GRAND RIDGE -- One man died at the scene of a car crash Friday that involved a farm tractor, a Florida Highway Patrol news release stated.

Bradley Williams, 37, was traveling south on County 69A at 5:50 p.m. when the front right end of the 2002 Mercury Grand Marquis he was driving collided with the left rear tires of a farm tractor driven by Douglas Jackson, 47, according to the release. Both vehicles came to a rest facing south.

Williams was pronounced dead at the scene and Jackson was not injured, the release stated.

Alcohol was not a factor in the crash and neither driver was wearing a seatbelt.

Both men are Grand Ridge residents.

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS -- A North Carolina resident was killed Sunday morning when he drove into the path of an oncoming truck on I-10 in Walton County, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

FHP is withholding the name of the victim pending notification of next of kin.

The 1994 Honda Civic had been stopped in the emergency lane of the westbound lane at 3:10 a.m.; when the driver tried to re-enter to highway, he drove into the path of a semi-truck driven by Francis Warren Roberts II, 39, of Vero Beach. The collision forced both vehicles off the road and into some trees. The car driver was pronounced dead at the scene.

Roberts received minor injuries, but a passenger, Edwin Moreno of Falls Church, Va., was seriously injured and taken to Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart Health System, FHP said.

DEBARY — Authorities have arrested a man who claimed he had found an abandoned newborn girl wrapped in newspapers outside a central Florida gas station.

Ralph Garlick Jr. was charged Monday with knowingly giving false information to law enforcement and resisting an officer without violence.

Volusia County Sheriff's deputies say the 53-year-old man originally told investigators that he found the baby after hearing her cry and he identified himself to authorities using the name of his dead brother.

Under further questioning, Garlick admitted that the baby belonged to his girlfriend, although he isn't the father.
Authorities say Garlick claimed that his girlfriend didn't want the newborn girl and that he was trying to find a safe place for the baby.
 

PANAMA CITY BEACH 

Troopers at a Back Beach Road checkpoint made 82 arrests and checked more than 1,100 cars over a five-hour period Friday night, said Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Rick Warden.
Warden said he didn’t want to release specific results of the operation until he reported them to supervisors, but he said four people were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. Troopers also made several arrests for narcotics and “numerous” misdemeanor arrests. The remaining arrests were for traffic violations, Warden said.

The purpose of the checkpoints is to get motorists to focus on safe driving. “Our mission, initially, is to inform the public,” Warden said. “Any arrest we make after informing the public … is basically a bonus.”

In situations where the checkpoint caused unacceptable traffic delays, troopers would suspend the operation until congestion was alleviated, Warden said. Otherwise, every vehicle that passed the checkpoint was inspected.

Troopers with K-9s conducted sniff-searches of vehicles suspected of carrying narcotics. Most of the people arrested on narcotics charges were released at the scene with court dates.

Warden said the operation went well, and he hoped drivers got the message. “We would like to drive safely during the holidays and practice safety,” Warden said.

PANAMA CITY— The Bay County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting that occurred at Sherman Pines Mobile Home Park on

The incident left 14-year-old Devin Williams with a single gunshot wound to the arm. He was transported to Bay Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.

Williams told police he was shot by a black male in a gray four-door vehicle. An additional witness, Christian Johnson, added the suspect was about 5-foot 8-inches tall and 200 pounds, possibly driving a gray Chevrolet Impala.

Johnson stated man pulled up to the mailbox area at the trailer park and began inquiring about marijuana. As they approached the vehicle, the driver fired three rounds from a handgun.

During the course of the investigation, Johnson was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer after he kicked one of the responding deputies.

BCSO is asking for the public’s help for any information concerning the shooting. Those with tips can contact the Bay County Sheriff’s Office at 747-4700 or Crimestoppers at 785-TIPS (8477). 

PANAMA CITY - Police investigating the theft of cash donated to buy Christmas gifts for needy local children are asking for the public’s help identifying a suspect.

The theft occurred around 7:50 a.m. Sunday at Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart Health System and made off with a box of donations intended for Anchorage Children’s Home, a non-profit organization formed to help young victims of abuse and neglect.
Panama City Police said the suspect entered the hospital lobby and waited for other people to leave before he walked out with the donation box and left on foot toward Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Police said the suspect is a black man, between 5-foot 7-inches and 6 feet tall and 150 to 195 pounds. He was wearing a dark colored jacket and dark jeans.

Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to contact Det. Roger Rossomondo with the PCPD at 872-3100 or CrimeStoppers at 785-TIPS (8477).
 

CALLAWAY — Helicopters churned in a cloudless blue sky early Wednesday morning, scouring the deep woods of southeast Bay County for the wreckage of a Destin-bound plane.

By then, more than an hour had passed since Tyndall Air Force Base reported losing radio contact with a distressed pilot near the Sandy Creek area.

Larry Eli Caison, 52, was piloting a single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza G36 from North Palm Beach County General Aviation to Destin Airport, but the plane began a sudden descent from 7,900 feet at 6:46 a.m. CST, according to North Florida Flight Center of Jacksonville reports.

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With the plane traveling at 155 mph, Caison called in an engine-related problem and was diverted to Sandy Creek Airpark, officials said. The plane then dropped 800 feet in three minutes before communications ceased.

Caison was found dead on the scene, only about 50 yards from a grass clearing of the airpark’s paved landing strip, at 9:01 a.m. CST, according to Capt. Ricky Ramie with the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.

“He wasn’t that far from the strip,” Ramie said. “He had about 50 yards before he made the clearing where he could’ve landed. Now, that’s tragic.”

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will lead the investigation into the crash. NTSB reported 76 crashes of Beechcraft planes in Florida within the past decade. The crashes resulted in 36 fatalities.

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BCSO and the Callaway Fire Department had crews on the ground searching for the crash site by 7:23 a.m. CST. Neither flames nor smoke gave away the plane’s location deep in the woods. BCSO could not find the aircraft until a helicopter was directly above the wreckage, Ramie said.

The Sheriff’s Office and the county’s Emergency Operations Center cut a trail through the thick woods about 200 yards east of Sandy Creek Airpark with the help of a county bulldozer.

In 15 years of living in the neighborhood next to the airpark, Frank Carpenter could recall only one other time a pilot came in for an emergency landing at Sandy Creek. An aircraft Carpenter described as an “Air Force helicopter” completed a safe landing once upon a time.

A former commercial pilot and maintenance manager of Sandy Creek Airpark, Carpenter said the 20-mile circumference of timberlands surrounding the 4,000-foot-long and 60-foot-wide Sandy Creek landing strip obscures the roads, which rule out a lot of

other landing options for distressed pilots. Other roads in the area are dirt or gravel.

“We’ve known people who get into trouble and look for an open field; you look for something,” Carpenter said. “As for options, where he was at doesn’t offer much.”
 

SHALIMAR — At 11 a.m. Wednesday, Kevin Camilli, a director of Shalimar- and Destin-based Grey Aviation Advisors and Solutions Inc., was anxiously awaiting word on whether it was his company’s plane that had gone down in Bay County.

At shortly after 2 p.m. the news arrived, and it was tragic.

The Bay County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Camilli’s co-director in the company, Eli Larry Caison, 52, of Palm Beach Gardens, was the pilot killed when a Beechcraft Bonanza G36 crashed at about 7:30 a.m. some 200 yards east of the Sandy Creek Air Park near Panama City.

Caison, who Camilli said grew up in the Destin area, had been scheduled to fly to Northwest Florida “sometime this week” from his South Florida home, Camilli said.

“He (Caison) was a good pilot,” Camilli said.

The plane belonging to Grey Aviation Advisors & Solutions took off from South Florida shortly before 6 a.m. Wednesday, records show. Its flight plan would have brought it to Destin Airport at 7:57 a.m.

Camilli described the plane Caison was flying as “fairly new.”

The company’s website describes Grey Aviation Advisors and Solutions Inc. as “a small Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned business located in Shalimar, Florida, USA.”

The Florida Division of Corporations website lists an office address on Harbor Boulevard in Destin.

Its owners, the website said, are former special operations pilots “with backgrounds that include, but are not limited to, Special Mission activities, aviation instruction, safety, and development of tactics, techniques and procedures.”

The company’s work includes “airborne surveillance and special missions,” the website said.

“We deliver mission enhancement aircraft, consultancy, training, risk assessment/risk management, and physical services to supplement missions, exercises and training of US military, law enforcement, interagency, and coalition partners,” the website said.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution mentioned the company in a 2010 article after it played a key role in bringing 10 Georgia missionaries home following a devastating earthquake in Haiti.

Camilli and Caisson quickly organized a flight into a makeshift runway near Port-au-Prince and ferried the group home to Atlanta at no charge, the article said.

CALLAWAY – Christmas lights still hung from the eaves of a smoldering Callaway home Wednesday afternoon after a fire destroyed most of it in the early morning hours.

Callaway Fire Department responded to a fire at 124 Dogwood Way in East Callaway Heights at 5:24 a.m. Wednesday. The residents of the mobile home, Dennis and Virginia Pritchen, another adult and two children, aged 2 and 3, were taken to Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart Health System with moderate injuries. The children were released into the care of relatives, while the three adults were admitted to the hospital.

“[Virginia] came in, had the babies with her, covered in black. There was nothing we could do [to stop the fire],” said William Harrison, a relative of the Pritchens. Harrison’s home is right next door and he said he was “watching” in case the still smoking structure flamed up again.

The Red Cross is currently assisting in the care of the Pritchens’ children with items such as diapers and clothes and will continue to assist with basic necessities, temporary lodging and medications for the whole family after the adults are released from the hospital.
The State Fire Marshal’s Office is conducting an investigation into the cause of the fire, though a representative could not be reached for comment.
 

TALLAHASSEE – Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey announced the arrest of six suspects in connection with the inmate escape scheme investigation. The suspects, all current and former Department of Corrections inmates, are charged with a combined 37 individual crimes.

Nydeed Nashaddai, 48, Suwannee Correctional Institution, 2 counts conspiracy to commit escape, 2 counts principal to escape.

Jeffrey Forbes, 30, Florida State Prison, 1 count escape, forgery, uttering a forgery and conspiracy to commit escape.

Joseph Jenkins, 34, Union Correctional Institution, escape, principle to escape, 2 counts conspiracy to commit escape, 6 counts forgery, 6 counts uttering a forgery.

Charles Walker, 35, Florida State Prison, 1 count escape.

Willie Slater Jr., 36, Orange County Jail, 2 counts principal to escape, 2 counts conspiracy to commit escape, 4 counts uttering a forgery, 1 count tampering.

Terrance Goodman, 37, Panama City, Fla., 1 count harboring a fugitive, 2 counts conspiracy to commit escape.

“FDLE investigators believe Nashaddai was the engineer of the scheme,” said FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey. “He was the first to use it before passing his knowledge onto his fellow inmates.”

“The Department of Corrections takes very seriously its primary mission of protecting the safety of Florida’s families. I’d like to express our deepest gratitude to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for its hard work and due diligence in apprehending these suspects,” said Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Michael Crews. “The Department continues to work closely with our partners in the courts and law enforcement to prevent fraudulent inmate releases, and we have moved forward to outline additional verification requirements, review modified release orders, and evaluate existing inmate law library procedures.”

The investigation shows Nashaddai taught and assisted Jenkins and Forbes in their escape attempts and Jenkins’ subsequent escape in Sept. 2013. Jenkins forged release documents for inmate Walker who escaped in Oct. 2013.

Former inmate Slater helped on the outside ensuring the forged documents were delivered to the Orange County Clerk’s Office.

Goodman, a friend of Jenkins, drove Jenkins and Walker to Panama City and rented them a motel room.

Inmates Jenkins and Walker were serving life sentences for murder from Orange County. Both escaped from Franklin Correctional Institution after the Department of Corrections received fraudulent release documents from the Orange County Clerk of Court. Jenkins escaped on Sept. 27, 2013 and Walker escaped on Oct. 8, 2013.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, along with the Bay County Sheriff's Office, Panama City Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service Task Force arrested both inmates on Oct. 19, 2013 at Coconut Grove Motor Inn in Panama City Beach.

An earlier version of this story is below:

TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is announcing more arrests in the case of two murderers who used forged documents to get out of prison.

The department is holding a press conference Thursday to provide details of the arrests.

The agency has been investigating who helped Joseph Jenkins and Charles Walker escape from a Franklin County prison and who later helped them hide from authorities when the mistaken release was discovered.

Jenkins and Walker were let out of the prison on Sept. 27 and Oct. 8, respectively, because of fake paperwork that reduced their life sentences to 15 years.

They were captured Oct. 19 in a Panama City Beach motel.

Check back after the 2 p.m. CST news conference for more details.

Below is an earlier version of this report:

More details and more arrests will be announced this afternoon in Tallahassee at a press conference called by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. 

Inmates Joseph Jenkins and Charles Walker were serving life sentences for murder from Orange County when they both escaped from Franklin Correctional Institution after the Department of Corrections received fraudulent release documents from the Orange County Clerk of Court.

Jenkins escaped on Sept. 27, 2013 and Walker escaped on Oct. 8, 2013. The men were nabbed together on Oct. 19 at the Coconut Grove Motor Inn in Panama City Beach. 

The FDLE has been conducting an investigation into who helped the men escape and whether other inmates have used fraudulent documents to escape from Florida prisons. The Department of Corrections changed the way they handle documents as a result of the case. 

The Bay County Sheriff's Office has arrested one person in a shooting that stemmed from a drug robbery, the agency wrote in a news release.

Santeni Green, 31, was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in connection with a December 15 at 5 p.m. on Sherman Avenue in which 14-year-old Devin Williams was shot in the arm, the news release states.

When they arrived at the shooting deputies found Williams with a single gunshot wound to his left arm. Williams stated that he was shot by a black male in a gray four-door vehicle. 

Further investigation by the BCSO Criminal Investigations Division revealed that Williams had attempted to rob Green during a marijuana sale. Williams set up the deal, and attempted to grab the marijuana from the vehicle and Green shot Williams during the course of the robbery, officials wrote.

 

Panama City Police are investigating a death at W. Beach Drive and Fairland Avenue this morning. 

The fully clothed body of a male was discovered near St. Andrew Bay earlier at about 10 a.m. Further details about the death are not yet available. Authorities at the scene indicated the death likely was the result of suicide.

CALLAWAY — Federal agents brought charges against eight more people for their alleged roles in a $40 million mortgage fraud conspiracy stretching across multiple states, law enforcement officials announced late Thursday.

Federal agents claim the eight defendants conspired to use straw buyers to make mortgage loan applications, false statements, misrepresentations and omissions in the mortgage loan applications and to conceal the scheme to avert detection from lending institutions. Many of the loans are now in default and/or foreclosure.

The indictment identified fraudulent transactions for nine properties on Ann Street in Santa Rosa Beach and implicated Ileana E. Osborne, 44, of Santa Rosa Beach, as a pivotal participant. The indictment says other properties involved were in other parts of Florida, including Bay County, as well as Georgia, Louisiana, Texas and California.

Jack R. Coppenger, 49, of Akron, Ohio, already has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison in July for using “straw buyers” to secure lands in WatersEdge, a development near Allanton in southeast Bay County. He pleaded guilty for conspiring to commit bank fraud and making false statements to influence a bank to make a loan. More than 40 people have been found guilty of crimes for their involvement in the mortgage fraud scheme.

Prosecutors said Osborne, owner and operator of a mortgage brokerage company and a consulting company, and Coppenger operate several businesses related to real estate development. The other seven people served as the straw buyers, according to the indictment.

The indictment states that at Osborne and Coppenger’s behest, a real estate agent or property finder located a property for sale. Osborne, Coppenger and others allegedly convinced the property owner to allow them and others to assist in the sale and purchase for a price satisfactory to the seller. Coppenger located a person with good credit who could serve as a straw buyer, and he solicited their participation by promising payments of as much as $25,000 in return for their help.

In some instances, Osborne, the allegegd straw buyer, Coppenger and others agreed to a sales price of the property in excess of the asking price and divided the difference between Osborne and Coppenger, their respective companies and others, according to the indictment.

The indictment states Osborne, as a licensed mortgage broker, along with the straw buyer, would fill out a loan application for the straw buyer. She and the straw buyer included false information, including inflating income amounts, falsely representing that the property would be used as a second residence, failing to disclose that the straw buyer was not the source of the down payment for the property, and other false statements.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert J. Patton and Om Kakani following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

If convicted, the defendants’ sentences will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case.

Also named in the 45-count indictment Thursday are: Kyle F. Conrad, 63, and Linda K. Conrad, 62, both of Hartville, Ohio; John J. Dubay, 48, of Delray Beach; Jon R. Jacobson, 50, of North Canton, Ohio; Harry S. Kaplan, 50, of Hillsboro Beach; David B. Romsey, 67, of Uniontown, Ohio; and Grace M. Wollerman, 49, of Mentor, Ohio.

PANAMA CITY — Four defendants were sentenced for federal tax fraud Thursday, receiving more than 20 years in prison and nearly $900,000 in restitution payments between them.

Wilson Calle, 55, of New York; Blaine Johnston, 62, of Marianna; Wilfredo Rodriguez, 53; and Diana Gonzalez, 63, both of Miami, were all found guilty after a jury trial here in September in federal district court. The four conspired to defraud the U.S. government with false federal income tax returns; in 2008 and 2009, they filed fraudulent tax returns seeking more than $19 million in refunds, according to a news release.

Calle and Johnston each received 6½ years in prison and must each pay nearly $250,000 in restitution to the IRS. Rodriguez received 2¼ years in prison and must pay about $160,000 in restitution to the IRS. Gonzalez received 5¼ years and must pay nearly $250,000 in restitution to the IRS.

“We will continue to aggressively pursue those who defraud and illegally manipulate the tax system, especially those individuals who concoct schemes to submit false tax returns and assist others in doing so,” said U.S. Attorney Pamela C. March.

PANAMA CITY -- The Panama City Fire Department responded to a residential structure fire at 1900 Alabama Ave. before dawn Friday.

The fire was located in a single story wood framed duplex residence. Twelve firefighters responded to the call. Battalion One also responded to the call.

The alarm came in at 4:45 a.m. and the first arriving fire unit was on-scene at 4:48 a.m. The incident was brought under control at 5:18 a.m.

The structure received fire and smoke damage to the kitchen and living room area in the east side apartment. The west side apartment received smoke damage.

Upon arrival, crews found smoke coming from the attic exhaust vent of the east side apartment. An immediate search of the structure confirmed all occupants were out of the structure. EMS assessed one of the occupants and transported him to the hospital.

After an investigation by the Panama City Fire Department the fire was determined to have started in the kitchen area of the east side apartment. The fire is currently under investigation by the Panama City Fire Department investigators and the Florida State Fire Marshal’s Office.

PANAMA CITY -- The Bay County Sheriff’s Office is requesting the public’s assistance for information related to a burglary that occurred at several businesses between Dec. 13 and Dec. 16 at 1000 Jackson Way, Panama City.

On Monday, BCSO responded to a report of a burglary at that address, near the old airport property. It was discovered that forced entry had been made into the buildings and several items related to the businesses had been taken.

Among the items taken were a Juki brand sewing machine valued at approximately $6,000, and a stainless Kel-Tec 380 handgun. Numerous items of diving gear were also taken.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Investigator Marc Bailey with BCSO at 850-747-4700 or Panhandle Crimestoppers at 785-TIPS(8477).

WEST BAY -- A Panama City resident was in critical condition Friday night after the truck he was driving hit a utility pole, flipped over and ejected him, a Florida Highway Patrol news release states.

Joseph Aric Guetter, 39, was ejected from the 1995 Toyota 4 Runner when the truck went off the road and slammed into a utility pole at about 10:20 p.m., the release states.

Whether alcohol was a factor in the wreck is pending investigation. He was not wearing a seatbelt.

Guetter was driving eastbound on County 388 when the truck he was driving veered into the north side of the road and crossed the north shoulder into a tree line, the release states.

The front of the truck hit a utility pole, flipped over and ejected Guetter, the release states. The truck came to rest in an upright position in the tree line facing west.

Guetter landed on his left side on the shoulder of the road east of the truck, the release states.

He was taken in critical condition to Bay Medical Center Sacred Heart Health System.

GRAND RIDGE -- A Grand Ridge man who called the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office to complain that people were chasing and shooting at him was himself arrested Saturday.

Charged with being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and armed trespassing was Basel Morris, 43, Blueberry Drive, Grand Ridge.

JCSO reported that Saturday at 10:18 a.m., the agency received a 911 call from a distraught man who said he had been chased across three counties and had been shot at by several people Friday night and again Saturday. The man said the people who were after him were across the road in the woods.

The investigation revealed that the man was possibly under the influence of a substance and was a convicted felon.

The JCSO press release did not say whether the people he claimed were chasing him actually existed.

Anyone who sees a white male about five feet eleven inches tall and 160 pounds with dark hair and hazel eyes is asked to call 911. He may be wearing handcuffs.

Ryan William Farmer escaped a patrol car while at the Bay County Jail about 10 p.m. Saturday night, Panama City Police said Sunday. Farmer had been arrested on several outstanding warrants, officials added. While he was wearing handcuffs when he escaped police don't know if he is still cuffed.  

Anonymous tips can be reported to CrimeStoppers at 785-TIPS.

SPRINGFIELD — A man who escaped out of the back of a patrol car Saturday night at the county jail while wearing handcuffs was captured by law enforcement Monday evening.

A number of individuals suspected to have helped him were also arrested.

At about 6:20 p.m. local police and the U.S. Marshall task force captured 27-year-old Ryan William Farmer at 207 Central Ave., a residential area in Springfield, according to police officials.

“A pile of arrests” were made at the scene of individuals who were suspected of aiding and abetting Farmer, said Panama City Police Department Maj. Mark Aviles. Their names and charges were not yet available as of 8 p.m. Monday.

Along with pending charges, Farmer will be charged with escaping and petit theft of PCPD handcuffs, Aviles said. He was wanted in two other states for burglary related charges.

Shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday, Farmer had fled on foot in handcuffs out of a parked PCPD patrol car at the Bay County Jail, a PCPD report stated.

He escaped by “manipulating his body through a cracked rear window.”

“I entered into the warrants division with Farmer still confined in my patrol vehicle,” arresting officer George Thurman wrote in the report. “Upon return to my vehicle, I discovered that Farmer had escaped from the rear seat of my patrol vehicle …”

Wearing handcuffs, the five-foot eleven inch, 160 pound man, somehow put his body through the backseat cracked window and fled on foot.

“If policies and procedures would have been followed as they should’ve been, the escape wouldn’t have happened,” PCPD Maj. Mark Aviles said Monday. 

He said Thurman has not received any disciplinary action and if the investigation uncovers a violation, “we’ll try to mitigate it so that it never happens again.”

Thurman had arrested Farmer shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday during a traffic stop at the 700 block of E. Ninth Street.
The stop resulted in a written warning for a defective tag light being issued to 26-year-old Bobby Lanier, the driver of the white 1991 Acura Integra.

Farmer was sitting in the front passenger seat and Kaylee Tuggle, 21, sat in the back.

Lanier and Tuggle were cleared of any warrants, “however, the front seat passenger Farmer, had possible warrants,” Thurman wrote in the report.

After Farmer gave his correct social security number, Thurman handcuffed him and transported him to jail.
 

An earlier version of this story is below:

PANAMA CITY — Police are still on the lookout for a man who escaped out of the back of a patrol car at the county jail while wearing handcuffs Saturday night.

Wanted in two states for burglary related charges, 27-year-old Ryan William Farmer fled on foot in handcuffs out of a Panama City Police patrol car shortly after 10 p.m., according to a PCPD report.

He escaped by “manipulating his body through a cracked rear window.”

“I entered into the warrants division with Farmer still confined in my patrol vehicle,” arresting officer George Thurman wrote in the report. “Upon return to my vehicle, I discovered that Farmer had escaped from the rear seat of my patrol vehicle …”
Wearing handcuffs, the five-foot eleven inch, 160 pound man, somehow put his body through the backseat cracked window and fled on foot.

PCPD, with help from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, have been unable to find the man, the report states.

“If policies and procedures would have been followed as they should’ve been, the escape wouldn’t have happened,” PCPD Maj. Mark Aviles said Monday.

He said Thurman has not received any disciplinary action and if the investigation uncovers a violation, “we’ll try to mitigate it so that it never happens again.”

Thurman had arrested Farmer shortly after 9 p.m. during a traffic stop at the 700 block of E. Ninth Street.
The stop resulted in a written warning for a defective tag light being issued to the driver of the white 1991 Acura Integra, Bobby Lanier, 26.

Farmer was sitting in the front passenger seat and Kaylee Tuggle, 21, sat in the back.

Lanier and Tuggle were cleared of any warrants, “however, the front seat passenger Farmer, had possible warrants,” Thurman wrote in the report.

After Farmer gave his correct social security number, Thurman handcuffed him and transported him to the Bay County Jail.
Aviles didn’t comment on Farmer’s escape, but stated a nationwide be-on-the-look-out has been issued and every local law enforcement agency is “going to be looking for him.”

Farmer is a white male about five feet eleven inches tall and 160 pounds with dark hair and hazel eyes.

He may be wearing handcuffs.

Anyone who spots him is asked to call 911. Do not approach or try to apprehend him, Aviles said.

Anonymous tips can be reported to CrimeStoppers at 785-TIPS.