PANAMA CITY — Judge Richard Smoak will allow testimony from local business owners who are expected to say Terry Dubose duped them out of tens of thousands of dollars to avoid personal loses as his banking company circled the drain.

Smoak sided with Assistant U.S. Attorney Gayle Littleton that the similar fact evidence will help her prove Dubose acted with intent in a conspiracy to defraud the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP) out of millions of dollars.

Dubose, who is charged with Elwood West and Frank Baker with a dozen felonies in connection to the alleged conspiracy, will be prejudiced by the testimony and the jury will be confused by it, his attorney Claire Rauscher argued.

Though Dubose is not charged with a crime for allegedly selling $140,000 in stock in Coastal Community Investments to Charlotte Newby and John McVeigh, Littleton argued the evidence should be admitted because it proves he didn’t make a mistake when he misrepresented the bank’s financial condition to qualify for the TLGP.

The notion that Dubose, Baker and West made an honest mistake when they interpreted the then-new TLGP has been a recurring theme during cross examinations of government witnesses.

On Monday, Jack Greeley, who has a deal to testify for the government, admitted under cross examination that he made mistakes in his role representing Center State, the bank that made the loan to Coastal Community Investments.

“As a lawyer you sometimes make mistakes,” Edward Garland asked Greeley, just as he and other members of the defense team have asked many of the government’s other witnesses, several of whom also made mistakes in connection to the loan.

Littleton said at the close of proceedings Monday that she still hoped to finish presenting the government’s case against West, Baker and Dubose by the end of the day Tuesday.

Smoak, who has been colorful when expressing his concerns that the lengthy trial has been so boring jurors might tune out, suggested the lawyers on both sides pull out their Shakespeare and see what the Bard had to say about attorneys. A quick Google search of, "Shakespeare attorneys," most brings up this quote from Henry VI:

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.”

(The line is often misinterpreted as a criticism of those in the legal profession.)
 

TALLAHASSEE — A person crossing county lines to commit a burglary would be subject to enhanced charges under a bill passed by the Senate Tuesday.

The measure (HB 427), which passed 25 to 15, would allow prosecutors to push for a more serious penalty for felony burglary committed by cross-county criminals.

The ability to beef up the charges could also allow judges to ask for higher bond for a suspect, as well as potentially longer or more severe sentences, which are loosely dictated by state law according to the degree of the crime.

For example, under the proposed law, a third-degree burglary could become a second-degree charge if the suspect lives in Miami-Dade County and goes into Broward, commits a burglary, then heads back home.

Opponents of the bill said it would add an unnecessary law to the books as crime is dropping.

"The crime rate in Florida has dropped because of good policing and ample prosecution," said Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa. "Today it's county lines, tomorrow it will be zip codes."

Added Sen. Maria Lorts Sachs, D-Delray Beach: "Let us not vote for a bill that targets Floridians."

The measure provides wide latitude to allow law enforcement to determine county of residence, including place of employment or where a person is enrolled in school.

The bill was filed last year at the behest of Martin County Sheriff William Snyder, a former Miami police officer and state representative.

Snyder claimed his department was besieged by criminals who were crossing county lines.

"We have this phenomena here in Martin County, and most counties in the state of Florida have this as well," Snyder told radio station WFSU in Tallahassee. "And, that is we have traveling burglars that have been dubbed 'the pillowcase burglars' because they break into houses near interstates and ransack the house for small valuables, such as guns, jewelry, and cash, and put the items in a pillowcase and then leave."

The bill had initially sought to tack an additional felony charge to any felony committed across county lines, but was amended in its last stages to allow only enhanced charges and apply it only to burglaries. 

PANAMA CITY — As the trial of three former leaders of Coastal Community Investments moved into the middle of its second week, jurors appeared to be developing a comfort bred by familiarity.

Groups of jurors began to converse instantly in the jury box when attorneys went to sidebar Tuesday. They laughed or whispered. In some cases they’re touching each other, like when a young woman reached out on Monday to tickle the ears of an older man sitting in front of her.

By the time their deliberations on the fates of Elwood West, Terry Dubose and Frank Baker begin, they should know one another even better, since those won’t begin any time soon.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gayle Littleton said she expects to finish presenting the government’s evidence against the former bankers Wednesday, and it’s not clear how long the defenses will take.

West, Dubose and Baker, the former CFO, CEO and attorney, respectively, of Coastal Community Investments have pleaded not guilty to 12 felonies stemming from allegations they conspired to defraud the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.

On Tuesday, two Atlanta-based attorneys with the firm of Bryan Cave testified against their former clients, including details that would seem to fall under the attorney-client privilege.

Robert Klingler and Beth Lanier were hired by Coastal to explain to the FDIC why Coastal had problems following the FDIC’s procedures after the holding company took a $3.75 million loan that was ultimately repaid by the FDIC when the banks went under in 2010.

It’s not clear from watching the trial how Klingler and Lanier have been able to square their testimonies with the apparent violation of attorney-client privilege; defense attorneys asked Judge Richard Smoak if they could bring up the topic in their cross examinations, but Smoak said that information was not for the jury.

Instead defense attorneys questioned why Klingler and Lanier didn’t confirm whether Coastal’s $3.75 million loan was actually eligible for the FDIC guarantee. They said that was not the task they were hired to perform, so they relied on Dubose, West and Baker to provide them with accurate information about the loan, which had been issued months before they got involved, Lanier pointed out.

“I didn’t go back and see if the company was correct; they’re a bank,” Lanier said, echoing Klingler’s sentiment that he would’ve expected bankers to know they’d violated the law by asserting the loan was eligible for the TLGP.

Klingler also testified that when he was seeking information about the loan from Dubose, the CEO never mentioned he’d signed a loan agreement that put the company’s shares up as collateral, which is where the loan ran afoul with regulators.

Dubose is expected to be the target of two of Littleton’s remaining witnesses, who are expected to testify that he sold them $140,000 worth of Coastal shares to avoid personal losses after it became clear the banks would fail.
 

PANAMA CITY — Charlotte Newby is still paying for her trust in the former CEO of Coastal Community Bank.

Newby has mailed a payment every month since she borrowed $140,000 from the bank to buy stock in the company that owned it, even though the stock she bought is worthless. If she and her husband, John McVeigh, had known then what they know now they would never have bought the stock, they said.

Former Coastal CEO Terry Dubose misrepresented the identity of the stock’s seller, they said. If they had known they were buying out his daughter’s stock they would have had serious doubts about the health of the bank they bought into.

Newby and McVeigh knew the bank was struggling, but Dubose sold them on the notion he would do everything that could be done to restore it.

“If it went down they went down,” Newby said. “It was everything to them.”

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Gayle Littleton contends Dubose saw the writing on the wall when he allegedly told the couple they were buying out a retired old lady who wanted liquidity.

To avoid taking a personal financial loss, Dubose sold Newby and McVeigh shares owned by his daughter, who used the proceeds to repay a loan from her father.

The bank failed about a year later. Newby, a successful businesswoman in her own right, said she was not out for vengeance with her testimony; she just wanted the information made public.

“I was trusting, but I’m not stupid,” she said. “Given all the facts — I would have liked to have known all the facts.”
Dubose is not charged with a crime for his deal with McVeigh and Newby.

Littleton was allowed to present the testimony as evidence Dubose acted with criminal intent when he, former Coastal CFO Elwood West and former Coastal attorney and director Frank Baker misrepresented the bank to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to qualify for the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.

Dubose, West and Baker are charged with 12 felonies for their roles in the alleged conspiracy. They have pleaded not guilty, and their trial is in its second week.

After Littleton rested, defense attorneys asked Judge Richard Smoak to dismiss the charges because, they argued, there has been no evidence whatsoever of an agreement between the men to commit fraud.

“There was no scheme to defraud the FDIC or anyone else,” Clair Rauscher, one of the attorneys representing Dubose, told Smoak.
Don Samuel, an attorney for West, argued the evidence established to “a mathematical certainty” West had filed an erroneous document. There was no evidence of criminal intent, he argued.

“There’s nothing to show it wasn’t just a mistake,” Samuel said.

Smoak denied the motion, saying only the evidence was sufficient that a jury should decide the case.

The defense began its presentation late Wednesday.
 

PENSACOLA — An apparent gas explosion all but destroyed a jail in the Florida Panhandle, killing two inmates, leaving three others missing and injuring more than 180 people inside the building, authorities said Thursday.

The blast late Wednesday created confusion and a chaotic scene as injured inmates were bused to hospitals and others were taken to nearby jails because the crippled building had to be evacuated.

"The explosion shook us so hard it was like we were in an earthquake," Monique Barnes, an inmate who said she was knocked off her fourth-floor bunk, told The Associated Press by phone. "It was like a movie, a horrible, horrible movie."

Pieces of glass and brick were strewn about on the ground outside the jail and the front of the building appeared bowed, with cracks throughout.

Barnes, who spoke to AP after she was taken to another jail, said she and other inmates complained of smelling gas ahead of the blast, and some reported headaches.

At a news conference, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan wouldn't comment on whether inmates complained about gas. He said three inmates were unaccounted for and the jail was almost completely destroyed.

Pensacola was soaked by record-setting rains this week and parts of the jail had flooded, but officials haven't determined if the weather was related to the blast. County spokeswoman Kathleen Castro said the building was running on generator power. Barnes said the toilets weren't working, so they had to use plastic trash bags.

The fire marshal would ultimately determine the cause of the blast, Castro said.

Authorities blocked off roads leading to the detention center and relatives and attorneys for the inmates stood behind police tape, trying to figure out where loved ones had been taken and who was injured and killed.

About 600 inmates — 200 men and 400 women — were in the building at the time of the explosion. Barnes said during the evacuation, hundreds of inmates and corrections officers had to use one stairwell, "everyone pushing and bleeding."

County spokesman Bill Pearson said 184 people were taken to hospitals and only two inmates and one corrections officer were still there Thursday afternoon. Pearson wouldn't describe the extent of their injuries. The sheriff earlier said a corrections officer was seriously injured.

The names of the two inmates killed weren't immediately released.

Defense attorney Gene Mitchell stood behind the police tape Thursday, reviewing dozens of text messages from clients' relatives.

"I have over 20 clients in there," he said. "I've had dozens of calls. Every other call is a family member wanting to know what has happened to a loved one."

He said he hasn't been able to get much information about the inmates. Castro said officials were having trouble notifying families because for hours it wasn't safe to enter the jail to access computers and paper records.

By midday Thursday, there were dozens of firefighters in hard hats going in and out of the building.

At one point during the sheriff's news conference, a woman interrupted, saying her son was in the jail. Sheila Travis demanded to know what happened to her son. She said she had called hospitals and couldn't get any information. The sheriff said officials were doing all they could.

Escambia County took over the jail, its operations and its 400 employees from the sheriff's office on Oct. 1 after a five-year federal investigation of the facility. According to the Pensacola News Journal, the investigation found that inadequate management of the jail had led to violations of the inmates' rights.

Problems included a low number of guards overseeing the inmates, which led to high levels of violence among the inmates, inadequate mental health care and a decades-long practice of segregating inmates by race. Morgan has been sheriff, an elected position, since 2009. 

PANAMA CITY — Terry Dubose rested his defense Thursday against charges that he and two partners conspired to defraud the FDIC without testifying.

With the notable exception of an expert witness who told the jury Coastal Community Investments actually did qualify for the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP), most of the witnesses Dubose called spoke of his character.

County Commissioner Mike Thomas said he’s known Dubose for about 15 years and in that time he’s found the former Coastal CEO to be honest and law-abiding.

“I’ve never heard anyone that I know speak anything other than good things about Mr. Dubose,” Thomas said.

Several other friends, co-workers and Dubose’s adult Sunday school teacher described him as honest, diligent, principled and ethical. He is a man of integrity, they said.

Dubose’s great flaw, according to testimony Thursday, was hiring Elwood West, a longtime friend of Dubose’s son.

West, along with attorney Frank Baker, also is charged and testified that he never even read the rules of the TLGP before he filed documents that represented that Coastal was eligible to participate and helped secure a $3.75 million loan. West was hired as an internal auditor and by the age of 29 or 30 he was the bank’s chief financial officer.

“I was learning on the job,” West said.

West said he spoke with FDIC regulators during a November 2008 bank examination about the possibility of getting a loan under the TLGP. He said he was not even remotely an expert on bank regulations and would often seek advice from FDIC examiners when there were things he didn’t understand.

His attorneys attempted to show him as well-meaning but way out of his depth as CFO. West had to take the difficult certified public accountant exam 10 or 11 times before he passed it, he said.

Despite his professional shortcomings, West said he never intentionally lied and he never intended to defraud the FDIC, let alone enter into a conspiracy with Dubose and Baker with that intent. He provided regulators with any document they required and never attempted to hide anything or keep secrets, he said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gayle Littleton was beginning to question West when the trial recessed Thursday. Jurors were excused for the day after she began to question West about an unauthorized $3.5 million dividend payment that the bank had to take out a loan to repay.

Dubose, Baker and West were indicted last summer on a dozen felony counts stemming from the alleged conspiracy, which ultimately cost the FDIC about $3.8 million. Jurors are expected to begin deliberations next week. 

PANAMA CITY BEACH — An Alabama woman was arrested early Friday after allegedly shooting the windows out of her ex-husband’s vehicle in the parking lot at Summit Condominiums in Panama City Beach.

The Panama City Beach Police Department arrested Lisa Pack of Hueytown, Ala. on charges of aggravated assault and carrying a concealed firearm.

The victim, Pack’s ex-husband, told police she discharged the firearm during an argument.

Pack, 44, had two loaded handguns concealed in her sweatshirt, a .380 Smith and Wesson semi-automatic handgun and a .38 Smith and Wesson handgun. 

SOUTHPORT —  The Bay County Sheriff’s Office is currently investigating several car burglaries that took place in the area of Kirkland Manor in Southport.

The burglaries happened during April and involved the theft of items from cars that were left unlocked.

A credit card stolen during a car burglary on April 25 was used recently at a gas station and at a discount store. Photographs of a woman using the card were obtained. The vehicle she used is described as a two-toned red and gold SUV like a Mercury Mountaineer or a Ford Explorer. This suspect was observed riding in the passenger seat. No photos were obtained of the driver. These two suspects are believed connected to a number of car burglaries in the same area of Southport.

Anyone with information on these suspects is asked to contact the Bay County Sheriff’s Office at 747-4700 or Crime Stoppers at 785-TIPS. 

PANAMA CITY — The former chief financial officer of a failed local bank did more than just violate the rules — which he claimed he never even read — of an FDIC program designed to help struggling banks; he circulated those rules to co-workers.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gayle Littleton confronted Elwood “Woody” West Friday during her cross examination with emails that he sent containing links to details about the FDIC’s Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP).

West said Thursday he never read the rules of the program, which the FDIC created to help stabilize the banking industry in autumn of 2008 as the financial system seemed on the brink of collapse.

West maintained it was an error that the bank took a guaranteed loan under the program, under which the FDIC guaranteed loans banks made to other banks under certain conditions, though he felt it was important to be sure his filings were accurate.

“I would think that every time you sent something to the FDIC you’d want to be 100 percent accurate, not just in certain situations,” West said.

Apparently that’s easier said than done. Littleton showed West documents with his signature under language stating that he was responsible for ensuring the representations were correct.

Nick Bornhoft, who considered West a mentor when he worked for him as a financial analyst, said West instilled in him the importance of accurate filings.

“He always stressed to me the importance of getting everything as accurate as possible,” Bornhoft said.

West agreed that he was responsible for filing the form in error, and he wished it would’ve been accurate because he expected regulators to scrutinize each filing.

“I cannot remember, on December 4, what I was thinking when I filed that form,” West said.

West was under a great deal of pressure at the time, defense attorneys asserted. FDIC was in the middle of an examination of Coastal’s financial health that West already knew would not go well.

He said he remembered talking to examiners about his plan to seek funds under the TLGP, but he could not recall any specific details of the discussion.

After West’s testimony, which began Thursday afternoon, several friends, a pastor and co-workers, as well as his wife and mother-n-law, testified that West is honest and trustworthy, and that if he said something under oath they would believe him. Some said they didn’t believe he would ever lie.

West, the former CFO of Coastal Community Investments, the holding company that owned Coastal Community Bank in Panama City Beach and Bayside Savings in Port St. Joe, was indicted last summer on 12 felony counts for allegedly conspiring with CEO Terry Dubose and attorney Frank Baker to defraud the FDIC.

Documents presented during the trial, which will enter a third week when it resumes Tuesday, show several key errors and omissions that the government contends effectively hid the fact that Coastal didn’t have the kind of debt that made them eligible for the TLGP.

When Coastal eventually defaulted on the $3.75 million loan, which the company needed to repay an unauthorized dividend payment, the FDIC repaid the principle plus interest.

West, Dubose and Baker have pleaded not guilty and argued during the trial that the errors were merely mistakes. They dispute any contention of a conspiracy or criminal intent.

Judge Richard Smoak assured jurors Friday that the trial was nearly complete.

PANAMA CITY BEACH -- Police are asking for help locating a man who has been missing since early Friday morning.

Cameron Tyler Smith, 20, was last seen around 6:30 a.m. near the Purple Haze store on the 12000 block of Front Beach Road. Smith, a transient originally from Rex, Ga., had been staying in a tent near a small body of water behind the store, according to police.

He is described as a white man who stands about 5-feet 11-inches tall and weighs about 140 pounds. He has a musical note tattooed on one of his fingers, a leaf on his right shoulder and a mushroom on his right forearm.

Anyone with information about Smith’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Panama City Beach Police Department at 850-233-5000.

PANAMA CITY -- The man convicted of raping and killing a 13-year-old girl and hiding her body under the bed of his motel room wants to fire his attorney and discontinue all appeals of his murder conviction and death sentence, according to court records.

Matthew Caylor, 38, has been on death row since he was convicted in 2009 of raping and killing 13-year-old Melinda Hinson in a Panama City motel room. In letters to his attorney and Judge James Fensom, Caylor said he’s ready to give Hinson’s family what they want.

“I ask that you consider my request and allow me to move on to whatever is next,” Caylor wrote. “It has to be better than the last 38 years here.”

Fensom ordered a psychiatric evaluation for Caylor, according to the Clerk of Courts’ website. Caylor’s next court hearing is scheduled for July 11.

DAYTONA BEACH — Defense attorneys for a pregnant woman accused of driving her minivan into the ocean with her three children aboard has filed a notice of intent to rely on an insanity defense.

Ebony Wilkerson, 32, has been charged with three counts of attempted second-degree murder and three counts of child abuse. Wilkerson was arrested on March 7, three days after videos showed the van driving into the rough surf and rescuers rushing to help. According to sheriff’s reports, Wilkerson tried to hinder rescue efforts and the children said their mother was trying to kill them and was “acting like a lunatic.”

Wilkerson expects to prove schizophrenia and psychotic disorder, according to the motion filed by the Public Defender’s Office.

WATCH THE RESCUE

Public Defender James Purdy said on Monday that he has experts that will testify Wilkerson had a mental disease or defect that prevented her from knowing the difference between right and wrong at the time she is accused of driving her van into the ocean.

He said also that just because they had filed the notice it does not necessarily mean defense attorneys will seek an insanity defense.

“It is one of the potential defenses we can use. Not guilty is number one,” Purdy said.

But public defenders must file the notice to be able to use the insanity defense later if they wish. Typically, what happens next is that prosecutors will have their own expert examine the defendant’s mental state, Purdy said.

The motion filed by Assistant Public Defender Craig Dyer lists three experts who will show Wilkerson’s insanity: Dr. Jeffrey Danziger, Dr. James Moore and Harry Krop.

The experts for the defense and the prosecution will testify at a hearing, said David Smith, chief of operations for the State Attorney’s Office. A judge will then rule on whether the defendant is competent to go to trial, Smith said.

“Proceeding with an insanity defense is business as usual in the criminal justice system,” Smith wrote in an email.

Purdy said last week that Wilkerson is now in her eight month of pregnancy.

She remains at Halifax Health Medical Center where she’s been since March when jail officers said she struck herself in the stomach.

Purdy also said that if there is any decision to send Wilkerson back to the Volusia County Branch Jail public defenders would receive 24-hour notice to argue for her $1.2 million bail amount to be reduced.

Wilkerson was arrested on charges of attempted first-degree murder, but prosecutors filed lesser charges of attempted second-degree murder, which gives defenders a stronger argument to reduce her bail.

“So I would think that a bond reduction would be appropriate when we reach that point,” Purdy said.

Five people are suspected of being responsible for thousands of dollars in losses due to the theft of credit card numbers and the use of counterfeit credit cards in Bay County and, possibly, the entire Panhandle, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.

While investigating the theft and fraudulent use of a credit card by a victim in Bay County, BCSO investigators developed information that a group of suspects were involved. The suspects, three men and two women, are believed to have conducted numerous transactions in mid-March using counterfeit credit cards encoded with stolen numbers.

The group has been captured on security cameras in businesses using the fraudulent cards. Anyone with information on these suspects is asked to contact Investigator Craig Romans by telephone at (850) 248-2075 or email at craig.romans@bayso.org or Crime Stoppers at 785-TIPS.
 

PANAMA CITY — After two weeks of often dense testimony about banking rules and regulation, the prosecutor Tuesday told jurors the case against three leaders of a failed local bank is actually quite simple.

“The defendants wanted something that they were not entitled to, and they lied to get it,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Gayle Littleton said Tuesday during her closing arguments in the trial of Terry Dubose, Frank Baker and Elwood West.

Dubose, Baker and West were charged last summer with 12 felony counts in an indictment accusing them of conspiring to defraud the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP).

The three men were officers or directors for Coastal Community Investments, which owned Coastal Community Bank and Bayside Savings until the two banks failed in 2010. They sought and obtained a $3.75 million loan in late 2008 under the TLGP for which the bank was ineligible, and the FDIC had to repay the loan when the bank failed.

Littleton finished presenting evidence Tuesday.

“The government has failed to prove its case,” was the retort from defense attorney Claire Rauscher, who is representing Dubose, when she began her closing arguments.

Rauscher highlighted what she described as a lack of evidence of any conspiracy or motive, the numerous mistakes made by witnesses who have not been charged with a crime, and what she described as the confusing rules of the TLGP, which guaranteed loans from one bank to another under certain circumstance.

Finally, she said, Dubose did nothing to conceal any of his actions.

“He wasn’t hiding what he did,” Rauscher said. “He wasn’t hiding what the bank did, because there was nothing to hide.”

Rauscher said Littleton’s contention that Coastal needed the loan to avoid going under was not supported by the evidence. The bank was in bad shape, Rauscher conceded, but in late 2008 nobody suspected the economy would take so long to recover.

“In 2008, the bank was not in dire straits,” she said.

But Littleton said the bank was in serious trouble and Dubose, West and Baker knew it at the time. They knew they had put the banks up as collateral for a 2007 loan that needed immediate repayment, she said.

“This is not a loan that … these three men are going to make lightly,” she said.

As evidence of their intent, Littleton pointed to the fact that the bank didn’t follow procedures and report the loan to the FDIC until they were under intense pressure from the lender.

Court recessed slightly earlier than normal in the afternoon after defense attorney James Judkins expressed concern that they would not be able to speak to the jury in the morning before Littleton’s rebuttal if they finished their closing arguments Tuesday evening.

Attorneys for West and Baker haven't delivered their closing arguments. Jurors are expected to begin deliberating Wednesday. 

PANAMA CITYBEACH - The body of a missing transient was found Wednesday morning in a wooded area near the 12000 block of Front Beach Road.

Police officials confirmed that the body was that of Cameron Tyler Smith, 20, who was last seen around 6:30 a.m. Friday. Smith, a transient originally from Rex, Ga., had been staying in a tent near a small body of water in the same area where he was ultimately discovered, police said. Divers found his body in the water, according to Panama City Beach Police Chief Drew Whitman. 

"We don't expect any foul play," Whitman said. However, the cause of Smith's death remains under investigation, he added. 

PANAMA CITY - A motorcyclist is in critical condition at a local hospital after a Thursday morning crash.

The incident happened on U.S. 231 at the Cherokee Heights Road intersection at about 7:30 a.m.

According to Panama City Police, a 17-year-old woman from Panama City was traveling south on U.S. 231 in a 2005 Saturn SUV and a 36-year-old man also from Panama City was traveling north on a 1994 Yamaha motorcycle. The teen attempted to make a left turn in front of the motorcycle and was struck on the passenger side of the vehicle, police wrote in a news release.

The driver of the motorcycle was transported to a local hospital with life threatening injuries, the news release states. The driver of the Saturn sustained no injuries. This traffic crash is still under investigation, officials added.

PANAMA CITY — A former state crime lab analyst accused of stealing narcotics from evidence bags and replacing them with over-the-counter medicine was rearrested on additional charges Wednesday in Panama City.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Joseph Graves was arrested and charged with an additional 41 counts of trafficking in illegal drugs. The former FDLE Pensacola chemist had been free on $290,000 bond, but his new bond is set at $1.025 million.

He was arrested about 3 p.m. and booked into the Bay County Jail. It is unknown why Graves was in Panama City.

Graves was originally arrested in February on charges of grand theft, 12 counts of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and nine counts of trafficking in illegal drugs.

The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, the State Attorney’s Office and the FDLE began investigating missing drugs in January. Investigators determined that each case with missing drugs had been analyzed by Graves, who was relieved of duty on Jan. 31.

The investigation has jeopardized many drug cases in North Florida.

In March, a circuit judge in Panama City ordered a new trial for a man convicted of drug possession based in part on the testimony of Graves. The order vacated the jury verdict on two of the five counts against Jeremiah Beazley, and granted him a new trial on the two counts of possession of controlled substance.

PANAMA CITY BEACH - A 2005 Chevrolet Equinox was traveling north on Thomas Drive in the northound thru lane at about 2 a.m. Thursday.

Meanwhile, Joseph P. Murphy, 65 was driving a 2008 Chevrolet HHR west on US 98 in the center thru lane. The driver of the Equinox failed to stop for a red traffic signal colliding with the HHR, troopers wrote in a news release.

After the collision both vehicles rolled and rotated several times. The driver of Equinox was injured in the crash and fled the scene on foot, officials wrote. Troopers have not yet located him. Murphy was transported to Bay Medical Center with “non-life threatening injuries,” officials wrote.

The case is under investigation.
 

After a nine-month investigation, a HolmesCountywoman has been charged with manslaughter in the death of her boyfriend.

According to the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office, on June 17, 2013, a call was placed to 911 from Hazel Denise Peacock. Peacock told dispatchers that her live in boyfriend, Tony Ray Armstrong, had fallen down the front steps of their trailer in the Esto community and landed on his knife. Holmes County deputies, along with Holmes County EMS, responded and found Armstrong in the front yard with a severe knife wound to his chest.

Armstrong was transported to Flowers Hospital in Dothan and underwent emergency surgery. He never regained consciousness and passed away from complications a few days later.

Investigators noted several inconsistencies in Peacock’s statement and discovered signs of drug use at the residence. Investigators were later able to locate a 911 call from Armstrong’s cellphone that had been routed to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office in which the victim stated he had been “stabbed in the neck.” Investigators were also able to locate witnesses that indicate Peacock and Armstrong had been arguing that morning and he was stabbed as a result of the altercation.

A warrant was issued for manslaughter and Peacock is currently serving a sentence in the Florida Department of Corrections for neglect of a child which stemmed from the incident.

She made her appearance in court Thursday on manslaughter charges.

PANAMA CITY — All three bankers were convicted Wednesday night of various crimes connected to their running of the now defunct Coastal Community Bank.

Defendant Terry Dubose was convicted of all 12 counts brought against him by federal prosecutors, according to officials at the U.S. Federal District Court. Those counts included wire fraud, making false statements and conspiracy. Frank Baker was found guilty of counts 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 and not guilty on the other counts. Elwood West was found guilty of every count except count one. 

The men are expected to face sentencing in July. 

The three men were executives or directors of Coastal Community Holdings, which owned Coastal Community Bank and Bayside Savings until the banks failed in 2010. 

They are accused of misrepresenting their eligibility for a loan guarantee under a hastily created FDIC program designed to stabilize financial institutions by ensuring access to credit. When Coastal failed to repay a $3.75 million loan, the lender filed a claim that the FDIC paid.
Jurors began deliberating about 2:30 p.m. after hearing closing arguments from attorneys for West and Baker. The verdict was announced late Wednesday 

During closing arguments, Ed Garland, an attorney representing West, showed jurors photographs of the witnesses who testified to the strength of his character. West has spent a lifetime building a reputation that is now threatened by what Garland described as an “imaginary crime.”

“This is an imaginary crime because they’ve taken a mistake and turned it into one,” he said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gayle Littleton responded that even good people commit crimes.

“You are not being asked to decide whether the people are good people or bad people,” Littleton said.

It was not clear Wednesday night whether jurors would deliberate until they reach a verdict or suspend deliberations at some point.