KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Four Westerners who posed naked on Malaysia's highest peak were sentenced Friday to three days in jail and fined for obscene behavior in a public place, their lawyer said.

The four were among 10 foreigners who stripped naked and took photos on Mount Kinabalu on May 30. A local official has said their behavior was disrespectful to the mountain, which is believed to be sacred, and caused an earthquake on June 5 that killed 18 climbers.

Dutch citizen Dylan Snel, British student Eleanor Hawkins and Canadian siblings Lindsey Petersen and Danielle Peterson pleaded guilty in a court in Sabah state on Borneo island to a charge of public indecency, said their lawyer, Ronny Cham.

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“They were remorseful and regretted their act, and offered to make a public apology,” Cham said.

The court was told the women were topless while the two men were totally nude, he said.

The court sentenced them to three days in jail, which they have already served since their arrests, and a fine of 5,000 ringgit ($1,330) each, to be followed by their deportation, Cham said.

They have paid their fines and were expected to be released later Friday, he said. Hawkins was scheduled to fly home Saturday, but the lawyer couldn't say when the others would leave.

The Malay Mail online news portal said the court was told the group of 10 had challenged each other to see who could remain naked the longest in the cold.

They ignored a plea by their mountain guide not to strip, it said.

Cham said the four had suffered enough trauma from their arrests and that extensive international news coverage would deter others.

Prosecutor Jamil Aripin agreed that there was no link between the earthquake and their act but said it had outraged the local community, the news portal said.

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The magnitude-5.9 earthquake sent rocks and boulders raining down on trekking routes on the 4,095-meter (13,453-foot) mountain. The victims were nine Singaporeans, six Malaysians, a Filipino, a Chinese and a Japanese.

The quake damaged roads and buildings and also broke one of the famous twin rock formations on the mountain known as the “Donkey's Ears.”

Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan blamed the tragedy on the foreigners for having shown disrespect to the mountain, believed by local tribes to be a resting place for the dead. He said a special ritual will be conducted to appease the mountain spirits.

PORT ST. JOE — Four months after a shooting inside the Port St. Joe Police Department left one man dead, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement continues to investigate the “officer-involved” shooting.

Even the name of the victim, though widely known in the community, has yet to be officially released. The News Herald reported the name of the victim Feb. 17 as Jonathan Pierce of Port St. Joe, according to reports from the PSJPD.

A spokesman for the FDLE said last week the investigation of the shooting, which occurred Feb. 11, remains open. Additionally, questions about the length of the investigation, originally estimated by Port St. Joe Police Chief Matt Herring at six to nine weeks, were left unanswered.

The FDLE spokesman wrote via email that no questions on specifics could be answered while the investigation is open.
Herring, a former FDLE investigator, immediately turned the shooting investigation over to his former agency.

According to the scant information released to date, the victim had been brought to the Port St. Joe Police Station the evening of Feb. 11. The only other person believed to be in the building at the time of the shooting was the unnamed officer who brought the victim in. The officer has been placed on administrative leave.
 

PANAMA CITY BEACH – One person died in a Sunday motorcycle crash in Panama City Beach, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.

FHP reported the passenger of the motorcycle, a 55-year-old, was pronounced dead at Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart following the crash at 2:10 p.m. FHP did not release the name of the person, pending notification of next-of-kin. The driver of the motorcycle, Ronald Melvin Cowen, 58, of Callaway, was listed in critical condition at Bay Medical, according to the FHP report.

Cowen and his passenger traveled eastbound on Panama City Beach Parkway on a 2010 Honda motorcycle, FHP reported. Maureen Herrity Baker, 51, of Panama City, also traveled eastbound in a 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 Van, FHP reported.

Baker slowed to make a right turn onto Le Grand Drive, Cowen failed to observe the slowed vehicle and the front of the motorcycle collided with the rear of the van, according to the FHP. Cowen and his passenger were thrown from the motorcycle and transported to Bay Medical, FHP reported.

Cowen and his passenger were not wearing helmets, according to an FHP report. Alcohol results for Cowen were pending, according to the FHP report.

Baker had no injuries, FHP reported. She was wearing a seatbelt and alcohol was not a factor in her role in the crash, according to the FHP.

The investigation continues and charges are pending, FHP said.

PANAMA CITY — A man sentenced to life in prison for attempting to kill another man over a $10 gambling debt when he was 17 has been resentenced to 30 years in prison in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, according to court records.

Skyler D. Jones, 29, was sentenced to life in prison after a 2003 shooting in Macedonia Garden Apartments where he stood over Kenneth McCray and fired three shots, one of which just missed McCray’s heart. A Bay County judge reduced that sentence Monday to 30 years following a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision to rule out life sentences for juveniles who commit non-homicide offenses, court records indicated.

Jones, who will have to serve at least 25 years, said he was a 17-year-old who used and sold drugs and previously had gambled with McCray at the apartment’s dice games before the shooting. He told the court that since being incarcerated he is a changed man.

“I know I took life for granted back then,” Jones said. “I appreciate a lot of things more now; I appreciate every day I wake up.”

However, State Attorney Larry Basford seemed to suggest Jones had been putting on an act as the resentencing opportunity emerged, noting Jones had several prison infractions on his record before learning his sentence might be reduced.

Basford highlighted Jones’ neck tattoo that says “Livin’ Legend” as a symbol of pride in his criminal history. Jones had a litany of offenses prior to the attempt on McCray’s life, including one in which Jones attempted to rob an undercover officer and ended up throwing a chunk of concrete at her head. He was released on probation and months later got into an argument with McCray.

Jones said both men had been in recurring arguments before the day they agreed to get guns and reconvene later. Jones sought out a pistol and an ensuing confrontation ended with him chasing down McCray before standing over him and firing three shots: one to the arm, one to the leg and one in the chest, which missed his heart by a half-inch.

McCray, however, said there was no argument leading to the shooting. He said Jones threatened to kill him the day prior over a $10 debt on a dice game. When he returned to the apartments the next day, McCray remembered seeing a man at the entrance on a cell phone relaying the message of his arrival to Jones. Next, he saw Jones with a gun before he decided to try and outrun him, he said.

“But it was raining that morning,” McCray told the court. “I stumbled and I tried to get up so bad and the next thing I see him over me with a pistol. I said please don’t shoot me, man, not over a $10 bet.”

McCray told the court he thought Jones’ life sentence was fair “because he tried to take my life,” he said. McCray also did not want to have to look over his shoulder for rest of his life after Jones’ release.

However, the defense argued a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling set a precedent that juveniles who commit non-homicide offenses could not be sentenced to life in prison. Despite Jones being captured and arrested after he turned 18, it was his age at the time of the offense that mattered.

PANAMA CITY — The Bay County Sheriff’s Office released video on Tuesday of a suspect in the theft and fraudulent use of credit card information.

On May 22, the victim realized her debit card had been stolen. She then learned it had been used to make more than $400 in purchases at a business in Bay County.

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Security video of the suspect revealed the card information was used by a white male, in his 20s, of medium height and thin build with short, dark hair. He has a thin mustache and numerous tattoos on his arms. He was last seen wearing a gray, short-sleeved t-shirt, dark pants and shoes, numerous bracelets on his left wrist, and a large gray ‘beanie’ on his head.

The suspect was accompanied by a young, white female with blond hair and a large, white male with brown hair and a brown goatee.

Anyone with information on this suspect is asked to contact the Bay County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 747-4700 or Crime Stoppers at (850) 785-TIPS.

PANAMA CITY — One of the charges against a man who allegedly broke into a home and threatened one of its occupants at knifepoint has been reduced to attempted manslaughter, according to court records.

Charles Mitchell Bruner, 62, was arraigned Tuesday on the charges of committing an assault during a burglary and attempted manslaughter after a May 17 incident. Springfield Police Department officials said he entered a home at 3200 E. Third St. and threatened to kill an occupant of the home.

Other residents of the home detained and beat Bruner while police were en route, police reported.

According to Springfield Police reports, Bruner parked his car near the intersection of Second Plaza and Springfield Avenue and walked to the residence.

Once there, police report, Bruner “stealthily” forced entrance into the home, awakened the resident by sitting on top of him and pressed the blade of a knife to the man’s face near his eye, police reported. Bruner then allegedly told the victim, “I’m going to kill you,” before the victim escaped Bruner’s grasp, police said.

When the victim attempted to grab the assailant, Bruner allegedly lunged the knife toward the victim and stabbed him in the right side of the face. The injuries Bruner received, which appear in his police mugshot, were sustained in the confrontation with the roommates, police reported.

What prompted the alleged attack was left unclear.

Bruner remained in custody Tuesday on a $200,000 bond.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — A 15-year-old girl was rushed to the hospital in critical condition Tuesday afternoon after suffering a neck injury in a pool, according to Bay County Sheriff’s officials.

The girl, who had not been identified Tuesday night, suffered the injury at about 3:45 p.m. in the pool of the Boardwalk Beach Resort, 9600 S. Thomas Drive, officials reported. The 15-year-old was rushed by EMS to the hospital. She was in critical condition upon arrival.

Details of the incident remained unclear as of Tuesday evening.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — A Tennessee man has been arrested for allegedly slapping an infant in the face while in the arms of a family member, according to Bay County Sheriff’s Office arrest records.

David E. Pogue, 51, was arrested Monday on a charge of cruelty toward a child and abuse without great harm on a 6-month-old child. Pogue allegedly slapped the child at about 1:55 p.m. with an open hand on the right side of the face after a confrontation over a parking spot with family members of the child at 19947 Front Beach Road, according to BCSO officers.

The confrontation allegedly occurred while the family was attempting to take a family portrait on the beach, officers reported. The infant was in the arms of a family member when Pogue allegedly struck the family member in the neck with one open palm and then struck the infant in the face with the other hand, according to arrest reports.

Officers reported “there was an obvious redness and swelling on the right side of the infant’s face. …” The injuries were photographed and turned in as evidence.

Pogue denied hitting anyone when interviewed by the officers.

BAYOU GEORGE – The Bay County Sheriff’s Office Region 1 Bomb Squad responded to a report of a possible explosive device and negated the threat, officials reported Tuesday night.

BCSO spokeswoman Ruth Corley said deputies were called to Cluster Road at about 6 p.m. after a report of a possible improvised explosive device (IED). Neighbors in the area reported hearing two loud sounds while deputies were on scene. Corley said the sounds were the bomb squad’s techniques to “render it safe.”

“They treated it as something serious,” Corley said. “Even if it was fake they still blew it apart.”

Authorities remained on scene hours after the device was rendered safe. No further details were available as of press time.

A resident in the area shot a video of the situation. The video can be viewed at here.

MIAMI (AP) — People caught with small amounts of marijuana could soon get a civil citation instead of a jail term in Florida's largest county, which may become the first in the state to treat marijuana possession as a non-criminal act.

The Miami-Dade County Commission is considering a proposal to let police issue $100 civil citations for possessing small amounts of marijuana as an alternative to a misdemeanor arrest.

The proposal, approved by a committee last week, will go before the full commission June 30. If it passes, Mayor Carlos Gimenez will have the final say. The ordinance would also cover such low-level offenses as loitering, littering and shopping cart theft.

County Commissioner Sally Heyman said her measure seeks to spare people a criminal record for possessing less than 20 grams of marijuana and would reduce the economic burden on the criminal justice system. Heyman said the county spends about $43 million a year to arrest and process minor marijuana cases and the other low-level offenses. She said issuing citations instead would allow the county to use that money for other projects. She would also support a statewide effort to do the same.

“We give people who make a mistake a chance and we don't label them and put them into a system with extreme violent characteristics,” she said.

Heyman said police officers would still have discretion to make arrests under the state misdemeanor possession statute, which calls for a maximum fine of $1,000 and up to a year in jail. They would have to press misdemeanor charges if the possession is connected to crimes such as driving under the influence and domestic violence.

Commissioner Javier Souto, the only committee member to vote against the proposal, called it “decriminalization” and said it is a “slippery slope” that could lead to a future of similar tolerance with drugs like heroin and cocaine.

“This is the easy way out,” he said. “The effort should be made in education that addiction is bad.”

Heyman was adamant the measure will not decriminalize marijuana in the county, where she said possession will continue to be illegal. But she said it could spare many, especially minorities, the lifelong penalties that come with a criminal record.

Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said the proposal amounts to decriminalization in his view. He added that similar laws have already been enacted in 14 states.

“The majority of the public believes that criminalization of cannabis is a disproportionate punishment to behavior that is at its worst a public health concern and not one that should be a criminal justice concern,” he said.

He said the enforcement of marijuana laws tends to disproportionately fall upon blacks, Latinos and young people. A 2013 report by the American Civil Liberties Union found that blacks are almost four times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana possession.

Armentano said leaving enforcement to police discretion could be a problem because it could vary dramatically between officers, but Miami Beach Police Chief Dan Oates is already preparing guidelines as his city gets ready to adopt a similar measure. Oates’ policy will call for arresting people who smoke marijuana in public, possess it while in a vehicle or have marijuana that appears to be intended for sale.

“The one thing I don't want is one cop writing a ticket and the other arresting,” he said.

WALDO — The former chief of the disbanded Waldo Police Department has been cleared of any wrongdoing that could have hindered his ability to once again be a law enforcement officer in Florida.

The Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission has found that Mike Szabo, who was chief of Waldo police until he resigned last year amid a criminal investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, violated no standards.

In a June 5 letter to Waldo City Manager Kim Worley, a CJSTC case manager wrote there was no evidence to indicate that Szabo violated moral character standards that define the duties of a police officer in Florida.

“The decision is based upon the finding that insufficient grounds exist under the guidelines of Chapter 943.1395, Florida Statutes, to pursue any disciplinary action by the commission,” CJSTC Training and research Manager R. Stacy Lehman wrote to Worley.

On Tuesday, Worley said she was happy with the decision by the commission.

“I think what they did was correct and I’m glad he was found innocent,” Worley said. “What he did was an effort to protect the city.”

The Waldo Police Department, which was long known as one of the most notorious speed traps in the country, was shuttered Oct. 1, 2014, by the City Council that oversees it, ending roughly two months of controversy that was initiated by infighting between Szabo and his officers. One of them, Roy Steadman, alleged Szabo recorded an in-office conversation with him, which led Worley to suspend Szabo on Aug. 12 and ask FDLE to open an investigation.

Szabo had fired Steadman for disobeying an order, but the Waldo City Council rehired him on Aug. 26. On the same night of Steadman’s rehire, he and four other officers told the City Council that Szabo and Cpl. Kenny Smith violated the state’s ambiguously written ban on traffic ticket quotas. An investigation by The Sun revealed the Waldo police budget was chiefly supported by ticket quota revenue and its officers heavily enforced speed limits set for a flea market that is only open on the weekend.

The FDLE launched a second investigation into the ticket quota allegation, but Alachua County State Attorney Bill Cervone felt the closure of Waldo police was enough and filed no charges. Also, Gov. Rick Scott signed a law spurred by The Sun investigation that better defined the state’s ticket quota ban and placed heavy scrutiny on police departments who use budgets that require the support of 33 percent or more in traffic citation revenue.

The CJSTC investigation was launched to review whether Szabo violated rules that govern law enforcement in the state. The probe found that the setting where Szabo recorded his conversation with Steadman was in his office, which did not provide a reasonable expectation of privacy. Also, Steadman was aware his conversation was being recorded.

As for the ticket quota, the probe found it did not offer Szabo or his officers any special treatment, according to a CJSTC memorandum.

“For these reasons, there was insufficient evidence to take either of these charges forward,” the memorandum states. “Therefore, staff recommends finding ‘No Cause’ and closing this case.”

Of the CJSTC decision, Cervone said his office usually is not included in those investigations. Generally speaking, a faulty track record usually follows an officer through his or her career.

“Common sense tells you that this is the kind of history a prospective employer is going to consider,” Cervone said. “Not whether someone is eligible.”

Meanwhile, Waldo has since operated without a police department. The City Council voted against an agreement with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office to provide extra service through a Municipal Service Taxing Unit because the city budget could not afford it.

PANAMA CITY — A man suspected of committing multiple burglaries in Gainesville last week was arrested Wednesday in Bay County following an investigation into cases here and across North Florida, the Gainesville Police Department reported.

Dwayne Bruce Officer, 43, will face 20 burglary charges from GPD, whose investigators are working with other law enforcement agencies regarding burglaries elsewhere, GPD spokesman Officer Ben Tobias said in a press release.

Officer is accused of burglaries at Bosshardt Realty, LAE Beauty Tanning & Medispa, offices of doctors and attorneys, and many others. Several of the burglaries occurred at the Bristol Park office complex on Northwest 43rd Street near 53rd Avenue.

In the cases in Gainesville and elsewhere, authorities said the culprit rode a bicycle and pried open doors and windows to get inside small businesses.

Tobias said that on the night following the Gainesville spree, GPD Sgt. Courtnay Roberts Jr. saw Officer on a bike on Northwest 13th Street and believed he looked out of place. Roberts stopped him and got information from Officer, but let him go because investigators had not yet linked Officer to the burglaries.

Police later got surveillance video that identified Officer as the likely suspect, Tobias said. Officer had already returned to his home in Panama City but GPD contacted the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, which kept an eye on him.

Meanwhile law enforcement in Tallahassee, Pensacola, Neptune Beach, Clearwater and other counties and cities identified Officer as a suspect in their burglary cases.

GPD investigators went to Panama City Wednesday with an arrest warrant for Officer while the Bay County Sheriff’s Office had a search warrant, Tobias said. Evidence from the burglaries was found along with four stolen guns, he added.

Officer was set to be booked into the Bay County Jail Wednesday evening.

PANAMA CITY — A federal lawsuit against Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen, one of his investigators and a local TV station accusing the three of contributing to the suffering of an arrested 15-year-old girl has been dismissed, according to court records.

The case relates to the arrests of four teenagers in 2012 for operating a Facebook page called “Panama City’s Trashiest,” where several other teenagers were publicly denigrated. The parents of one child, featured more prominently in news reports, sued in the U.S. Northern District of Florida after charges against the teenagers were dropped. However, the final federal case against each of the parties was dismissed Monday, court records indicated.

Four teenagers, including 15-year-old Kyra Jeter, were charged with aggravated cyberstalking in July 2012 for helping administrate the “Panama City’s Trashiest” page. The page was used to demean and even threaten some fellow teenagers.

Jeter’s family later sued Investigator Craig Romans for false arrest, McKeithen for negligence and WJHG-TV for defamation, claiming she was featured more prominently in the media than others. Jeter became an “administrator” of the page in July 2012 and proceeded to make two derogatory posts, calling one fellow teenager a “slut” days before her arrest, according to court records.

She said she then removed herself from the page and apologized on her own Facebook page for hurting anyone’s feelings. BCSO already had received a complaint of disparaging remarks on the page by then.

Jeter was arrested even though one of the victims of the posts said she was “not really” upset about it and “just kinda brushed it off,” according to court documents.

Prosecutors later dropped all charges against the teenagers because there was no evidence of substantial emotional distress or reoccurring attacks. However, the news of the arrests already had been circulated on television, in print and online, and the damage done, Jeter claimed in the lawsuit. McKeithen also posted the news to his Facebook page.

Jeter’s parents claimed she sought counseling, “attempted self-harm, lost friends and had trouble finding a job” because of the charges. But her lawsuit, asking for damages, was ultimately dismissed with the most recent portion against McKeithen dismissed Monday.

Claims against WJHG were dropped in October of last year, court records indicated.

McKeithen did not respond to a request for comment. Management at WJHG declined to comment as well.

PARKER — Police have arrested a man in connection with the death of his mother, whose badly decomposed body was found in her home more than a year ago, according to police.

Herbert Todd Atkinson, 43, was wanted on several charges before he was extradited to Bay County on Tuesday and charged with aggravated manslaughter of an elderly person, according to a news release from the Parker Police Department.

Police discovered the decaying body of Atkinson’s mother April 30, 2014, at 5024 Hickory St.. She had been dead for several months by that time, and Atkinson already had fled the home they shared, police reported.

Atkinson, caregiver of 73-year-old Ramona Atkinson, allegedly took his disabled mother’s wheelchair with him when he abandoned her, according to Parker Police Chief Dennes Hutto.

“She had to drag herself through feces, urine and whatever else to get to the bathroom from the living room,” he said. “Unfortunately, that’s how he took care of her. And because of that, it resulted in her death.”

Herbert Atkinson was in jail in Dothan, Alabama, jail since the discovery of the body April 30, 2014. Police believe Ramona Atkinson and he argued over money, which he allegedly needed to support his drug habit, before he left the state with his mother’s financial information.

According to Parker Police, officers recovered a badly decomposed body of Ramona Atkinson and that of her deceased dog in their Hickory Street home.

During the investigation, police learned Herbert Atkinson was missing. Police also learned Ramona Atkinson’s vehicle and several credit or debit cards were missing along with him, police reported.

After learning Ramona Atkinson’s bank accounts had been drained, her Social Security and retirement checks had been cashed and pieces of her jewelry had been pawned, police tracked Herbert Atkinson to Dothan.

Houston County narcotics investigators already had arrested him on drug charges there while in his mother’s vehicle, authorities reported.

Parker Police issued several arrest warrants to have Herbert Atkinson extradited to Bay County. On Tuesday, they filed the final charge of aggravated manslaughter when he arrived.

Herbert Atkinson also was charged with abuse of the elderly, exploitation of the elderly, three counts of fraudulent use of a credit card, three counts of criminal use of personal information, grand theft, eight counts of dealing in stolen property and eight counts of false verification to a pawn broker.

He also has been charged with felony animal abuse.

OAKLAND (AP) — Typical of their hot summer days free from school, 11-year-old Jeremiah Grimes and 10-year-old Isiah Francis were plopped on the couch watching YouTube and playing video games, but Tuesday they smelled something unusual.

When they looked out the window, they saw smoke streaming from the home next door.

As Jeremiah put on his shoes, Isiah ran next door, where he encountered the neighbor frantically searching for water to douse the flames. The man told him two young children were in the kitchen.

Isiah went inside and, with Jeremiah's guidance, plucked the 1-year-old and 8-month-old from the burning home.

“It was really smoky,” Isiah said. “I could kind of see, but I had to use my sense of touch.”

Two other children in the home were rescued by firefighters who arrived moments later, after Jeremiah called 911.

“They did something that a grown man would think twice about doing,” said Jeremiah's mother, Stef Laboy. “They obviously didn't think twice about it. They were very heroic.”

Heroism had little to do with it — instinct kicked in, Jeremiah said. Both boys had been trained at school to call 911 in the event of a fire.

“I was just doing it,” Jeremiah said. “Basic instinct took over.”

Kat Kennedy, a spokeswoman for Orange County Fire Rescue, said Wednesday that “one or two young boys called 911 and went into the burning home and saved those two children.” An official incident report hadn't yet been released.

The boys’ accounts veer slightly in their separate retellings.

Isiah said Jeremiah was telling him which way to go from the door of the home since he could see better outside the intensity of the smoke. Isiah said he scooped up the toddler and infant, who were sitting on the floor, and he gave the infant to Jeremiah. They then ran to Isiah's house down the lane.

Under Jeremiah's telling, Isiah went in first and he followed, but they both went into the kitchen to rescue the children, who were uninjured.

The two children rescued a short time later by firefighters were in critical but stable condition at Arnold Palmer Hospital.

The cause of the blaze hasn't been determined. Yellow police tape surrounded the burned-out home Wednesday.

“I just wanted to help those kids,” Isiah said.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Police have arrested two Tallahassee residents in connection with an armed robbery of a pizza delivery driver, according to the Panama City Beach Police Department.

Andre C. Gayle and Dianne E. Melvin were arrested about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday after they allegedly ordered a pizza to an address on Sundial Street. When the delivery person arrived, a man emerged from a wooded area nearby with a gun, police reported.

Police identified the gunman as Gayle and said he led the driver between two buildings and ordered the driver to kneel. While racking the slide on the pistol, Gayle allegedly said “Don’t look at my face,” police reported.

The driver surrendered about $25, his cellphone and car keys, police said. Gayle and Melvin then allegedly fled in the driver’s car.

Deputies spotted the vehicle near Alabama Avenue in Panama City moments later and detained them. They also found the driver’s cellphone and a gun in the car and cash on the dashboard, police reported.

Officers called the number from which the pizza delivery request was received and another cellphone from within the vehicle rang, police said.

Gayle and Melvin were charged with armed robbery.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Two men were injured after a head-on crash on Wednesday, the Panama City Beach Police Department reported.

William D. Caldwell of Panama City Beach was transported to Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart Health System after the crash on Hutchison Boulevard at around 5:43 p.m. and was listed in critical condition, PCBPD reported. The driver of a second vehicle, James C. Davis Jr. of Bloomingdale, Ga., was treated on-scene and released, PCBPD said.

Caldwell traveled westbound in a blue 2001 Ford truck on Hutchison Boulevard near the Krystal, while Davis, in a red 2010 Chevy truck traveled eastbound, according to police. The blue truck drifted across the median into oncoming traffic and collided with the red truck head-on, PCBPD reported.

The investigation into the crash continues.

PANAMA CITY — Police say a Panama City Beach man accused of breaking into 17 Gainesville businesses and trying to pry his way into three more had collected $1,829 before he came upon an officer on patrol and promptly headed home.

The man, identified as 43-year-old Dwayne Bruce Officer, paid visits to 20 businesses across the west side of Gainesville from 10 p.m. on June 8 to 6 a.m. the next day, in search of easy-to-open doors and windows at locations away from major thoroughfares, according to the Gainesville Police Department.

Officer took only cash, and his biggest grab was a Bosshardt Realty Office at 5532 NW 43rd St., where he took $600 from a cash box, according to a Gainesville Police arrest report released Thursday. The next largest grab was at Star Martial Arts, 500 NW 60th St., where he took $567 from inside a locked drawer.

In many cases, Officer walked away with nothing, but the damage he left behind easily climbed into the hundreds of dollars. For instance, at the law offices of Carrillo and Carrillo, he caused $200 in damage to a safe about the size of a dorm-room refrigerator, and the business had to reorder checks as a precaution, which cost $465.34, the report states.

Gainesville Police (GPD) got a break in the case when officers saw surveillance video of Officer at Bouncin’ Big, a children’s bounce house facility at 490 NW 60th St. The video showed Officer wearing a T-shirt with “100% Beast” written on the front and an ankle brace, the report states. The business reported $100 missing.

At about 6 a.m. on June 9, GPD Sgt. Courtnay Roberts Jr. spotted Officer riding his bike in the area where the burglaries had occurred. Roberts spotted him again outside a Knights Inn motel, at 2820 NW 13th St., as he loaded a bicycle into a four-door Jeep Wrangler. Officer provided Roberts with his identification and told him he was passing through Gainesville on his way back home to Panama City, the report states.

“That right there shows you why we stop people for information when things don’t seem right,” said Officer Ben Tobias, a GPD spokesman, adding that although Roberts was suspicious of Officer he had no reason to believe he had committed a crime. “That right there stopped a guy who committed crimes around the state.”

Roberts later noticed Officer looked like the man in the Bouncin’ House video. He had seen a backpack from the video inside the Jeep.

Detectives eventually filed a subpoena for Officer’s hotel rewards account, which yielded information tying him to hotels in cities throughout Florida where similar burglaries had occurred. So far, he also is a suspect in 36 cases in Pensacola, dozens in Duval County and also burglaries in Tallahassee, Clearwater and St. Johns County.

On Wednesday afternoon, GPD and other law enforcement agencies reported they conducted a search of Officer’s home and found items that linked him to the crimes. He was booked into the Bay County Jail on a total of 28 criminal charges, including 17 counts of burglary, five counts of petit theft, three counts of attempted burglary, two counts of grand theft and one count of possession of burglary tools, Tobias said.

As of Thursday afternoon, Officer remained in the Bay County Jail in lieu of a $975,000 bond. Officer faces more charges from agencies across the state, and it was unclear when he would return to Alachua County to face a court hearing, Tobias said.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — The Panama City Beach Police Department seeks help in locating a runaway teenager.

Julie Sims, 14, was last seen June 10 in the Target parking lot in Pier Park, PCBPD reported. Sims is 5-foot-2, 110 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes. Anyone with information is asked to call the PCBPD at (850) 233-5000.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A white man who joined a prayer meeting inside a historic black church and then fatally shot nine people was captured without resistance Thursday after an all-night manhunt, Charleston's police chief said.

Dylann Storm Roof, 21, spent nearly an hour inside the church Wednesday night before killing six women and three men, including the pastor, Chief Greg Mullen said. A citizen spotted his car in Shelby, North Carolina, nearly four hours away.

The chief wouldn't discuss a motive. Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. called it “pure, pure concentrated evil.” Stunned community leaders and politicians condemned the attack on The Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the Justice Department has begun a hate crime investigation.

President Barack Obama, who personally knew the slain pastor, state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, said these shootings have to stop.

“At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries,” Obama said.

Pinckney, 41, was a married father of two who spent 19 years in the South Carolina legislature. He became the youngest member of the House when he was first elected as a Democrat at 23.

“He had a core not many of us have,” said Sen. Vincent Sheheen, who sat beside Pinckney in the Senate. “I think of the irony that the most gentle of the 46 of us — the best of the 46 of us in this chamber — is the one who lost his life.”

The other victims were identified as Cynthia Hurd, 54; Tywanza Sanders, 26; the Rev. Sharonda Singleton, 45; Myra Thompson, 59; Ethel Lance, 70; Susie Jackson, 87; the Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., 74; and DePayne Doctor, 49.

The shootings took out the heart of a community — civic leaders including three pastors, a regional library manager, a college enrollment counselor, and a high school track coach — and left the historic church with just one living minister.

“Immediately, my heart started to sink, because I knew that this was going to mean a forever impact on many, many people,” Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten said.

Wooten said autopsies would be conducted over the next several days and did not have specific information on how many times the victims were shot or the locations of their injuries.

Roof waived extradition from North Carolina Thursday and was taken to a waiting police car wearing a bulletproof vest, with shackles on his feet and his hands cuffed behind his back.

Roof's childhood friend, Joey Meek, alerted the FBI after recognizing him in a surveillance camera image. They recognized the stained sweatshirt he had been wearing while playing Xbox videogames in their home.

“I don't know what was going through his head,” Konzny said. “He was a really sweet kid. He was quiet. He only had a few friends.”

But Roof had been to jail: court records show a pending felony drug case and a past misdemeanor trespassing charge. And he proudly displayed the flags of defeated white-ruled regimes, posing with a Confederate flags plate on his car and wearing a jacket with stitched-on flag patches from Rhodesia, which is now black-led Zimbabwe, and apartheid-era South Africa.

Meek said they had been best friends in middle school, then lost touch for years until Roof reappeared a few weeks ago.

“All the sudden out of the blue, he started talking about race. He started talking about Trayvon Martin,” Meek told The Associated Press Thursday after he was questioned by authorities.

“He said blacks were taking over the world. Someone needed to do something about it for the white race. He said he wanted segregation between whites and blacks. I said, ‘that's not the way it should be.’ But he kept talking about it.”

Roof wasn't known to the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama, and it's not clear whether he had any connection to the 16 white supremacist organizations operating in South Carolina, but he appears to be a “disaffected white supremacist,” based on his Facebook page, said the center's president, Richard Cohen.

Charleston authorities put out photos of the suspect from the church's surveillance camera early Thursday. Later that morning, authorities west of Charlotte, North Carolina, got a report of a sighting of the suspect's car headed west, said Jeff Ledford, the police chief in Shelby, North Carolina. Officers pulled over the driver and arrested Roof just before 11 a.m., about 14 hours after the attack.

A gun was found in the car, Mullen said.

The shooting evoked painful memories of other attacks. Black churches were bombed in the 1960s when they served as organizing hubs for the Civil Rights movement, and burned by arsons across the South in the 1990s. Others survived shooting sprees.

This particular congregation, which formed in 1816, has its own grim history: A founder, Denmark Vesey, was hanged after trying to organize a slave revolt in 1822, and white landowners burned the church in revenge, leaving parishioners to worship underground until after the Civil War.

This shooting “should be a warning to us all that we do have a problem in our society,” said state Rep. Wendell Gilliard, a Democrat whose district includes the church. “There's a race problem in our country. There's a gun problem in our country. We need to act on them quickly.”

“Of all cities, in Charleston, to have a horrible hateful person go into the church and kill people there to pray and worship with each other is something that is beyond any comprehension and is not explained,” Riley said. “We are going to put our arms around that church and that church family.”

NAACP President and CEO Cornell William Brooks said “there is no greater coward than a criminal who enters a house of God and slaughters innocent people.”

A few bouquets of flowers tied to a police barricade outside the church formed a small but growing memorial.

“Today I feel like it's 9-11 again,” Bob Dyer, who works in the area, said after leaving an arrangement of yellow flowers wrapped in plastic. “I'm in shock.”

The attack came two months after the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man, Walter Scott, by a white police officer in neighboring North Charleston, which increased racial tensions. The officer awaits trial for murder, and the shooting prompted South Carolina to pass a law, co-sponsored by Pinckney, to equip police statewide with body cameras.

Contributors include Alex Sanz, Meg Kinnard and David Goldman in Charleston, South Carolina; Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama; Eric Tucker in Washington and Jacob Jordan in Atlanta.