PANAMA CITY — One of the two Alabama college students charged with what authorities are calling a broad-daylight Spring Break “gang rape” has bonded out of jail while the other remains in custody, according to court records.

Delonte’ Martistee, a 22-year-old senior from Bainbridge, Ga., and Ryan Calhoun, a 23-year-old sophomore from Mobile, Ala., were arrested Thursday in Alabama on Bay County warrants. Both men, students of Troy University in Alabama, were charged with sexual battery by multiple perpetrators after a cellphone video surfaced of several men taking advantage of an incapacitated female on a crowded beach in broad daylight, although none of the onlookers came to the woman’s aid. Martistee and Calhoun were taken to the Bay County Jail and held on a $50,000 bond, according to Bay County Jail officials.

Martistee, a track star at the school, remained in custody Monday, according to officials. He declined to speak with local media outlets.

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Calhoun posted bond Saturday shortly after being booked. He also now faces charges of retail theft stemming from a March 2013 incident, according to court records. A warrant for his arrest had been pending after violating terms of the case’s resolution.

BCSO officials said they expect more arrests to come in connection with the videotaped rape. BCSO spokeswoman Ruth Corley said Monday an ID of a third suspect is likely; however, no new arrests had been announced late Monday.

The cellphone video, which Sheriff Frank McKeithen has likened to “wild animals preying on a carcass laying in the woods,” was obtained during a Troy Police investigation into a shooting that left people injured with nonlife-threatening wounds. The video depicts several males surrounding an incapacitated female on a wooden chair behind the beach club. As the men make comments like “she isn’t going to know,” the female feebly tries to push their hands away from her.

The victim, a 20-year-old woman, told investigators she might have been drugged but, beyond that, she could not remember much, BCSO reported.

The woman, whose name is not being released, never reported the case because she did not remember the details, BCSO reported. Without the discovery of Troy Police, BCSO might never have gotten word of the incident. BCSO said the incident happened between March 10 and March 12 on a crowded beach during broad daylight.

School responds: Officials of Troy University distanced the institution from the charges against two of its students in a public statement. Both men have been temporarily suspended for violating the school’s standards, and Martistee has been removed from the track team, according to Senior Vice Chancellor Walter Givhan.

“We do not tolerate breaches of those standards,” he said.

Givhan added that, to ensure due process, the suspension is temporary due to the pending investigation.

“At Troy, we talk about the Trojan way,” he said. “It is about caring for one’s self and others.”

Back on Panama City Beach Sunday morning, Zack Sasser, who has rented out beach chairs and equipment for the past four years, picked up beer cans, cigarette butts and the occasional condom that littered the beachfront. He said the biggest issue with Spring Break is binge drinking.

“People come down here and go from zero to 60, and they cannot handle it,” he said Sunday, adding he did not think Spring Break was any more out of control than normal, but that more people are filming every action.

At a Panama City Beach McDonald’s, teenagers Timia Bryant and Arabia Quigley, both 17, were among a group of 15 teens from Atlanta.

“I felt safe because I was with my friends,” Bryant said. “We always stayed in groups and checked on each other.”

Quigley said Spring Break safety comes down to personal choices.

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“If you are drinking or doing drugs or not paying attention to who you are with, it can be dangerous,” she said.

During a press conference Friday, McKeithen encouraged anyone who has suffered a sexual assault while on Spring Break to come forward despite the amount of time that might have elapsed. An untold number of cases have gone unreported because the victim is either too embarrassed to too scared to file a report, he said.

“This is not the first video we have recovered; it is not the second; it’s not the third video,” McKeithen said. “There is a number of videos that we have recovered similar to this, and I can only imagine how many we haven’t recovered.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

PANAMA CITY — One of a group of men who robbed a local Mexican restaurant on Christmas Eve was sentenced Monday to five years in prison, according to court records.

Jose Rios Robledo, 34, was sentenced to five years in prison for two separate armed robberies in December of 2012.

In one instance on Dec. 12, Robledo fired a handgun through a car window in the parking lot of Boost Mobile, 235 N. Tyndall Pkwy., and nearly struck the victim in the head before fleeing with her purse. On another occasion, Robledo and three other men at gunpoint forced an employee of Pepper’s Mexican Grill, 2061 N Cove Blvd., to reopen the business at about 12:30 a.m. on Christmas Eve, according to police reports.

The group of males took about $15,000 in cash, investigators reported. However, near both scenes, authorities discovered latex gloves with DNA inside from the perpetrators.

Robledo, of Panama City, was sentenced Monday to five years in prison with five years of probation to follow.

On the night Abraham Lincoln was shot, April 14, 1865, Associated Press correspondent Lawrence Gobright scrambled to report from the White House, the streets of the stricken capital, and even from the blood-stained box at Ford's Theatre, where, in his memoir he reports he was handed the assassin's gun and turned it over to authorities. Here is an edited version of his original AP dispatch:

WASHINGTON, APRIL 14 — President Lincoln and wife visited Ford's Theatre this evening for the purpose of witnessing the performance of ‘The American Cousin.’ It was announced in the papers that Gen. Grant would also be present, but that gentleman took the late train of cars for New Jersey.

The theatre was densely crowded, and everybody seemed delighted with the scene before them. During the third act and while there was a temporary pause for one of the actors to enter, a sharp report of a pistol was heard, which merely attracted attention, but suggested nothing serious until a man rushed to the front of the President's box, waving a long dagger in his right hand, exclaiming, ‘Sic semper tyrannis,’ and immediately leaped from the box, which was in the second tier, to the stage beneath, and ran across to the opposite side, made his escape amid the bewilderment of the audience from the rear of the theatre, and mounted a horse and fled.

The groans of Mrs. Lincoln first disclosed the fact that the President had been shot, when all present rose to their feet rushing towards the stage, many exclaiming, ‘Hang him, hang him!’ The excitement was of the wildest possible description...

There was a rush towards the President's box, when cries were heard — ‘Stand back and give him air!’ ‘Has anyone stimulants?’ On a hasty examination it was found that the President had been shot through the head above and back of the temporal bone, and that some of his brain was oozing out. He was removed to a private house opposite the theatre, and the Surgeon General of the Army and other surgeons were sent for to attend to his condition.

On an examination of the private box, blood was discovered on the back of the cushioned rocking chair on which the President had been sitting; also on the partition and on the floor. A common single-barrelled pocket pistol was found on the carpet.

A military guard was placed in front of the private residence to which the President had been conveyed. An immense crowd was in front of it, all deeply anxious to learn the condition of the President.

It had been previously announced that the wound was mortal, but all hoped otherwise. ...

At midnight the Cabinet, with Messrs. Sumner, Colfax and Farnsworth, Judge Curtis, Governor Oglesby, Gen. Meigs, Col. Hay, and a few personal friends, with Surgeon General Barnes and his immediate assistants, were around his bedside.

The President was in a state of syncope, totally insensible and breathing slowly. The blood oozed from the wound at the back of his head. The surgeons exhausted every effort of medical skill, but all hope was gone.

The parting of his family with the dying President is too sad for description.

The President and Mrs. Lincoln did not start for the theatre until 15 minutes after 8 o'clock. Speaker Colfax was at the White House at the time, and the President stated to him that he was going, although Mrs. Lincoln had not been well, because the papers had announced that he and General Grant were to be present, and as Gen. Grant had gone North he did not wish the audience to be disappointed. He went with apparent reluctance, and urged Mr. Colfax to go with him, but that gentleman had made other arrangements ...

(Here follows a lengthy description of the simultaneous assassination attempt on Secretary of State William Seward that left him wounded.)

Secretaries Stanton and Welles and other prominent officers of the government called at Secretary Seward's house to inquire into his condition, and there heard of the assassination of the President.

They then proceeded to the house where the President was lying, exhibiting, of course, intense anxiety and solicitude.

An immense crowd was gathered in front of the President's house (the White House), and a strong guard was also stationed there, many persons supposing that he would be brought to his home.

The entire city to-night presents a scene of wild excitement, accompanied by violent expressions of the profoundest sorrow. Many shed tears.

The military authorities despatched mounted patrols in every direction, in order, if possible, to arrest the assassins. The whole metropolitan police are likewise vigilant for the same purpose. ...

Vice President Johnson is in the city headquarters, and guarded by troops.

(Lincoln's death at 7:22 a.m. on April 15 was reported by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.)

HILAND PARK — Hiland Park Elementary School was briefly locked down Tuesday while the Bay County Sheriff’s Office searched for the suspect from a stabbing at a gas station in the area.

Officers arrested Joe Clifford Bryan, 26, in connection with the stabbing while he was walking along a road that runs behind the elementary school. He was arrested after an officer and victim allegedly positively identified Bryan as the man who stabbed Christopher Page in the neck moments earlier, according to a BCSO news release.

Page was transported by EMS to a local hospital to undergo surgery, officers reported, but his condition was not known Tuesday afternoon.

Bryan, of Southport, was taken to the Bay County Jail for questioning.

A Florida Highway Patrol trooper was traveling northbound on U.S. 231 at about 9:45 a.m. when he saw two men struggling at the gas pumps in front of the Exxon, 2505 U.S. 231, near Selma Avenue. The trooper doubled back to spot the suspect running away and Page coming out of the store holding paper towels around his neck to help stop the bleeding from where he had been stabbed, BCSO reported.

As the trooper began first aid, BCSO arrived and disseminated a description of the suspect. Deputies saw a person matching that description walking west on Baldwin Road when they were en route to the initial call and a search began.

As deputies searched the area for the suspect, officers informed Hiland Park Elementary School administration of the situation and activated a lockdown. Multiple deputies were brought on campus to ensure the safety of the students and the staff, BCSO reported.

The lockdown was lifted after the suspect was found and arrested.

Charges against Bryan had not been released as of Tuesday afternoon.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Authorities have arrested a Georgia man at his place of employment in Panama City Beach on charges of statutory rape and child molestation, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday.

Warrant officers and the U.S Marshals, Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force developed information on the location of Anthony Richard Little, 21, on Tuesday.

At about 11:15 a.m., Little was arrested without incident from his workplace in Panama City Beach. Little has warrants from the Murray County Sheriff’s Office, in Chatsworth, Ga.

Murray County Sheriff’s Office requested Little be held in the Bay County Jail pending extradition to Georgia.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Police have arrested two local men for allegedly committing sexual acts upon a minor and a third man for watching, according to a Panama City Beach Police Department news release.

Lesiah T. Lewis, 25; Shamiko S. Thomas, 26; and Kody S. White, 25, were all arrested at about 5 p.m. Tuesday after PCBPD received a complaint of indecent exposure, police reported.

In the course of their investigation into an indecent exposure complaint, police discovered Lewis and Thomas allegedly committed sexual acts on a minor while White was allegedly present and watched, officers said. Police did not disclose a location or age of the minor. They reported the investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Lewis and Thomas, both of Panama City Beach, have been charged with unlawful sexual activity with certain minors. White, of Caryville, was charged as a principal to the crime, police reported.

All three of the men were taken to Bay County Jail to await first court appearance.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — A local nightclub owner has said that while a young woman’s broad daylight sexual battery on Spring Break was tragic, he disputes whether cellphone video from the incident took place behind his business.

Since the video surfaced at the beginning of April, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office has arrested two college students on charges of sexual battery by multiple perpetrators, and they are pursuing the arrests of two other men. In the video, several men can be seen surrounding an incapacitated woman, lying on a blue mat of a wooden beach rental chair. She feebly tries to push their hands away from her crotch as the men digitally penetrate her and hundreds of bystanders either do not notice or ignore the incident.

BCSO, after speaking with the 20-year-old victim, reported she could have been drugged and did not remember much from the incident other than it happened behind Spinnaker Beach Club, 8795 Thomas Drive, some time between March 10 and 12.

--- VIDEO: EDITED FOOTAGE TAKEN FROM A CELLPHONE THAT LED TO CHARGES»» (WARNING: CONTAINS ADULT LANGUAGE)

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Officials at the club did not immediately comment on the incident, having not seen the video. However, Sparky Sparkman, owner of Spinnaker, said Monday it seemed “implausible” the incident could have occurred during that time on the club’s property. He said though he still has not seen the entire video, details from what he has seen do not corroborate what BCSO has released.

“The video I have seen was not taken on Spinnaker beach,” Sparkman said. “We have no blue lounge chairs or blue umbrellas on our beach.”

Sparkman also said several vendors and promoters covered the area behind Spinnaker on the dates approaching the Luke Bryan concert on March 11 and 12, which would have dramatically changed the landscape depicted in the video, he said.

BCSO officials said the victim and both suspects have stated the incident occurred behind Spinnaker.

“Short of a GPS reading, that is what the incident location is based on,” BSO Maj. Tommy Ford said.

BCSO deputies reported the beach chairs regularly change positions. Ford added that the victim has since said the incident happened March 8.

Despite the conflicting stories, Sparkman responded the video was “tragic wherever it happened.” He said the suspects “should be prosecuted to the fullest,” and that the Beach has to get things under control. Events like this “further taints our destination site,” Sparkman added.

“None of us like what has and is happening on our beaches involving irresponsible and atrocious activity during this time frame,” he said.

Beach bar and restaurant properties — and their responsibilities — in general, extend to the “mean high-water mark” along the beach, according to the Property Appraiser’s Office. The amount of land can vary, but Sparkman said because of intensified scrutiny during Spring Break from potential litigators, he and his staff apply intensified scrutiny to what happens on his property.

A group sexual battery could be exactly what litigators would be waiting for, Sparkman said.

The cellphone video came to authorities’ attention following an April 2 shooting at a Waffle House in Troy, Alabama. The video was found on a witness’ cellphone, but he was not the person who shot the video, officials said.

--- VIDEO: EDITED FOOTAGE TAKEN FROM A CELLPHONE THAT LED TO CHARGES»» (WARNING: CONTAINS ADULT LANGUAGE)

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Delonte’ Martistee, a 22-year-old senior from Bainbridge, Ga., and Ryan Calhoun, a 23-year-old sophomore from Mobile, Ala., were arrested in Alabama on Thursday in connection with the incident.

On the day of the two Troy University students’ arrests, dozens of people coincidentally piled into a Panama City Beach City Council meeting wearing white shirts demanding officials to “save our jobs.” McKeithen responded the day after with an announcement of the sexual battery arrests and fumed.

“I am sick and tired of it and we can wear T-shirts that say ‘save our beaches’ all we want to, but that is not going to restore this girl who was viciously violated by these individuals last month on our beaches,” McKeithen said during the Friday press conference. “I am sick of it, and there are no excuses for this. If you condone this, you should be in jail right along with them as far as I am concerned.”

PANAMA CITY — Fire crews responded to a duplex fire Wednesday at 1519 Hickory Ave. at about 1:45 a.m., according to a Panama City Fire Department news release.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, but it was brought under control at 2:02 a.m., the release stated.

Upon arrival, crews observed smoke and flames coming out of the right front windows, PCFD reported. The side of the home with the fire, the right side, sustained a lot of damage. However, an attached exposure did not sustain any fire damage, just light smoke.

The occupants were out of the structure prior to firefighters’ arrival. Fire and EMS crews assessed the occupants and no one required any medical treatment.

The fire cause is under investigation by the Panama City Fire Department investigators and the Florida State Fire Marshal’s Office. The American Red Cross was called in to assist the occupants in acquiring lodging and clothes. The Panama City Police Department assisted in traffic control. Gulf Power arrived and secured the electricity to the structure.

COTTONDALE — A Jackson County man has been arrested on charges he allegedly pistol-whipped his pregnant girlfriend, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office reported.

John Ellis Floyd, 35, was arrested Tuesday after an altercation with his pregnant, live-in girlfriend at a residence on Phillips Road, police said.

Witnesses said Floyd allegedly threatened his girlfriend with a handgun before briefly choking her, according to deputies. Police said Floyd struck his girlfriend with the blunt end of the gun and shot a hole in the floor to prove it was loaded. The victim attempted to use her cellphone but Floyd took it away and broke it, police said.

The victims’ sibling and niece arrived at the house to assist her, but Floyd threatened them with the gun, officers said. As the victim was getting her belongings, Floyd struck her again before her sibling took the gun and the family left, officers said.

Floyd was arrested at the residence and charged with three counts of aggravated battery with a firearm, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, felony battery, depriving a person of communication to 911, using a firearm while in commission of a felony and battery by strangulation. He was booked into the Jackson County Correctional Facility.

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — Former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for a deadly late-night shooting, sealing the downfall of an athlete who once had a $40 million contract and a standout career ahead of him.

Hernandez, 25, who had been considered one of the top tight ends in professional football, shook his head, pursed his lips and sat down after the jury forewoman pronounced him guilty in the slaying of Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old landscaper and amateur weekend football player who was dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee.

Hernandez's mother, Terri, and his fiancee, Shayanna Jenkins, cried and gasped when they heard the verdict. Hernandez, his eyes red, mouthed to them: “Be strong. Be strong.” Lloyd's mother also cried.

Jurors deliberated for 36 hours over seven days before rendering their decision, which also included convictions on weapons charges.

“The jury found that he was just a man who committed a brutal murder,” District Attorney Thomas Quinn said after the verdict. “The fact that he was a professional athlete meant nothing in the end.”

Lloyd was shot six times early on June 17, 2013, in a deserted industrial park near Hernandez's home in North Attleborough. The motive has never been explained.

Police almost immediately zeroed in on the former Pro Bowl athlete because they found in Lloyd's pocket the key to a car the NFL player had rented. Within hours of Hernandez's arrest, the Patriots cut him from the team. The team declined to comment on the verdict.

Prosecutors presented a wealth of evidence that Hernandez was with Lloyd at the time he was killed, including home security video from Hernandez's mansion, witness testimony and cellphone records that tracked Lloyd's movements.

Hernandez's lawyer, James Sultan, acknowledged for the first time during closing arguments that Hernandez was there when Lloyd was killed.

But the attorney pinned the shooting on two of Hernandez's friends, Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz, saying his client was a “23-year-old kid” who witnessed a shocking crime and did not know what to do. Wallace and Ortiz will stand trial later.

Prosecutors have suggested Lloyd may have been killed because he knew too much about Hernandez's alleged involvement in a 2012 drive-by shooting in Boston that killed two. But they were not allowed to tell the jury that because the judge said it was speculation.

As a result, they never offered jurors a motive beyond saying Hernandez appeared angry with Lloyd at a nightclub two nights before the killing.

In the 2012 case, Hernandez is accused of gunning down a pair of men over a spilled drink at a nightclub.

All 12 jurors and three alternates spoke to reporters Wednesday, saying they were shocked by the defense admission that Hernandez was at the scene of the killing — an acknowledgement that they said helped confirm that he was guilty.

They also described how the judge talked to them privately after they reached their decision and told them about other allegations and evidence not presented in the case, including the 2012 slayings and the last texts Lloyd sent minutes before he died saying that said he was with “NFL.”

The jurors said that information reaffirmed their feeling that they had made the right decision.

In the Lloyd killing, the defense argued that investigators fixated on Hernandez because of his celebrity and conducted a shoddy investigation in their zeal to confirm their suspicions.

Prosecutors said Hernandez organized the killing, summoned his two friends to help carry it out and drove Lloyd and the others to the secluded spot in the industrial park. During closing arguments, prosecutors also accused Hernandez of pulling the trigger, though under the law it was not necessary to prove who fired the shots to convict him.

Security video from inside Hernandez's home showed him holding what appeared to be a gun less than 10 minutes after Lloyd was killed. The surveillance system also captured Hernandez, Wallace and Ortiz relaxing at his home hours after Lloyd was shot, hanging out in the basement “man cave,” lounging by the pool and cuddling Hernandez's baby daughter.

The conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life without parole and automatically triggers an appeal to Massachusetts’ highest court.

Hernandez was initially taken to the state's Cedar Junction prison, a maximum-security facility less than a 4-mile drive from Gillette Stadium, where he once caught touchdown passes from Tom Brady in front of tens of thousands of fans.

He was to processed there and eventually taken to Souza Baranowski prison in Shirley, another maximum-security institution, according to Darren Duarte, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Corrections.

Lloyd's sister, Olivia Thibou, said Wednesday that prosecutors in the trial were her “dream team.” Lloyd's mother, Ursula Ward, told the judge she forgave Hernandez and everyone else “who had a hand in my son's murder, either before or after.”

Defense lawyers left the courthouse without commenting.

Hernandez, who grew up in Bristol, Connecticut, was an All-American from the University of Florida who was drafted by the Patriots in the fourth round in 2010.

PANAMA CITY — The case of a murder witness who was left dead for several summer days in a car trunk has reached a conclusion.

The final suspect connected with the death of 24-year-old Tavish Greene has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Tyricka Woullard, 20, pleaded no contest Wednesday to accessory after the fact to manslaughter with a firearm and principal to robbery. Woullard accepted a plea agreement to 10 years in prison. She was one of the three conspirators arrested after police discovered the body of Greene badly decomposed in the trunk of his car, and she was the last to accept a plea deal.

Attorneys were waiting for the results of a mental competency evaluation since February before proceeding. Woullard’s plea deal coincided with the return of those results. However, family members were less than pleased with the length of Woullard’s sentence, according to prosecutor Bob Sombathy.

Greene’s mother “really believes Tyricka was more responsible for the murder,” Sombathy said. “We just did not have enough evidence to follow through with her gut instinct.”

Family members also were dissatisfied with the sentences of the two men who assisted in Greene’s death.

Darryl Mack, 21, and Dontavis Terrell Thomas, 22, previously reached a deal with state prosecutors. Mack accepted a reduced charge from second-degree murder to manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Thomas was sentenced to five years probation for being an accessory after the murder and agreed to testify in the cases against Woullard and Mack.

Police reported the three suspects lured Greene to Woullard’s residence at 3710 W. 21st St., where they planned to rob him the morning of July 19.

Thomas and Mack allegedly used phone calls and text messages to draw Greene into a trap through Woullard, his ex-girlfriend. The three hid inside, lying in wait to rob Greene of money and illegal narcotics. Woullard helped clean up the murder scene fled with Mack to Georgia the day after, police reported.

Thomas remained behind and was arrested after police found Mack shot to death in the trunk of his 2004 Chevy Malibu behind an abandoned home at 526 E. Eighth Court.

Greene was one of several witnesses to a nightclub argument in June that ended in the shooting death of 19-year-old Jshun Smith. He allegedly received death threats before being reported missing.

However, investigators did not link his death to what he witnessed.

Greene was last seen alive July 18 at about 2:30 a.m. leaving Big Daddy’s near the corner of 12th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, witnesses reported.

Nearly two blocks away, he had seen his cousin, Smith, the passenger in his car, get shot in the head more than a month before.

 When police arrived at that shooting outside KJ’s Nightclub, 908 Martin Luther King Blvd., at about 3:20 a.m. Smith, of Atlanta, lay in the roadway with a gunshot wound to the head, police reported.

Witnesses told police they saw Khiry Ross, 24, of Panama City, in an argument with Smith before gunfire rang out in KJs parking lot. Smith was struck in the head and tumbled out of Greene’s car as the vehicle sped away, police reported.

Ross still faces second-degree murder charges related to the shooting.

HILAND PARK — Additional charges of attempted armed robbery have been brought against a local man accused of stabbing another man in the neck at a gas station, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday.

Joe Clifford Bryan, 27, was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after he allegedly stabbed a man leaving the Exxon at U.S. 231 and Selma Road at about 9:45 a.m. Tuesday.

The victim stated Bryan walked past him in the parking lot and then turned around to follow the victim a few steps before holding a knife to the victim’s throat. According to the victim, Bryan demanded money. The victim answered “in my back pocket,” BCSO reported.

The victim told officers Bryan then stabbed him and walked away as the victim lay on the ground, kicking at Bryan.

Bryan has now also been charged with attempted armed robbery, BCSO reported.

PANAMA CITY — The suspect in a Spring Break house party shooting has yet to be arraigned on the seven attempted murder charges against him, but he appeared in court Wednesday for a pretrial conference.

David Jamichael Daniels, 21, appeared in court Wednesday to request the appointment of a public defender. After claiming his only asset was a moped, he was granted his request and returned to the Bay County Jail to await a May 22 arraignment in connection with a Spring Break shooting at a Thomas Drive house party.

Daniels allegedly was spotted by witnesses smoking synthetic marijuana before gunfire ripped through the house party at 5312 Thomas Drive on March 28. Seven college-aged people were injured in the fracas, three of them critically, and Daniels was arrested.

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Police found a gun nearby and allegedly found synthetic marijuana on Daniels.

Despite witness accounts to his drug use and a medical condition since being booked on the charges, prosecutors said Daniels appeared to be competent to proceed.

“I have no reason to think he is incompetent at this time or when he committed the offenses,” prosecutor Larry Basford said during the hearing.

However, Daniels’ newly appointed defense attorney indicated a specialist will be evaluating his mental condition. The reasons for Daniels’ medical treatment since entering jail was not released due to medical privacy laws.

Daniels, of Mobile, Ala., has been charged with seven counts of attempted murder in connection with the shooting. His next scheduled court date is May 22, when he will be arraigned on the charges.

PANAMA CITY — Bright Pediatrics was closed briefly Wednesday, as authorities from Florida State Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) searched its offices.

The MFCU served search warrants on the two Bright Pediatrics locations at 3520 E. 15th St. and 340 W. 23rd St., officials with the Attorney General’s Office confirmed. Officers with the department were seen removing boxes from the 23rd Street location in the morning. The 15th Street office also was closed on Wednesday and both offices will be open on Thursday.

Dr. Sameh M. Elamir is the listed physician at Bright Pediatrics.

“We don’t have any comments,” said Beth Hamilton, medical assistant at the West 23rd Street location. “We don’t know what’s going on.”

The State Attorney General’s Office would not provide further comment and said the criminal investigation is ongoing.

Bright Pediatrics has received mostly positive reviews online.

“Absolutely LOVE the staff and how well they are with my son,” Amber Nicole Willis said in a Facebook review, rating Bright Pediatrics five stars out of five. “ I would/will most definitely suggest Bright Pediatrics to anyone who is looking for a new pediatrician.”

“Bright Pediatrics is the best. Dr. Elimar and his staff are awesome,” Dawn Hollis said in a Google Plus review, which also had a five-star rating. “They are kind, professional, and really care about the health of our children.”

PANAMA CITY BEACH — A third college student has been arrested in connection with a group sexual battery of a young woman on Spring Break, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.

George Davon Kennedy of Murfreesboro, Tenn., was arrested near Atlanta on Wednesday and is awaiting extradition to Bay County on a charge of principal to sexual battery by multiple perpetrators, BCSO announced.

Kennedy, who reportedly was being held Wednesday without bond at the DeKalb County Jail in Georgia, is the third suspect identified and apprehended in connection with what authorities are calling a Spring Break “gang rape” that occurred on a crowded beach in broad daylight in early March in Panama City Beach. Investigators said he was a participant in the battery, and he also appears in a video of the incident to be encouraging the attack.

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--- MORE: ALLEGED PCB HOUSE PARTY SHOOTER REQUESTS PUBLIC DEFENDER»»

One more arrest still is pending, BCSO officials said Wednesday.

According to a BCSO news release, Kennedy is a student at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.

After developing information that Kennedy was the third suspect seen in a video of the sexual battery, BCSO investigators obtained a warrant for his arrest. Investigators learned Kennedy has family in Dekalb County and contacted the Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office, who located Kennedy in its county and arrested him for principal to sexual battery by multiple perpetrators.

BCSO Maj. Tommy Ford said there did not appear to be a link between Kennedy and the other two men arrested in connection with the sexual battery.

“We don’t believe they have any connection other than being there on the beach together,” Ford said.

In a video that surfaced April 2, Kennedy can be seen standing in close proximity to the woman, apparently encouraging the attack, Ford added.

The victim thought she had been drugged and did not file a report because she did not remember the incident. The attack came to light after an investigation into a Troy, Ala., shooting, where police found the video on the phone of a witness to the shooting. BCSO has since been trying to identify all parties from a video that only encompasses about 15 seconds of the incident.

“Did more people play a role? We just don’t know,” Ford said.

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--- MORE: ALLEGED PCB HOUSE PARTY SHOOTER REQUESTS PUBLIC DEFENDER»»

Delonté Martistee, a 22-year-old senior from Bainbridge, Ga., and Ryan Calhoun, a 23-year-old sophomore from Mobile, Ala., were arrested in Alabama on April 9 in connection with the incident. Both men, students at Troy University, have been charged with sexual battery by multiple perpetrators.

One other suspect, that investigators can determine from the video, remains unidentified and at large. BCSO said they are actively searching for him.

“It is a priority investigation for us,” Ford said.

CHIPLEY — Officers have arrested a Washington County man on nine counts of lewd and lascivious molestation of two victims less than 12-years-old, according to an official press release.

Washington County Sheriff’s Office and Chipley Police Department announced Wednesday the arrest of Richard Carlton Bottomlee, 45, in connection with the sexual battery of two children.

WCSO and CPD received a call in reference to a suspected sexual battery. During the course of the investigation officers discovered the suspect had been involved sexually with one victim on seven separate occasions and a second victim on two separate occasions. Both victims were under the age of 12, authorities reported.

Bottomlee, of Chipley, has been charged with nine counts of lewd and lascivious molestation on victim less than 12 years of age. Each count is a life felony, according to officials.

PORT ST. JOE — A Gulf County man was killed before dawn Saturday morning during a traffic accident on the Highland View Bridge.

Larry Martinez, 38, was traveling west on the bridge on a motorized scooter when he was struck head-on by a passenger vehicle.

Martinez was pronounced dead at the scene by responders from the Port St. Joe Police Department.

The vehicle that hit Martinez was driven by 35-year-old Misty Pitman of Georgia. Pitman was accompanied by four juveniles in the car, but the passengers reported no injuries.

The case is still under investigation by the Port St. Joe Police Department.

PANAMA CITY — Deputies have arrested an armed man who was wanted on several warrants, according to a Bay County Sheriff’s Office press release.

Roderick Devon Wheeler, 21, was arrested Wednesday in Bay County.

Information was developed by BCSO warrants deputies that Wheeler would be at his place of employment Wednesday afternoon. When he arrived, Wheeler was approached by warrants deputies. Wheeler attempted to flee but was quickly apprehended inside the business, the news release stated.

At the time of his arrest, Wheeler was found to be in possession of a concealed 9mm Browning semiautomatic handgun. Wheeler is a convicted felon and in addition to the outstanding warrants for his arrest, Wheeler was charged with carrying a concealed firearm and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Outstanding warrants on Wheeler were two counts of violation of probation on burglary of an occupied conveyance, fleeing and eluding law enforcement, driving while license suspended or revoked, leaving the scene of a crash with property damage and grand theft auto, BCSO reported.

Wheeler was taken to the Bay County Jail to await first appearance.

RUSKIN (AP) — Many questions surround the political stunt of a postal worker charged Thursday with violating national airspace and operating an unregistered aircraft by landing his gyrocopter on Capitol Hill.

Q: Who is he? A: Doug Hughes, 61, delivers the U.S. mail in a quiet suburb of Tampa, Florida, where he lives with his wife and 12-year-old daughter. He's also an amateur pilot and occasional blogger, expressing his frustration over the influence of money in politics.

Q: What was he flying? A: Hughes described his 250-pound gyrocopter, which looks and sounds something like a lawnmower, as nothing more than “a flying bicycle” that could be shot down by a Boy Scout with a BB gun. He said he assembled it from a kit and put the U.S. Postal Service logo on its tail to help make a point about delivering a message to Capitol Hill.

Q: What was his message? A: Hughes expressed hopes that his flight, which ended with his immediate arrest by Capitol Police, would persuade people to press for stronger campaign finance restrictions. He said he was carrying 535 letters on the subject, one for each member of “a sold-out Congress.”

Q: What inspired him to take such risks? A: A mix of family tragedy and public policy, it seems. Hughes wrote that he committed himself to lead a more meaningful life while grieving his son's suicide. He also expressed dismay that Americans don't pay more attention to people like Lawrence Lessig, the Harvard University professor whose online Rootstrikers campaign is struggling to inspire a mass movement to reform Washington.

Q: Police don't even let kids fly kites near the White House or Capitol. What Hughes did has prompted investigations by the U.S. Secret Service, the Homeland Security Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, the FBI and other agencies. What was he thinking? A: “No sane person would do what I'm doing,” Hughes told The Tampa Bay Times before his flight. “I have carefully planned it so that nobody will get hurt, including me, especially me.”

Q: But isn't it irresponsible to provoke a response by federal agencies focused on preventing terror attacks? A: “I'm not suicidal,” Hughes wrote. “Terrorists don't announce their flights before they take off. Terrorists don't broadcast their flight path,” he told the Times, describing himself as a kind of showman-patriot, a mix of revolutionary hero Paul Revere and legendary circus owner P.T. Barnum.

Q: So the government knew he was coming? A: Just who knew what when was under investigation Thursday, but Hughes had been discussing his plan in the broad strokes for years. Tipped to the scheme, the Secret Service said it interviewed Hughes as part of a “complete and thorough investigation” two years ago. Hughes laid out his plans on his website, and wrote that he even tried to warn the president. “My flight is not a secret. Before I took off, I sent an Email to info@barackobama.com. The letter is intended to persuade the guardians of the Capitol that I am not a threat and that shooting me down will be a bigger headache than letting me deliver these letters to Congress,” he wrote.

Q: Still, government snipers were ready to shoot Hughes down if he came much closer to the House and Senate. Now he could face years in prison and the loss of his postal worker's job. He wrote that he didn't even tell his wife about his plans, even though all this must affect her as well. Was he prepared to pay these and other consequences? A: Hughes answered this one on his website before taking off: “Civil Disobedience is not without risk, consequence and cost. Thoreau made that clear in his essay, and I accept the price, whatever it may be.”

Q: So has he made a difference? A: Too early to say. Campaign finance reform is a dead letter in the current Congress. But Lessig, for one, seemed pleased; he tweeted Thursday that Martin Luther King, Jr., “would have called this #ACreativeProtest”

Q: What's next for Hughes? A: Hughes was released on his own recognizance from federal court on Thursday and cleared to return to home in Florida, where he must check in weekly with authorities pending his prosecution. 

PANAMA CITY — A group of local residents have been arrested on a litany of drug charges following a traffic stop, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.

Fallon Paulk, 28; Kati Blackburn, 30, and Allen Simpson, 24, were arrested Thursday following a traffic stop in the 2600 block of U.S. 231. Two of the three passengers had outstanding warrants, and the traffic stop lead to the arrest of another wanted woman, 28-year-old Olivia Wiggins, at a Panama City motel.

During the traffic stop, BCSO officers allegedly found ice methamphetamine, several prescription pills and paraphernalia. The investigation also lead to a Panama City motel room where Wiggins was staying. When officers arrived at the motel, Wiggins fled out of a window and was quickly apprehended. A search warrant was obtained and the room was searched. Inside the room was found hydromorphone, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, BCSO reported.

Paulk, of Panama City, was charged with trafficking more than 14 grams methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance hydromorphone, oxycodone, clonazepam and alprazolam, possession of marijuana less than 20 grams and possession of paraphernalia. Blackburn, of Panama City Beach,  was charged with possession of controlled substance alprazolam, methamphetamine, diazepam, and possession of paraphernalia. Wiggins, of Panama City, was charged with trafficking in methamphetamine, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Simpson, a transient, was charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, possession of paraphernalia, and providing a false name to law enforcement.

All were taken to the Bay County Jail for booking.