’s Office was investigating the circumstances that left a taxicab driver shot and his cab crashed into a parked car on Friday morning. The shooting happened sometime before the 6 a.m. along the 2900 block of Northwest Seventh Street, the Sheriff’s Office said. The taxi was outside a residence, crashed into a parked car. Rescuers rushed the wounded cab driver to North...
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Teachers worried about girl later found dead →
Prosecutors have released hundreds of pages of documents in the case of a Miami couple accused of killing their adoptive daughter.
The files related to the murder trial of Jorge and Carmen Barahona show teachers at their adoptive daughter Nubia’s school showed signs of concern for her in the years leading to her death.
They noted she came to school unkempt and smelling of urine, once...
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'I want to…become a priest,' teen accused of... →
It’s been a tough couple of months for 17-year-old Michael Mandell. A jailhouse letter from his best friend, Tyler Hadley, who stands accused of murdering his parents, came for him in the mail last month. “I want to get out and become a priest. I can’t wait to do good in school and don’t mess up,” Mandell read from the letter.
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Dead cats found on SW Fla. golf course →
Authorities in Southwest Florida are investigating after dismembered cats were left on the fairways at a golf club.
The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office says the latest incident happened Thursday when a maintenance worker found a dead cat at the Port Charlotte Golf Club. Deputies say the cat was cut from the throat to its belly.
The worker called authorities. When deputies arrived, they...
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110-year-old gun stolen in Fla., returned to owner... →
A 110-year-old family heirloom revolver that was stolen in Jacksonville in 1997 has been returned to its owner.
The U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday that the nickel plated, pearl-handled, Colt single action .45 caliber revolver was originally presented to the chief of the San Antonio, Texas Police Department in 1901.
The chief’s great grandson, Kent Van Riper, was passing...
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Man charged with sex trafficking of child →
A Florida man has been charged with arranging for a teenage girl to travel to New Orleans to work as a prostitute.
U.S. Attorney Jim Letten’s office says 29-year-old Benson December Coriolant, of Orlando, was taken into federal custody Thursday to face charges in an indictment unsealed on Oct. 24.
Prosecutors say the victim was about 14 years old when Coriolant recruited her in 2009 to...
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10-year-old kicked teacher’s assistant in face →
A 10-year-old Volusia County girl was arrested after police said she kicked a teacher’s assistant in the face.
It happened at Forest Lake Elementary School in Deltona. According to sheriff’s deputies, the girl was placed in timeout after being disruptive and falling asleep in math class.
When the teacher’s assistant went to check on the student, deputies said the girl...
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Toddler struck by riding lawn mower's blade dies →
A 19-month-old boy is dead after he was struck in the head by a riding lawn mower’s blade.
The incident happened around 11:20 a.m. Friday at a home in the 4100 block of Navajo Lane.
Police said the boy fell off a trailer affixed to the mower, which was being driven by his grandmother.
The boy was airlifted to Parrish Medical Center and later pronounced dead. The death remains under...
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Brevard school's no-hug rule is no joke →
A Brevard middle-schooler’s punishment for hugging another student has some up in arms over what they see as an innocent, and increasingly popular, gesture by a child.
Others say the school, Southwest Middle in Palm Bay, has every right to put the squeeze on public displays of affection, a move so common in the United States that some schools ban everything from handshakes to hugs to...
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Teen paralyzed after being shot in neck →
Investigators responding to a 911 call about gunshots early Friday morning found a teenager shot in the neck and paralyzed.
Detectives said the caller reported hearing shots fired on Karl Laneshortly after 1 a.m.
When they arrived, detectives found the 16-year-old victim. He could not speak, but detectives were able to get him to answer whether he knew his shooter by having him blink.
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Woman missing, estranged boyfriend in custody →
Osceola County deputies said they need your help to find a possibly endangered woman who hasn’t been seen since Thursday.
Deputies said Nicole Fields may be with her estranged boyfriend, Steven Louis. Louis has been taken into custody. Fields’ mother said her daughter never returned home after a scheduled court hearing Thursday at the Osceola County Courthouse involving custody of a...
2 men charged with breeding roosters to fight →
Two men have been charged with fighting or baiting animals after 300 roosters were found on a farm near Ocala.
According to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, the men were breeding and training the roosters for cockfights.
The Ocala Star Banner reports ( http://bit.ly/uSS9lJ) the roosters and about 100 hens were found Wednesday in two barns in cages. Animal control officers went to the...
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69-year-old man feeding birds on dock falls in,... →
It appears a 69-year-old Hudson man drowned after falling off his dock Saturday. The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office said a neighbor saw James Lery Cooper fall off the dock and into the water. Cooper was on the dock feeding birds and fish.
The incident occurred around 6 p.m. Saturday night off Stacey Drive.
The neighbor tried to help the man, but was unable to get him out of the...
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Backpack prompts suspicious package alert →
Officials evacuated a Publix Supermarket and surrounding businesses as a precaution after a suspicious package was reported. Kissimmee police said a backpack was found inside the Publix located at N John Young Parkway and W Columbia Ave.
Police said the owner of the backpack returned to the store and after speaking with officers was allowed to claim his belongings. All stores are being...
