At 1:15 a.m., firefighters arrived on the scene and saw a small amount of smoke coming from the back section of a mobile home at
The Florida Fire Marshal’s office investigated the cause of the fire and determined it was electrical in nature, Walls said.
The crash happened at the intersection of U.S. 231 and
A pair of pink Chuck Taylor-style Converse baby shoes and a purple stuffed animal were mingled with broken glass and auto parts in a field of debris from the accident. Two other styles of adult-sized shoes also were scattered about.
“The child is being treated,” Law said. “She regained consciousness, and it’s unclear exactly what her status was … she was alive.”
Air bags in both vehicles deployed and showed blood stains. Law did not know the severity of the injuries, but at least two people were either fully or partially ejected from the SUV, which went airborne as a result of the crash and came to rest on its side, “kind of” pinning the partially ejected adult beneath it.
“I know you want a better answer than that, but the answer is kind of,” Law said.
The Nissan was driving northbound on U.S. 231 through the intersection as the
A bystander said he and two other men lifted the vehicle off of a man who was injured but talking. Otherwise the twisted wreckage of the two vehicles remained as they were while investigators collected and documented evidence at the scene. Law described it as the “preliminary stage” of a traffic homicide investigation.
Traffic on
“All of our physical evidence is in the northbound lanes of
The identities of the people involved in the crash had not been released as of 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Judge Richard Smoak Wednesday sentenced Will Rustin Sprayberry, 33, to 46 months and Jennifer Nicole Pippin, 31, to 18 months in a federal prison for manufacturing, possessing and passing counterfeit currency. Both were
Sprayberry and Pippin pleaded guilty in March to two counts of manufacturing, possessing and passing counterfeit currency in Bay Couny between Nov. 7 and Nov. 13 of 2013.
Sprayberry and Pippin were each sentenced to three years of supervised release, a $200 special monetary assessment and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $410 to various businesses.
Their convictions result from an investigation by agents of the U.S. Secret Service and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katy Risinger.
Versiah M. Taylor, 33, will spend 22 years in federal prison and Tracy L. Collier, 48, will spend more than 13 years in federal prison for filing fraudulent tax returns using the personal identifying information (PII) of other individuals, following a federal judge’s decision Thursday.
Between September 2011 and August 2012, the men prepared and filed fraudulent tax returns seeking more than $500,000 in refunds. They used the PII of inmates of the Florida Department of Corrections,
Collier, who was incarcerated during the conspiracy, provided the personal information of inmates by disguising the Social Security numbers and dates of birth as legal case citations and mailed them to
These returns each claimed fraudulent refunds between $3,000 and $9,530 and were to be deposited onto prepaid debit cards, which were then mailed to various locations throughout
In addition to their prison stints,
GRACEVILLE -- A Graceville man has been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office said.
Christopher Michael Young, 19,
In March, the girl and her parents reported to JCSO that she had been sexually assaulted by Young, who was 18 at the time.
The victim said she was first assaulted by the defendant during the summer of 2013. Young had allegedly pushed the girl onto a bed and forced her to have sexual intercourse with him. The victim stated other incidents of sexual assault by the defendant had taken place over the past several months.
DNA evidence was collected from both the victim and the defendant. Investigators with JCSO recently received lab results from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Crime Lab confirming the defendant had been sexually active with the victim.
Philip Dean Brock is charged with murder, grand theft and robbery with a firearm in the December 2012 slaying of his 65-year-old friend and neighbor Terry Brazil. Thursday his fourth trial on the charges was set to begin Sept. 29 in a week-long proceeding. Due to scheduling conflicts with other trials, Brock’s trial will take place at the juvenile courthouse.
Brock allegedly bound
Though the knife and gun used in
Members of three separate 12-person juries have hung up on the strength of the state’s case against Brock. Larry Basford, lead prosecutor, previously expressed to the court that the evidence and testimony accumulated over the course of the previous trials would convince jurors to return a unanimous verdict of guilt.
Brock faces life in prison if convicted. He has been denied bond and will remain in jail until the trial.
PANAMA CITY — An Alabama woman pleaded no contest Thursday to charges of murder in the robbery and slaying of a 90-year-old Lynn Haven man.
Ashley Griffin, 29, of Hartford, Ala., had been charged with first-degree murder but pleaded to a reduced charge of second-degree murder in the April slaying of Wallace Reid Scott. Police discovered Scott’s body bound, beaten and strangled at his Lynn Haven home, initiating a manhunt for three suspects spanning three states. Griffin’s plea releases her from the possibility of capital punishment, but she still faces life in prison during her October sentencing.
Prosecutors said Griffin drove two men to Scott’s home to coerce banking account information from him. Scott was bound and beaten when he refused to provide personal identification numbers. Officials said there was evidence of torture.
A grand jury has charged Kevin Jeffries, 29, and David Challender, 28, with premeditated murder in the case. They could face the death penalty during their trials in July and September, respectively.
Prosecutor Larry Basford indicated the state will use DNA evidence found on-scene and Griffin’s testimony to corroborate its case against the co-defendants.
“During this burglary, [Jefferies and Challender] beat, tortured and ultimately killed Scott,” Basford said during Griffin’s pretrial hearing. “Accepting this plea, she is going to cooperate and testify.”
Police records indicate each of the suspects was found with stolen items belonging to Scott in their possession.
Griffin eventually was located in Donalsonville, Ga., on April 13, nine days after Scott was killed, and brought back to Bay County. She was wearing a ring that belonged to Scott. Investigators developed her, Jeffries and Challender as suspects the previous day.
Jeffries, of Hartford, and Challender, of Vernon, were arrested later the same day; Jeffries was in Holmes County and Challender was in Caryville.
Sherri Mercer and Deborah Cupp, two women Scott employed as caretakers, were arrested on suspicion of credit card fraud for allegedly using Scott’s credit cards without authorization. Challender is Mercer’s son and Jeffries is her nephew.
Investigators told The News Herald that Scott learned of the fraud and had an appointment to remove Mercer as a beneficiary in his April 8 will. She has been cleared of suspicion of being in the house at the time of the killing.
Griffinalso pleaded to felony charges of armed robbery and burglary of a dwelling while armed, each of which also can carry a life sentence.
PANAMA CITY — A Lynn Haven woman has admitted to using the identity of a Louisiana woman to rack up traffic fines throughout Bay County.
The outstanding traffic citations of Shauterica Keyaire Wardsworth reached a point where her driver’s license was suspended and Bay County law enforcement had warrants for her arrest. She had racked up traffic tickets in three cities, but little did law enforcement know, Wardsworth’s identity was being used by a Lynn Haven woman.
Catrice Ellis pleaded no contest Thursday to three counts of fraudulent use of personal ID, giving a false name causing an adverse effect, forgery and uttering a forged instrument.
Ellis, 26, had applied and received an actual Louisiana license with her own photograph, Wardsworth’s information and a 1993 New Year’s Day birth date, effectively making her 21 years old, police reports stated. She had outstanding tickets in Panama City and Springfield, but in November 2013 her luck ran out.
Parker police pulled Ellis over for a civil traffic matter. She handed the officer the fake Id, was issued a ticket in Wardsworth’s name and also signed Wardsworth’s name on the ticket.
It wasn’t until police requested Wardsworth’s Lousiana information they realized the picture didn’t match up with the person on their video footage from the traffic stop. Ellis agreed to two years probation, 200 hours of community service and $1,077 in restitution.
A ticket for an improperly displayed tag is still outstanding for Ellis in Parker.
FORT PIERCE — A state prisoner working on a road crew faces additional charges after picking up a packet of marijuana tossed from a passing vehicle.
The Tribune of Fort Pierce (http://bit.ly/1kC1qxd) reports Parell Seay was working with a Department of Corrections road crew in Fort Pierce Tuesday when someone drove past and tossed the packet containing 1 gram of marijuana.
St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken J. Mascara says 21-year-old Seay was charged with resisting an officer with violence, evidence tampering, smuggling contraband and possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana.
Officials say Seay told them he didn't know who tossed the drugs. But he added that "it's a D.O.C thing," meaning someone who was once in state custody tossed the package to someone currently in state custody.
PANAMA CITY — A sex offender has been sentenced to six years in prison for crashing into police while attempting to flee arrest.
Joshua Warren Lutz, 32, pleaded no contest Friday to a litany of charges, spanning from aggravated battery on an officer to knowingly driving with a suspended or revoked license. Lutz agreed Friday to six years in a correctional facility to be followed by six years probation.
Police were seeking Lutz for violating his five-year probation for molesting an 8-year-old child. Bay County Sheriff’s deputies spotted Lutz in January near Sunrise Drive in Panama City Beach and attempted to place him under arrest before a collision with police patrol cars and a high-speed pursuit through residential neighborhoods.
Lutz outran deputies in the foot race to his truck, according to arrest records. He then “intentionally” struck a marked patrol car while speeding off.
“Joshua could have driven either left or right to avoid the patrol vehicle and he had his emergency lights turned on,” police reports stated.
BCSO followed Lutz through neighborhoods of Sunrise Drive, where he also collided with a parked car, and Wildwood Road. Lutz sped through the light at U.S. 98 and Wildwood Road, headed west on Front Beach Road and ran a red light at Laurie Avenue, forcing other vehicles to stop suddenly.
Officers temporarily halted their pursuit at Middle Beach Road due to public safety concerns.
Lutz was arrested later that morning without incident in the area of 15201 Front Beach Road, BCSO said.
The court allowed Lutz to transfer his supervised probation to Arizona after his prison stay.
Grace Atkinson, mother, told Judge Michael Overstreet her daughter could not bare to be present for the sentencing of Albert Atkinson Jr., 58, following a plea for the sentence of 14 years prison time.
“I never knew he could do this,” Grace Atkinson said. “I don’t know of anything she did to deserve this.”
Grace Atkinson said that since the January incident at about 4 a.m., she and Michelle Telfare, her daughter, have struggled with post-traumatic stress. Telfare also suffered second-degree burns to her face, arms and torso — believed to be permanently disfiguring.
Grace Atkinson told investigators the night before the incident at
She turned off the stove and lay back down, but Albert Atkinson appeared in the room shortly after with a pot in hand and threw the hot grease onto Telfare as she was lying in bed. He fled on foot afterward.
Albert Atkinson accepted the state’s plea deal of 14 years in a correctional facility for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Other than one-word answers to the judge’s questions, Atkinson made no statements in court about the incident.
Grace Atkinson pleaded with the judge to keep him away from Telfare for the rest of his life thereafter.
“He’s going away for a considerable amount of time,” Overstreet said. “We’ll make sure he won’t be around you when he gets out.”
Maurice Robinson was sentenced to 55 years in prison after his 2009 trial for a string of burglaries that amounted to more than $100,000 in stolen jewelry. In Friday’s hearing to retry the case, Robinson argued he didn’t understand what was at stake by going to trial because his counsel did not inform him properly.
However, Overstreet threw out the motion. Overstreet cited his own statements before the trial, explaining each of the four first-degree felony counts were punishable by up to 30 years of incarceration.
BCSO received a complaint from a real estate agent on Sunday after she discovered a home in Bayou George she had listed for sale had been burglarized. Investigators discovered new stainless steel appliances were being advertised on Craigslist for sale by Randy Todd Montgomery. The real estate agent confirmed to investigators that Randy Todd Montgomery was the name of a man she had shown the home to shortly before it had been burglarized.
The ad on Craigslist listed RTA Design at
OCALA – A convicted felon wanted for murder in the Florida Panhandle was caught without incident Friday during a traffic stop in Marion County.
Stephen Trusty, 32, of Panama City, was wanted for first-degree murder in Bay County.
According to earlier news reports, the Panama City Police Department considered him a person of interest in the Christmas Day 2013 death of a 56-year-old man found mortally shot in front of a home. The victim, Wilbert "Cadillac Will" Angelo Faison, died later at a hospital.
Within the last couple of days, the Panama and the Gainesville divisions of the multi-agency U.S. Marshals Florida Regional Fugitive Task Force developed information that Trusty was hiding in southwest Gainesville. Task force members had located a vehicle at the residence that might be associated with Trusty.
On Friday, they watched the black Ford Explorer, which Trusty was driving, as it left Gainesville and traveled into Marion County, according to a report from the task force. The fugitive task force includes members from the U.S. Marshals Service and sheriff's deputies from Alachua and Marion counties.
Shortly after 12:30 p.m., with assistance from the MCSO Aviation Unit, patrol deputies and a K-9 unit, task force members stopped the SUV near the intersection of State Road 200 and Southwest 80th Avenue and made the arrest.
Trusty was taken to the Marion County Jail, where he was booked on the warrant from Bay County.
State records show Trusty has a criminal record dating back to his sentence in January 1997 for battery on a detention facility staff member. Trusty also did time for robbery and cocaine-related crimes. He was released from prison in August 2010.
PANAMA CITY — A man was hospitalized Saturday morning after he was shot by police.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is investigating the incident.
As of Saturday night, Panama City police were not releasing substantial information about circumstances surrounding the shooting as it is an ongoing investigation. Police Chief Scott Ervine confirmed police shot the man following a foot pursuit at about 6 a.m.
“As they went to make contact with the suspect he brandished a gun,” Ervin said.
Unconfirmed witness reports alleged the man tried to burglarize vehicles while armed in the 4000 block of U.S. 98.
At one point he tried to hijack a white SUV at the R&C Gas Food Mart, 4200 W. U.S. 98, with a female driver at gunpoint. Police arrived and chased the man to the area near the Ramada Inn at 4306 U.S. 98, where a brief confrontation occurred. An officer shot the man in the stomach and he was taken to a local hospital, witnesses said.
The FDLE would not discuss details of its investigation.
“We are investigating an officer-involved in a shooting in the Panama City Police Department,” said Samantha Andrews, spokeswoman with the FDLE. “We will determine if any criminal act could have occurred in the shooting.”
Andrews said police requested the FDLE investigation.
Several attempts to contact police investigators went unanswered. The man’s name and condition was not released Saturday.
Two parents were arrested Saturday night after police watched them do a drug deal with their baby in their car, according to the
Gregory Scarver, 26, or
Scarver and Brady had their 3-month-old son in the car during the transaction, police said.
Scarver was charged with sale of a controlled substance, resisting an officer without violence, possession of drug paraphernalia and child neglect. Brady was charged with possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, principle to the sale of controlled substance and child neglect.
Scarver and Brady were booked into the
HUNTINGTON, Ind. — Two teenagers badly hurt in a Florida parasailing crash last summer say they're grateful they've recovered enough to graduate from their northeastern Indiana high school.
Alexis Fairchild and Sidney Good joined their Huntington North High School classmates in receiving diplomas during the Friday night ceremony.
Fairchild tells WANE-TV (http://bit.ly/1kVVzBR ) she hopes her graduation means a new start from being known as "the parasailing girl" from the crash last July at Panama City Beach, Florida.
Video showed strong winds slamming the teens into a condominium building before they also hit a power line and a parked SUV.
Good says he wants to move on from so many people knowing her name because of the crash.
Fairchild continues getting therapy on her injured back, while Good still has vision problems.
The 1st District Court of Appeal ruled Monday that Circuit Judge Stanley Griffis had no reason for the contempt charge. The teenager, whose name was not released, spent two days in a juvenile detention center.
Griffis ordered him to pull up his pants, but the teen told him they would not go up. This resulted in the teen’s mother forcibly bringing him to a podium.
The juvenile then said something which prompted the bailiff to ask if something was funny.
Griffis cited the juvenile for throwing a “tantrum” and disputing the court.
The appeals court said both the record and a video do not support the charge.
Shortly after noon, Bay County Sheriff’s Office arrived on a scene of a crash at the intersection of
According to Jacob Mann, 18, who was riding alongside the man on the scooter, the injured man is 20 years old and from
No other details were readily available at the scene. Florida Highway Patrol took over the investigation.
But no one had ever walked into his house carrying a gun before Saturday, when a stranger walked into Oliver’s bedroom while he slept and started talking to him. He carried a gun in his hand at his side but didn’t point it.
“He seemed like he was all there mentally, but he was nervous, and he seemed legitimately scared,” Oliver said.
The Panama City Police Department Monday released a report that identifies 30-year-old David Harmon of
Harmon told Oliver he needed a place to hide out because someone was trying to rob him. Oliver said he was doing everything he could to keep the situation from getting out of hand when he gave Harmon a pair of shoes and a different shirt to wear.
“It could’ve gone bad real fast,” Oliver said.
Oliver began to suspect Harmon was lying about something.
“It’s just the fact that he had a gun in his hand, and people with guns are not afraid of people,” Oliver said.
He went outside to look for anyone who might have been trying to rob Harmon, who slowly followed him outside. There was nobody there. Oliver told Harmon he was in the wrong place and couldn’t stay.
Harmon walked away. In a nearby parking lot he found Dee Kenney, whose company was wrapping up an overnight job pressure washing a business parking lot. Kenney was sitting her vehicle when Harmon approached her.
“He said, ‘let’s go for a ride,’ “ Kenney said.
She said no, and Harmon showed her his gun and demanded she take him down the street. She was terrified when he got in the back seat.
Kenney told him that she wouldn’t call police if he left her alone, but she wouldn’t be able to drive him anywhere because her vehicle wouldn’t start, which was true.
Harmon got out and walked away again. Kenney didn’t call police, but there were officers nearby who caught up with Harmon moments later and shot him. They had already been called by another man who said he’d been approached at a nearby hotel by a man who wanted to use his car.
“I heard the gunshot,” she said.
The Panama City Police Department has not identified the officer or officers who fired, and officials with the department didn’t respond Monday to several calls seeking information about what prompted the shooting. Police said Saturday Harmon was shot in the stomach. His condition is unknown.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) is investigating the shooting. A spokesman for the FDLE declined to release any information into the agency’s ongoing investigation.
