PANAMA CITY — Two Panama City men were convicted Wednesday after a six-day trial of running an identity theft and tax fraud scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.

Versiah M. Taylor, 33, and Tracy L. Collier, 48, both face up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000 after a jury found them guilty of multiple counts of tax fraud, wire fraud and identity theft. Both will face a two-year minimum mandatory sentence for the identity theft convictions that must be served consecutively to any other sentence Judge Richard Smoak decides to impose during a sentencing hearing scheduled for May 7.

Collier was incarcerated when he disguised Social Security numbers and birthdates of other inmates as legal case citations in mailings to Taylor, who used the information to file false income tax returns seeking refunds totaling more than $500,000 between September 2011 and August 2012.

Prosecutors also announced the sentencing of a New York man to seven years in prison for his role in an unrelated scheme to defraud the IRS.

Angel Done, 54, will also have to pay restitution to the tune of $245,747.32 in conjunction with the four other people involved in a conspiracy to bilk more than $19 million in undeserved tax refunds.

Blaine Johnson, 62, of Marianna received an identical sentence during his hearing Dec. 19, as did fellow conspirators Wilson Calle, 55, of New York, and Diana Gonzales, 63, of Miami. Wilfredo Rodriguez, 53, of Miami, was sentenced to 27 months in prison and must pay $160,490.93 in restitution.

“As the number of greedy offenders willing to steal identities and tax dollars has grown, so has our ability to track, investigate, arrest and prosecute these cases, effectively and cooperatively,” U.S. Attorney Pamela Marsh said in a statement announcing the sentences. “We are pursuing those engaged in these schemes, with intensity, and we are ready for tax season.”

CHIPLEY —  A Chipley woman was found severely beaten Thursday and the Washington County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a suspect.

In a written release, WCSO said the office received a call about a possible kidnapping and assault shortly before 1 p.m. Officers arrived at a residence on Eloise Road and found the victim, who’s name is being withheld at this time, severely beaten, WCSO said. Washington County EMS took the victim to Northwest Florida Community Hospital in Chipley. She was listed in critical condition Thursday night, WCSO said.

Following interviews with the victim, investigators were able to piece together a timeline and identify a suspect, Christopher Cruz Walley, 25.

According to WCSO, the victim said she had been in a vehicle with Walley on Wednesday when without warning, Walley stopped the vehicle and started beating the victim with his hands and an expandable police baton until the victim lost consciousness. When the victim regained consciousness, she was in the trunk of the vehicle. Walley continued to travel throughout the evening and into the next day, making several stops with the victim still in the trunk. Walley came to a stop on Eloise Road and the victim was able to escape to a nearby residence where a neighbor called law enforcement.

Officers with WCSO have organized a search for Walley with the help of the Florida Highway Patrol and the U.S. Marshal’s Office. Walley is believed to be traveling in a white 1998 Ford Expedition, with the tag number B905MA, WCSO said.

WCSO is offering up to a $1,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of Walley.

“We are actively employing all resources available to apprehend a suspect who violently attacked a resident of our community,” Sheriff Bobby Haddock said. “We are all hands on deck until this case is resolved and we are asking the community to be vigilant in reporting anything that looks suspicious or that could be related to this case. Please contact the Washington County Sheriff’s Office with this information immediately. As always, you can remain anonymous by reporting through 638-TIPS (8477).”

YOUNGSTOWN — Deputies Friday arrested the man who claimed he acted in self defense when he shot and killed his wife’s lover and critically injured his wife in what he said was an accident.

Deputies were called to the home of Michael and Susan McCoy on Rhonda Road early Wednesday morning after Michael McCoy called 911 to report that he had shot his wife and David Walker after he learned she had been having an affair with Walker, who was shot multiple times and pronounced dead at the scene.

Susan McCoy, 37, was taken to a hospital for treatment. She was in “guarded condition” Friday, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.

Michael McCoy told investigators following the shooting that he initially armed himself with the intention of taking his own life, but his wife talked him out of it. He said he demanded Walker — who apparently had been staying with the couple since he was released from the Bay County Jail on Sunday following a domestic battery arrest — leave their home. The two men began to argue before he shot Walker.

Because there were no other witnesses to the shooting, which occurred around 2:30 a.m. in the front yard of the McCoys’ home, investigators were waiting for Susan McCoy to recover to the point where they could take her statement. Whether he was charged or not would depend on whether her version of the shooting confirmed what Michael McCoy said.

Investigators spoke with Susan McCoy Friday. BCSO officials didn’t release any details from her statement, and they didn’t return a call for comment Friday, but Michael McCoy was arrested shortly afterwards. He is charged with an open count of murder and attempted murder. He was taken to the Bay County Jail to await his first court appearance Saturday.

An earlier version of this story is posted below:

YOUNGSTOWN -- A Bay County man who fatally shot another man and injured his wife was arrested today, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office announced.Deputies were called the home of Michael and Susan McCoy early Wednesday morning after Michael McCoy called 911 to report that he had shot his wife and David Walker after he learned she had been having an affair with Walker, who was shot multiple times and pronounced dead at the scene.

Susan McCoy, 37, was taken to a hospital for treatment. She was in “guarded condition” Friday, according to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.

Michael McCoy told investigators following the shooting that he initially armed himself with the intention of taking his own life, but his wife talked him out of it. He said he demanded Walker — who apparently had been staying with the couple since he was released from the Bay County Jail on Sunday following a domestic battery arrest — leave their home. The two men began to argue before he shot Walker.

Because there were no other witnesses to the shooting, which occurred around 2:30 a.m. in the front yard of the McCoys’ home, investigators were waiting for Susan McCoy to recover to the point where they could take her statement. Whether he was charged or not would depend on whether her version of the shooting confirmed what Michael McCoy said.

Investigators spoke with Susan McCoy Friday. BCSO officials didn’t release any details from her statement, and they didn’t return a call for comment Friday, but Michael McCoy was arrested shortly afterwards. He is charged with an open count of murder and attempted murder. He was taken to the Bay County Jail to await his first court appearance Saturday.

An earlier version of this story is posted below:

YOUNGSTOWN -- A Bay County man who fatally shot another man and injured his wife was arrested Friday, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office announced this afternoon.

Michael McCoy was charged with murder in the two shootings at his home at 8505 Rhonda Road on Wednesday.

David Walker, 47, was shot multiple times and died at the scene. McCoy’s wife, Susan McCoy, was shot and is in a local hospital in guarded condition.

Michael McCoy called 911 after the shooting and waited for deputies to arrive. He was detained and gave a statement to BCSO criminal investigators about the incident. McCoy said he had just learned that evening that Walker and his wife were having an affair. McCoy, who suffers from physical disabilities and has difficulty walking, stated he shot Walker in self defense during a verbal altercation outside the home. McCoy said that his wife was shot accidentally while trying to prevent the incident.

CHIPLEY -- Deputies were still searching Friday evening for the man suspected of beating a woman unconscious and putting her in the trunk of a car while he drove around, an official said.

Tips about the possible whereabouts of 25-year-old Christopher Cruz Walley have been coming into the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, but none have led to his capture, said WCSO spokeswoman Andrea Gainey.

“As of right now we’re open to any possibility,” Gainey said.

Walley is suspected of administering an unprovoked beating Wednesday night that left an unidentified woman unconscious, then putting her in the trunk of an Oldsmobile and driving around throughout the night and into the next day. The woman came to and was able to use the vehicle’s trunk release lever to open the trunk and escape to a nearby home.

Authorities still believe Walley might be travelling in a 1998 Ford Expedition with the tag number B905MA. Gainey said anyone who spots Walley should not approach him and call 911 immediately.

PANAMA CITY — A man who held six children at gunpoint after they tried to turn a golf cart around in his driveway pleaded no contest to several felonies Thursday and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Attorneys on both sides agreed it was “totally and completely” a departure from Jerry Fulcher’s character when he pulled a gun on six children on a cart who had used his driveway to turn around. Fulcher had never been in trouble and was the head of the local homebuilders association before he retired.

Fulcher entered his plea to two counts of false imprisonment with a firearm, a count of aggravated assault with a firearm and misdemeanor count of battery. He had been scheduled for a jury trial that would have started Monday.

Now, Fulcher, 68, will spend the first three years of his prison term ineligible for gain time — a sentence reduction for good behavior — because the aggravated assault with a firearm charge carries a minimum mandatory sentence. He received credit for the two days he spent in jail after his arrest June 13, 2010.

Waylon Graham, Fulcher’s attorney, said Fulcher had been having problems with trespassers when, armed with a loaded revolver, he stopped the children, forced them off the cart and onto the ground, and threatened to shoot them. He forced one of the children to go inside his home, where the child called a parent to pick them up. Fulcher was still armed when the parent arrived a few minutes later and hurried the children away.

Graham said Fulcher was in a bad place because his wife recently had died after a long and difficult illness.

“It had really done a number on him and put him in a pit of depression,” Graham said.

Prosecutor Megan Teeple said the deal was made after the parents of all the victims agreed it was best to spare the children from having to testify in a trial. Teeple said the victims, who are now between the ages of 5 and 17, were traumatized.

“They’re having nightmares,” she said.

Fulcher will not be on probation after his prison sentence, but Teeple did insist on a condition that he not return to the Southport neighborhood, though only one family involved still lives there.

“We made it a part of the deal that he can’t move back to that street,” Teeple said.

She said she believed Fulcher planned to sell his home and live with his sister after his prison term. 

FREEPORT — A 4-month old baby who officials believe was poisoned was airlifted to Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola early Saturday.

According to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office, the baby was on a ventilator in ICU at midday Saturday.

WCSO and the Department of Children and Families responded to the Freeport home in reference to a baby boy  having breathing problems, WCSO said.

There was no word on whether authorities believe the poisoning was intentional or accidental. The Sheriff’s Office is investigating, and additional information will be released when available.

BONIFAY — A man wanted for the violent kidnapping and beating of a Chipley woman was arrested Saturday night while eating in a Bonifay restaurant.

Christopher Cruz Walley, 26, of Corbin Road, Chipley, was captured at about 7 p.m., according to the  Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

Bonifay police, working off a tip received by WCSO Tips Line, verified that a stolen vehicle Walley was believed to be traveling in was parked at the Pho Noodle & Kaboodle (Old Simbos Restaurant) in Bonifay. Officers entered the restaurant and took Walley, who was eating, into custody without incident, WCSO said.

Walley was charged with aggravated battery, kidnapping/false imprisonment and grand theft.

Walley is suspected of administering an unprovoked beating Wednesday night that left a woman unconscious, then putting her in the trunk of an Oldsmobile and driving around throughout the night and into the next day. The woman came to and was able to use the vehicle’s trunk release lever to open the trunk and escape to a nearby home. She hospitalized in critical condition.

“We could not be more grateful to our staff and assisting agencies who have worked tirelessly on the apprehension of Christopher Cruz Walley,” Sheriff Bobby Haddock said. “We are so proud of our local residents who came together and assisted with invaluable tips and leads. This is the result of what happens when law enforcement and the community work together. This was a violent attack on a member of our community and we were committed to ensuring he answered for those crimes.”

PANAMA CITY — A former executive at a failed bank is pushing back against prosecutors who want to show a jury evidence of misconduct, arguing the government can’t prove the allegations, and even if it could the evidence would only confuse and prejudice jurors.

Attorneys for Donald Terry Dubose, who is charged along with Frank Banker and Elwood West with fraud for allegedly ripping off the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), filed a response to Assistant U.S. Attorney Gayle Littleton’s notice that she plans to show jurors evidence Dubose lied in order to convince a pair of local investors to buy shares in his failing bank to avoid personal losses.

Littleton contends Dubose knew regulators were about to clamp down on Coastal Community Investments, a holding company for Coastal Community Bank and Bayside Savings Bank, so he lied to sell his daughter’s shares in the company and recover the money he lent her to buy it.

Dubose is not charged with any crime stemming from the allegations in Littleton’s filing, but Littleton argues she needs the evidence to show Dubose and the other bankers purposely committed fraud against the government. Dubose contends Littleton has an ulterior motive: to paint Dubose as a liar in one instance so jurors will find it probable he lied to the FDIC.

The evidence is intended to prove Dubose’s character, he argues, not his intent to defraud the FDIC’s Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP), which was created to reassure lenders who were hesitant to make loans to each other during the collapse of the financial system.

“There is substantial risk that the jury will draw impermissible character inferences from the evidence — i.e., once a liar, always a liar,” attorney Claire Rauscher wrote.

Part of the problem with Littleton’s assertion that Dubose lied to sell shares and avoid personal losses is that she can’t prove it, Rauscher wrote.

Littleton alleges Dubose lied when he said a “retired old lady,” not his daughter, was trying to sell her shares, but the only evidence Dubose knew that was a lie is that the shares that eventually changed hands didn’t come from a retired old lady, Rauscher argues. Other people were interested in buying and selling shares in the bank too, including a man who wanted to sell shares his grandmother owned before her death.

“The elderly woman could have sold her shares to another buyer or could have decided not to sell,” Rauscher wrote.
Jurors will be confused by evidence and testimony about the uncharged allegations and including it will prolong any trial and force Dubose to mount a defense to evidence of conduct that he is not charged with, Rauscher wrote.

Dubose, Baker and West are scheduled for trial beginning Feb. 24, and a pretrial hearing is scheduled for Feb. 18. They are each charged with conspiracy to defraud the FDIC, seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of lying to the FDIC and aiding and abetting a false claim against the United States. They have pleaded not guilty.
 

TAMPA — Five people, including four fraternity brothers, died in a fiery, head-on collision on a southwest Florida highway early Sunday morning, according to Florida Highway Patrol officials.

The driver of an SUV was heading south in the northbound lanes of Interstate 275 in Tampa around 2 a.m. Sunday when the driver collided head-on with a Hyundai Sonata. Authorities say the SUV burst into flames and the driver died at the scene. FHP officials were still trying to identify the male victim late Sunday because of extensive injuries from the fire.

Sergeant Steve Gaskins said all four victims in the second car also died at the scene. They were members of the University of South Florida's fraternity Sigma Beta Rho. Authorities identified the victims as: Jobin Joy Kuriakose, 21, Ankeet Harshad Patel, 22, Imtiyaz Ilias, 20 and Dammie Yesudhas, 21.

Authorities said they are investigating whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash.
The highway was closed for several hours and re-opened around 7 a.m.
 

NEW SMYRNA BEACH — Firefighters responded to a blaze near New Smyrna Beach and found the body of a man inside the front part of the structure, fire officials said Monday morning.

The fire erupted just before 11 p.m. at 187 Howard Ave., said Bill Snyder, a division chief with Volusia County Fire Services, and there were flames shooting out of the roof and front windows when firefighters arrived.

With firefighters from the county, New Smyrna Beach and Port Orange responding, the blaze was contained by 11:30 p.m., Snyder said.

But when firefighters entered to check the interior, they found the person in the front part of the house, Snyder said. According to property records, the house is owned by Jimmy L. Hives. But it’s not clear who died in the house.

“I can only assume that the person was trying to get out, but that’s only an assumption,” Snyder said.

The cause of the fire has not been determined and the person has not been identified.

“The Fire Marshal’s Office will be investigating,” Snyder said.

The home is in an unincorporated enclave surrounded by New Smyrna Beach.

SOUTHPORT — Phyllis Ann Williams, 83, has been located, the Bay County Sheriff's Office announced Monday afternoon.

Williams told family members she is in Lucedale, Miss., just northwest of Mobile, Ala., and she said she's in good condition, BCSO reported.

Below is an earlier version of this story:

SOUTHPORT — The Bay County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the assistance of the public to help locate a woman missing since 10 p.m. Sunday night.

Family members saw Phyllis Ann Williams drive away from her home at 12040 Highway 77 in Southport last night and thought that while driving at night was unusual for Williams, she may have needed something from a nearby convenience store. When Williams failed to return by midnight, the family contacted the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.

Williams, 83, takes medication that sometimes causes symptoms similar to dementia. She was driving a 2004 white Dodge pick-up truck, 2500 series, single cab, with a chrome bush guard across the front. The truck has amber lights on top of the cab.
Williams was last seen in the Fort Walton area when a Fort Walton police officer ran her tag because he noticed the driver was stopping the vehicle for yellow lights. Just before the officer could attempt a traffic stop, he was sent on a call for service. The FDLE has issued a Silver Alert for Phyllis Williams.

Anyone with information about Phyllis Ann Williams is asked to contact the Bay County Sheriff’s Office at 747-4700 or Crime Stoppers at 785-TIPS.
 

MIAMI — Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Donna Jane Watts was on routine patrol early one morning when a Miami police car whizzed past at speeds that would eventually top 120 mph. Even with her blue lights flashing and siren blaring, it took Watts more than seven minutes to pull the speeder over.

Not certain who was behind the wheel, she approached the car warily, with gun drawn, according video from her cruiser's dashboard camera. “Put your hands out of the window! Right now!” she yelled. It turned out the driver was Miami Police Department officer Fausto Lopez, in full uniform. Watts holstered her gun but still handcuffed him and took his weapon.

“I apologize,” Lopez said, explaining that he was late for an off-duty job.

“You were running 120 miles an hour!” Watts barked back.

That October 2011 confrontation made national headlines and eventually got Lopez fired. But Watts’ actions involving a fellow officer didn't sit well with many in law enforcement, and not long after she made that traffic stop, she says, the harassment began. Random telephone calls on her cell phone. Some were threats and some were prank calls, including orders for pizza. Unfamiliar vehicles and police cars sat idling in her cul-de-sac. She was afraid to open her mailbox.

Watts suspected her private driver's license information was being accessed by fellow officers, so she made a public records request with the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. It turned out she was right: over a three-month period, at least 88 law enforcement officers from 25 different agencies accessed Watts’ driver's license information more than 200 times, according to her lawyer.

Law enforcement officers have long been known to band together and protect each other, but Watts said in her lawsuit that these actions went too far.

Watts is suing those police agencies and the individual officers under the federal Driver Privacy Protection Act, a 1994 law that provides for a penalty of $2,500 for each violation if the information was improperly accessed. Watts’ attorney, Mirta Desir, said it's clear most of the officers had no legitimate reason to look up her data. If all the searches were found illegal, Watts could receive more than $500,000.

“Ultimately what it comes down to is a violation of privacy,” Desir said. “It wasn't for any legitimate purpose on the part of the police officers and it was done by people in a position of trust.”

According to court documents, most of the individual officers named in Watts’ lawsuit did face some disciplinary action, usually a written reprimand. But lawyers for the agencies have asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that under the U.S. Constitution, Congress cannot hold police officers liable for merely accessing the information, but only if they try to sell it. And some claim they did have a legitimate reason.

For example, a lawyer for fellow state Trooper Andrew Cobb said in court papers that he accessed Watts’ information after “hearing rumors that other troopers were threatening” her and that his actions were done “out of concern for a fellow trooper” and as “a matter of public safety.” Under Highway Patrol policy, employees typically are not permitted to comment on legal matters.

The challenge by some Florida police agencies to the driver's license law has drawn the attention of the U.S. Justice Department, which is defending its constitutionality. In its own court November filing, the Justice Department insists that numerous courts have held that Congress can regulate such activity even if the items involved aren't being sold.

“There is value in drivers’ information and a market for it,” the Justice Department lawyers said. “What the defendants fail to recognize is that there is value in drivers’ information whether or not it is actually sold.”

The legal clash over Watts’ lawsuit comes as some police agencies are seeking changes in the driver's license law itself. Bill Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police Agencies, said law enforcement officials are concerned that lawyers are using the law to target individual officers who access the information. He noted that the $2,500 penalty per violation can add up quickly.

“In our view, it was not what the federal law was enacted to counteract,” Johnson said. “I think it would be unfair and outside the scope of the legislation to think individuals would get whacked like that.”

NAPO is lobbying Congress to remove the automatic $2,500 penalty and change the law so that a violation could only occur if there was “specific intent to secure an economic benefit,” according to the organization's documents.

Desir, the attorney representing Watts, said anyone can ask the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles for a report — known as D.A.V.I.D., for Driving and Vehicle Information Database — on who has accessed their driver's license information and how many times. But it isn't easy.

“You don't even know you've been looked up unless you make a concerted effort to find out,” she said.

A judge is expected to rule on the law enforcement agency and officers’ motions to dismiss in the coming weeks, which will determine whether the lawsuit continues. Desir said Watts, who had been assigned to road patrol in Broward County, has relocated and is no longer driving a cruiser, although she still works for the Highway Patrol. Through Desir, Watts declined to be interviewed.

“She's doing OK,” Desir said.

WESTVILLE — Deputies have recovered the body of a 26-year-old woman from the Choctawhatchee River in Holmes County.

The Holmes County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) on Monday removed the body of Cynthia Katrice Johnson, who had been missing for a month. The body is now undergoing an autopsy overseen by the 14th Judicial Circuit Medical Examiner’s office. There are no signs of foul play, according to an HCSO news release.

Johnson was missing since Jan. 10; a motorist last saw her on the U.S. 90 bridge spanning the Choctawhatchee River, the news release said.

Sheriff’s offices in Bay, Jackson, Walton and Washington counties and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission all participated in the search, as well as volunteers.

TALLAHASSEE — Authorities are trying to find a 23-year-old Florida State University graduate who went missing days after beginning an internship for a state lawmaker.

Ryan Uhre disappeared on Feb. 2, after watching the Super Bowl with friends at a Tallahassee bar, according to Tallahassee police. He was last seen walking home, wearing a Hawaiian-style shirt with surfing Santas.

Patty Uhre, who lives in Atlanta, told the Tallahassee Democrat (http://on.tdo.com/1eQXaW9 ) she is hopeful police will find her son.

She said the disappearance doesn't make sense because so much was going right in his life. He graduated from FSU in December, was working two jobs and had just started the internship in the office of Rep. Richard Stark, D-Weston.

In addition, he was studying to take the LSAT prep courses in hopes of attending law school.

“Things had been going so well with Ryan,” she said. “This is a situation that is baffling to us. I would have never expected this and for this prolonged period of time.”

Family members grew concerned when they had not heard from him several days later. Patty Uhre said she received a call from Stark, a family friend, saying that her son hadn't shown up for work a week ago Tuesday.

“That's totally inconsistent with Ryan,” she said. “Work was a priority for him.”

Tallahassee police took over the case from university police on Monday.

Authorities in Tallahassee and South Florida are looking for Uhre. They said Monday they don't have any reason to believe foul play was involved in the disappearance.

Ryan Uhre's father, Michael Uhre, has been visiting hotels and bars in South Florida, searching for his son.

But Patty Uhre said she's taking a different approach. “I am staying still. My son knows where I am and if I'm in the same place he'll find me.”

A fire truck returning to a station after a call Tuesday caught fire while driving on County 2301.

No one was injured, but the vehicle is probably ruined, said Mark Bowen, Director of Emergency Services for Bay County.
It’s not clear what started the fire — the Fire Marshals Office will investigate the cause — but Bowen speculated there was a mechanical problem with the truck. He said the only firefighter on the truck at the time pulled over after seeing smoke coming from a rear tire.

The firefighter couldn’t put it out and set about instead to salvage as much equipment from the truck as possible, Bowen said.

“We’re just glad nobody was injured; there’s a lot of pressurized equipment on there,” Bowen said.

The truck was worth “a couple hundred thousand dollars,” Bowen said, but it is insured. He said the loss of the truck is hard on firefighters, and he could appreciate the irony, but he pointed out that vehicle fires happen frequently.

“As ironic as something like this is, it’s really no different than someone else’s vehicle catching fire,” he said.
 

ALFORD — A 40-year-old Cottondale man was critically injured and his 20-year-old passenger was seriously injured in a wreck near Alford Monday afternoon, according to a news release from the Florida Highway Patrol.

Troopers said Samuel Aldon Keen Jr. and Heather Lynn Carter, also of Cottondale, were in a 2000 Dodge Van at about 4 p.m. and headed west on County 276 when they pulled out on State 75. The van was then struck by a semi truck being driven by 68-year-old Jonnie W. McClendon of Lake City, Ga. McClendon had minor injuries, officials wrote.

The incident is under investigation. 

ORLANDO — The body of a toddler discovered missing in central Florida this week has been found buried in a shallow grave.

Sanford Police Chief Cecil Smith said Tuesday that the body of 2-year-old Tariji Gordon was found in Crescent City, which is located about an hour north of Sanford.

The child’s mother, 32-year-old Rachel Fryer, was arrested earlier Tuesday and was being held without bond on a charge of aggravated child neglect. Investigators said Fryer never reported her daughter missing. A check performed Monday at Fryer’s home at the request of child welfare officials revealed the child was missing.

Gordon is one of Fryer’s four children. The other three have been placed in foster care.

Authorities were still looking to question Gordon’s boyfriend, Timothy Gordon.

SANFORD — An attorney convicted of leading a $300 million gambling ring that used a veterans charity as a front was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison.

Kelly Mathis of Jacksonville learned his sentence after a Florida judge listened to character witnesses describe the lawyer as a man of integrity who loved his family. Mathis' attorneys argued that he should be spared prison given he only provided legal advice to Allied Veterans of America.

But Statewide Prosecutor Nick Cox said Mathis deserved prison for engaging in decep-tion. Cox said Mathis was responsible for marrying the gambling operation with the veterans charity.

Mathis was convicted last year of 103 counts of racketeering, possessing slot ma-chines and other charges. He will remain free on bond pending appeals.

Mathis was the first of 57 defendants to go to trial in a case that led to last year's resignation of Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll who had worked as a consultant for the Allied Veterans charity. She wasn't charged with any crime. The arrests also led the Florida Legislature to ban Internet cafes in the state.

Prosecutors said Mathis and his associates built up the network of casinos by claim-ing they were businesses where customers could buy Internet time, when in reality most customers played slot machine games on computers and didn't use the Internet. Even though the Internet cafes were being operated under the aegis of Allied Veterans of the World, very little of the $300 million the businesses earned actually went to vet-erans, prosecutors said.

After the hearing, Mathis said he was confident his convictions would be overturned on appeal, a process which could take a year.
He said the sentencing will send a chilling effect in the legal community.

"A lawyer will be afraid to give any advice at all if this is allowed to stand," he said

Cox said it gave him no pleasure to have another attorney given a prison sentence.

"We just sentenced a lawyer to prison, that doesn't make me proud," Cox said. "I'm not happy we needed to do this."
 

MARIANNA -- Deputies arrested four people and seized illegal drugs and guns Tuesday, according to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies say they found more than 11 grams of cocaine, a sawed off shotgun and ammunition and an undisclosed amount of marijuana in unit B3 of the Marianna Garden Apartments.

Deputies arrested James Blount Jr. was arrested for violation of probation, his son Jaymison Marquez Blount, was arrested for possession of marijuana and cocaine with intent to sell and possession of a short barreled shotgun.

Clifford Johnson Jr. was arrested for possession of marijuana with intent to sell, and Brian Christopher Shack was arrested for trespassing after warning.

The arrests were the results of efforts by the Jackson County Drug Task Force, a combined effort of several area law enforcement agencies.

PANAMA CITY — Nobody was hurt when a home on Ninth Street burned Wednesday afternoon, but there were some close calls for firemen and a dog.

The home was flaming when firefighters arrived just after 1 p.m.

Panama City Assistant Chief Gary Swearingen said firefighters attempted a “quick interior attack” but retreated after flames started to surround them.

“They weren’t trapped,” Swearingen said. “Fire did come around behind them.”

PHOTO GALLERY

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Dorothy Agyei was returning home to get her purse to buy cigarettes when she saw her home on fire.

“When I came back to get my purse, I saw the side engulfed in flames,” Agyei said.

Neighbors said it was amazing that Drama, one of Agyei’s two pit bulls, was in the home as it burned, but firefighters were able to get the dog out. Drama seemed in good health. Get Right, the other pit bull who also goes by G, was in the yard and was not hurt.

The home was about 75 percent damaged, but the property inside was destroyed.  It was not clear what caused the fire Wednesday, Swearingen said at the scene.

 The fire is under investigation by the Fire Department, the Panama City Police Department and the State Fire Marshal’s Office, Battalion Chief Larry Leonard said in a press release.

The Red Cross had been called to the scene to assist Agyei.