PANAMA CITY BEACH — Deputies have arrested a 12-year-old boy after an early morning joy ride across the county in a school bus.

Employees of the Wal-Mart at 10270 Front Beach Road notified a Bay County deputy of a school bus awkwardly maneuvering through the parking lot at about 5 a.m. Tuesday, according to a news release. Though not causing a safety concern, it seemed strange the driver could not quite figure out how to park.

“It was just odd the way they were driving it,” said Roy Hoover, a Wal-Mart employee. “He was having a hard time parking it, like he’d never drove one before.”

When the deputy pulled behind bus 746 with his emergency lights on, young driver Michael Wade Propst stepped out. He initially said a man named “Constantine” asked him to get gas for the bus.

Deputies later discovered the school bus had been taken overnight from a residence at 508 Maine Ave. in Parker, and driven nearly flawlessly across Bay County to the Front Beach Road Wal-Mart. The actual bus driver apparently had left the keys in the bus, and Propst admitted to taking it by himself, police reports stated. The child’s motive is unknown.

No disciplinary action was taken against the bus driver Tuesday, but Superintendent of Schools Bill Husfelt said he plans to meet with the bus driver today.

Deputies contacted the child’s mother, who asked deputies to talk to him “since she was not having any impact on him,” an incident report said.

The bus had not been reported stolen.

From the on-board camera footage, Propst seemed like a skilled driver, according to Bay District School’s chief security officer, Mike Jones.

“You have to take a weeklong course to operate a bus like that,” Jones said. “Yet at 12 he was able to drive one, and he didn’t just take it around the block.”

Propst made the 14-mile trek, which wends along U.S. Business 98 and over the Hathaway Bridge, without tipping off law enforcement along the way. Despite his apparently graceful driving, Propst is facing serious charges for the incident, authorities said.

He has been charged with grand theft of an item worth more than $100,000 and felony criminal mischief. He also is charged with grand theft for a missing student recognition device worth about $2,000, and officers could be looking into other charges against the juvenile.

Though Propst told deputies he did not remember hitting anything, BCSO is investigating an 8-foot-long scrape of white paint transferred onto the right side of the bus.

“We don’t know if that occurred before he got the bus, but there’s a potential he ran into something white,” said Major Tommy Ford of BCSO.

BCSO officials were unsure of the paint’s origin as of Tuesday evening.

Propst was arrested and taken to the Department of Juvenile Justice for processing. 

VERNON -- A Wausau man was in serious condition at Bay Medical Center Tuesday morning after colliding head-on with a tractor trailer on State 79 just south of Sugar Doll Road, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Jack Daniel Parrish, 27, was driving northbound on State 79 when he crossed the center line around 4:15 a.m. hit a truck driven by Tommy Dickerson of Dothan, Alabama. After the crash, Parrish escaped the vehicle, which caught fire and burned.

Parrish was taken to Bay Medical Center in serious condition. Dickerson and a passenger were not hurt in the crash.

PANAMA CITY -- A man was arrested Monday for allegedly pulling a knife on a police officer who found him trespassing, according to the Panama City Police Department.

Jesse James Taylor, 54, is charged with two counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence, depriving an officer means of protection and armed trespassing. He was arrested around 5 p.m. Monday after an officer responded to report of a suspicious person at 1516 Hickory Ave. and found Taylor, who had previously been arrested for trespassing at that address.

When the officer, whom police didn’t identify in a press release, attempted to take Taylor into custody Taylor removed a knife from his pocket and threatened to kill the officer. Despite Taylor’s resistance, the officer was able to disarm him, put him in handcuffs and take him to jail, police said.

Police continue to investigate the incident and urge anyone with information to contact Detective Tony Phinney at 872-3100 or CrimeStoppers at 785-TIPS (8477).

PANAMA CITY — When something smells funny at the scene of a charred car or a house fire, Panama City fire officials call in their resident expert.

Brandon, a Labrador retriever, sniffs out “accelerants” as part of the State Fire Marshal’s K-9 unit that acts as the first means in determining arson. He’s one of six dogs in the state trained to detect about 88 different flammable liquids. And though the scene demonstrated Tuesday by the Panama City Fire Department and Florida state fire marshals was obviously arson to bystanders, Brandon nonetheless reacted appropriately to the scent of gasoline used to turn a Ford Mustang into an inferno.

“Sometimes it is a little more difficult,” Capt. Kevin Fiedor said of the fire marshal’s Northwest region office. “A quick response like today is not unusual, though. Our detectors are trained to look for signs in a fire scene to make that determination, regardless of what has happened.”

PHOTO GALLERY

VIDEO

As part of the State Fire Marshal’s arson awareness program, firefighters demonstrated the process of how they usually handle fires — except in Tuesday’s instance, they knew the cause.

After dousing the flames, firefighters look for tell-tale signs of foul play before calling in investigators. Characteristics of the fire, the dollar amount lost in the blaze or if a fatality occurred can tip off fire crews of an intentionally set fire, which amounts to about 13 percent of fires each year.

State fire marshals are brought in and Brandon helps detectives determine which path the investigation will take from there.

Brandon also has been used to rule out the possibility of arson without going through the time-consuming and expensive process of collecting samples, sending them to the lab and having them tested for “accelerants.” Detectives piece together his reaction with several other pieces of information to start the process of actually investigating suspects and motives, which can have snares and issues all its own.

“It was obvious this was a mock investigation,” Fiedor said. “In the three minutes this car was set on fire, the interior was completely scorched, so a lot of time it is not as clear cut and obvious, as total destruction can happen very quickly.” 

PANAMA CITY BEACH - A Club La Vela lighting and sound guy was arrested and charged Tuesday night after police allegedly found a large quantity drugs in his possession.

Jeremy Matthew Osborne, 36, was arrested at about midnight after police suspected he was smoking marijuana in the parking lot of Club La Vela, 8813 Thomas Drive. Investigators discovered Osborne was contracted to operate the club’s sound and lighting equipment before searching his car, where they found several other narcotics, according to police reports. Among them: hydrocodone, oxycodone and alprazolam, or Xanax.

Osborne has been charged with trafficking hydrocodone, possession of alpazolam with intent to distribute, possession of oxycodone with intent to distribute, possession of cannabis with intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia. Osborne was later taken to the Bay County Jail.

Representatives with the club said they regularly cycle through lighting and sound techs, and they would likely not contract for Osborne’s services again.
 

PANAMA CITY — A trial date has been set for a man accused of carrying 56 grams of methamphetamine while chasing his ex-wife and another man down U.S. 231 and firing a 9mm handgun at them.

Anthony Johnson, 33, was driving down U.S. 231 through Fountain in March 2013 at about 1 a.m. when a pair of bright headlights appeared in the rearview, gaining rapidly. A Toyota truck edged up beside him, gesturing for him to pull over. But he didn’t, fearing the driver’s intentions, Johnson stated in his deposition.

Tasha Gurganus, his passenger, recognized the driver as Jasper Gurganus, 32, her ex-husband. Tasha Gurganus and her two children were staying with Johnson until they could secure a place with her family in Georgia, she later told authorities.

Johnson tried to gun it when he heard what sounded to him like trash being thrown at his truck, he said.

“When I heard a bullet hit my tailgate, I realized he was shooting at me,” Johnson told investigators.

His Ford F250 had the weight to command the road, but a shoddy fuel injector made his engine chug at about 30 mph as broken glass from the rear window rained down on the two inside, and bullets sunk into the metal truck body, he stated.

“I thought a bullet had hit me in the shoulder, which, it might have been a piece of glass,” Johnson said. “At this point I was freaking out.”

Johnson said he weaved to keep the truck behind him and eventually rammed it into a ditch along Webber Road. A cacophony of gunfire continued until they parked at a friend’s house and fled on foot. Johnson told investigators he later dug a bullet out of his visor above where his head was, but neither person was hit.

Bay County Sheriff’s Office deputies found Jasper Gurganus standing next to his truck with the firearm and several spent casings nearby, according to court records.

During an inventory, deputies also found a metal can of Fix-a-Flat with a false bottom in Gurganus’ truck. Inside deputies found $6,170, 56 grams of ICE methamphetamine, a glass pipe, plastic baggies, a cellphone and a digital recorder, according to arrest records.

Gurganus has been charged with two counts of attempted second-degree murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle, discharging a firearm from a vehicle, trafficking methamphetamine and possession of paraphernalia.

Gurganus turned down the state’s offer of 40 years in prison for the two attempted murder charges in favor of a jury trial Oct. 13. If convicted, he would face a minimum mandatory of 40 years before the meth and paraphernalia charges are taken into account. 

PANAMA CITY — A Panama City man on probation for exploiting a mentally disabled adult will spend the next three years in prison after punching a deputy.

While deputies with the Bay County Sheriff’s Office warrants division were attempting to arrest William Lee Robinson of Panama City for violating his five-year probation, he punched an officer in the face before trying to flee on foot. Robinson, 29, was sentenced Wednesday to three years and nine months in a correctional facility for the incident.

He had changed addresses without consent and then fled to Alabama to avoid arrest before authorities caught up with him in February.

Robinson had been released after pleading no contest to charges he, his brother and sister-in-law in March 2013 convinced a mentally disabled adult to make several purchases, totaling more than $1,000, and to take out three lines of cellphone service for them.

Robinson admitted Shawn and Ann Smitherman acted as accomplices in opening a bank account for the victim, then lied to her, telling her that disability checks were coming into the account. The three then convinced the victim to sign off on starter checks for the purchases, according to court records.

An AT&T wireless contract with three lines of service also was taken out at that time in the victim’s name. Court documents stated the three were present for each of the transactions. 

CAPE SAN BLAS — A Port St. Joe man has been formally charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of his mother in their Cape San Blas home last month.

Jarrod Powell Slick, 23, is in jail in Gulf County without bond in the May 18 killing of his mother, Renee Gail Coffey, 58. According to a State Attorney’s Office filing, Slick killed Coffey by striking her “over the head with a blue curling weight and slicing her neck with a corkscrew.”

Those acts were “imminently dangerous to another” and “evincing a depraved mind regardless of human life” but did not indicate premeditated murder, the filing states. Slick faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of second-degree murder.

Investigators had responded to a 911 call from Slick and found Coffey unconscious and unresponsive in her home at 7525 Cape San Blas Road. Slick told dispatchers in the emergency call that his mother had been “assaulted,” according to Gulf County Sheriff Mike Harrison.

Coffey was ruled dead at the scene.

Slick was developed as a suspect after being questioned by investigators.

He already was a suspect in arsons of the Masonic Lodge in Port St. Joe in 2012, but was out on bond, which Coffey secured.

Investigators said they later learned a home security system indicated Slick and Coffey were the lone occupants of the Cape San Blas home at the time of the incident. The system also revealed no indication of a breach of the house or any other person in or around the house during the timeframe of the incident.

Slick told investigators he and his mother left the residence earlier in the day and made several stops in Callaway before returning home, which was confirmed through receipts and in-store video.

Upon returning home, Slick told investigators, he went into the backyard to tend the family dog, remaining there for 30 minutes before going inside. He said he found his mother with “her throat slit and her head bashed in, but I didn’t know she was going to die,” according to Slick’s arrest affidavit.

The home security system, however, showed Slick going inside the residence upon returning home and Coffey following roughly one minute later, according to investigators.

Slick sent a text message to his brother about bringing home a grocery item a few minutes later and was seen leaving the residence, phone in hand and appearing to be in conversation, roughly three minutes prior to the 911 call. The system showed no other individual present.

Investigators said they found what appeared to be blood spatters on Slick’s shoes.

LYNN HAVEN -- Police Wednesday arrested and charged two men on suspicion of stealing stuff from at least 10 vehicles overnight in the area of West 8^th Circle, according the Lynn Haven Police Department.

An LHPD officer on routine patrol noticed several vehicles with their doors ajar early Wednesday and woke up homeowners. Further investigation revealed at least 10 vehicles had been entered and burglarized since Tuesday night.

One victim received notice from his credit card company that his card had been used to rent a room at local motel around 3 a.m. That’s what police call a clue.

Lynn Haven and Panama City Police officers went to the hotel and found Yuri Alexander Harris, 19, of St. Petersburg, and Sean Isac Brumley, 22, of Tallahassee, along with a bunch of stuff matching the description of the stolen items. They also found the duo had stolen a Mercedes Benz sedan from a Tallahassee home.

Brumley and Harris were both charged with 10 counts of vehicle burglary, fraudulent use of a credit card and improper use of personal identification and jailed in Bay County. Police found Brumley had warrants out of Tallahassee as well.

BONIFAY -- A 32-year-old Bonifay man will serve at least 15 years in prison after he was convicted of trafficking in more than 200 grams of methamphetamine, according to the State Attorney’s Office.

Officers searching Jeffery Morrill’s barn on Oct. 16 found a couple soda bottles containing 328 grams of liquid containing meth, and prosecutors showed jurors during the one-day trial that Morrill, 32, bought six boxes of pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in meth, during the three months before his arrest.

Because it’s trafficking charge, Morrill faces a minimum mandatory sentence, in this case 15 years, when he is sentenced July 16. Judge Christopher Patterson could sentence him to up to 30 years.

PANAMA CITY — The driver of a county school bus has been suspended after a 12-year-old boy found the keys in the parked bus and took it on a joy ride, school officials said Wednesday.

Bay District Schools Superintendent Bill Husfelt said the actual driver, 28-year-old Brandon Curtis, has been suspended for two weeks after bus 746 was taken from the driver’s Maine Avenue home in Parker early Tuesday morning. Michael Wade Propst, 12, was found driving the bus at about 5 a.m. more than 14 miles away in a Panama City Beach Wal-Mart parking lot at 10270 Front Beach Road.

No collisions or injuries have been linked to the incident.

Curtis admitted to leaving the keys in the ignition and the bus parked in a place susceptible to theft, Husfelt said. More severe disciplinary action was not taken mostly because of Curtis’ clean employee record, he added.

Curtis “has not had any other disciplinary actions in the past and he admitted he made a mistake,” Husfelt said. “We’re all just very grateful the student wasn’t hurt and no one else was hurt. This has been a valuable lesson in securing our buses.”

Propst made the trek along U.S. Business 98 and over the Hathaway Bridge without tipping off law enforcement along the way. Despite his apparently graceful driving, Propst faces serious charges, authorities said.

He has been charged with grand theft of an item worth more than $100,000 and felony criminal mischief. He also is charged with grand theft for a missing student recognition device worth about $2,000, and officers could be looking into other charges against the juvenile.

Though the youngster told deputies he did not remember hitting anything, BCSO is investigating an 8-foot-long scrape of white paint transferred onto the right side of the bus. BCSO officials have not determined the paint’s origin.

PANAMA CITY — Police identified a vehicle Thursday that may have been used in the shooting death of a local teenager.

Samuel McGriff, 17, was shot in the gut June 16 at about 4:30 a.m. while standing outside a common area of the Macedonia Garden Apartments at 1722 W. 17th St. Panama City Police found McGriff in the kitchen of an apartment unit later and he was taken to a local hospital in stable condition. McGriff died the next day.

Detectives are asking for help from the public with information on a vehicle that was seen in the apartment complex at the time of the shooting. The vehicle is believed to be a 2004 to 2007 Chrysler or Dodge minivan.

According to a news release from PCPD, the van does not have a luggage or roof rack common to this model of van. It also does not have tint on the front two windows; however, all other windows are blacked out with a dark tint.

Police believe the vehicle was occupied by at least two males wearing white, tank top-style T-shirts. Immediately after the shooting, the van exited the apartment complex at a high rate of speed and was last seen heading east on 17th Street from the apartment complex.

McGriff was the fifth victim of gun violence in less than a month in Panama City. Police have made arrests on two of the five deaths. A shooting at a Millville gas station in May led to the deaths of Marqueze McGhee, 25, and Xavier M. Buckler, 23.

Another victim, 26-year-old Dalreco Franklin, was treated and released from a local hospital for a gunshot wound to the leg. Two days later, Frederic Jones, 22, of 6004 Ivy Road, Panama City, and Antonio West Jr., 24, 6313 Pridgen St., Callaway, have been arrested in connection to the shooting.

Jones was charged with aggravated battery with a firearm, which police said occurred when Franklin was shot in the leg, but no one has been charged with the slayings of McGhee or Buckler.

Police are asking anyone with information about the van or its occupants to contact PCPD. Anyone with information in reference to this case is encouraged to contact Detective Jeff Rogers or Detective Richard Schubert at the Panama City Police Department, 850-872-3100, or anonymous tips can be reported to CrimeStoppers at 850-785-TIPS (8477). 

The Blotter is a look at some of the unusual things that happen on the crime beat in Bay County.

PANAMA CITY -- As people age, time seems to slip past at an increasing rate. But the observation has little sway with a 1-year trespass warning.

Police approached a man at a local hospital to tell him his free time on this earth would diminish if he didn’t promptly leave. Hospital staff had already told him to leave the bench he’d occupied.

He’d sat there to wait out the rain.

He left after police told him to leave and warned him he couldn’t return for a year’s time. And though seasons may rocket past like seconds, a year certainly didn’t pass in the time cops had hospital staff sign the warning.

The man returned to the bench, sat down and was immediately arrested. 

PANAMA CITY — A Panama City Beach man who took a motorcycle he found parked along Front Beach Road was sentenced Thursday to more than a year in prison.

James Lee Rushing, 34, pleaded no contest to several charges of theft and dealing in stolen items and was sentenced to one year and six months in a correctional facility.

The motorcycle was taken when its owner, Bladimil Sanchez, was arrested in late August 2013 for several traffic violations. He requested authorities not tow the motorcycle.

But after being released from Bay County Jail, Sanchez returned to Front Beach Road, where he had left his 2004 Suzuki motorcycle, and discovered it was gone. He called Beach police to ask if the motorcycle, valued by police at about $5,000, had been towed. PCBPD hadn’t towed it.

About a week later, Bay County Sheriff’s Office investigators found Rushing at his Chelsea Drive home. During a consensual search of an outdoor shed, Rushing said he had a motorcycle he “found” on the side of the road. He said he was holding it for “safe-keeping,” and its VIN numbers came up as the missing bike.

Investigators were at the house to begin with because three stolen bicycles reportedly had been seen at the address. Rushing said another man brought him the bicycles and he believed they were stolen, so he gave investigators permission to look around further. They not only found the motorcycle, but also found a Husqvarna riding lawn mower, a red push mower and a leaf blower — all of which had been reported stolen.

Rushing later told officers he saw the motorcycle on the side of the road and loaded it onto the back of a truck. He also admitted to damaging the ignition and steering column in attempt to drive it and get a second key made.

Rushing was sentenced Thursday to more than year in prison, a majority of which he already has served. 

PANAMA CITY -- A Springfield man has been sentenced to time served after pleading no contest to punching his 21-year-old pregnant roommate.

Mitchell Avon Butler Jr., 32, was arrested after punching his “non-romantic” roommate in the left side of the face and neck area twice at their St. John Street apartment in December, according to arrest reports. Butler knew his 21-year-old roommate was pregnant at the time.

When she tried to call police from a neighbor’s phone, Butler grabbed the phone and attempted to prevent her from calling 911. What actually happened was the recorded 911 call caught Butler threatening her life if she contacted police, and he also said he would kill the first police officer to arrive.

Butler pleaded no contest to the charges Thursday and was sentenced to the nearly six months he’d already spent in jail. 

PANAMA CITY -- Drug charges have been filed against a man authorities said shot and killed his neighbor while welcoming home his newborn son last week.

Charles Edward Shisler, 62, already was facing charges of manslaughter and felon in possession of a firearm for the shooting death of Steven Justin Ayers, 33. Ayers and his wife had gathered family members to celebrate the homecoming of their 3-day-old baby — born on Father’s Day. But the celebration at 2502 Michigan Court ended shortly after 6 p.m. when a stray bullet entered the home from more than 200 feet away, struck Ayers in the back of the head and killed him instantly

Shisler had picked up a loaded 9mm pistol in his residence, adjacent to the Ayers’ home, and the gun discharged, he told investigators. Shisler was in his backyard at 3708 W. 25th St. by the time Bay County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived minutes after the shooting, according to arrest reports.

During their investigation into the shooting, BCSO found a glass pipe and “shake and bake” kit in Shislers’ residence, which both tested positive for methamphetamine residue, authorities said. Officers filed additional charges of methamphetamine and paraphernalia possession – felony offenses.

Shisler is scheduled for arraignment in August. Court records indicate he will represent himself.

PANAMA CITY — The Florida Highway Patrol is conducting a special detail along the state's western stretch of Interstate 10.

The Interstate 10 Challenge is an intensified enforcement effort that began Friday and continues through Sunday in seven counties that line the interstate in the western section of Florida's Panhandle.

Troopers will be focusing on the Move Over law, which protects law enforcement officers and emergency workers and tow truck drivers stopped along roadways. They'll also be looking for distracted and aggressive drivers and for seat belt violators.

The agency reminds motorists to buckle up, obey speed limits and to drive sober and alert. They also say drivers should eliminate distractions while driving, including texting, talking on the phone or anything else that can take your eyes off the road. 

PANAMA CITY -- Panama City police are looking for two missing children, which could be connected to a child custody incident.

On Tuesday, Brenda Briggs, of Panama City, reported her 7-month-old son Zhe Moss and 3-year-old daughter Amari Moss missing. The father of the 7-month-old, James Allen Moss Jr., also of Panama City, was allowed to have the children for an overnight stay. Briggs arranged for him to return the children by 7 p.m., but as of Friday evening the children had not been returned.

Moss was staying with his sister at 3913 Piza Dr. where Moss had the children on the morning they were reported missing. Briggs was alerted by Moss’s sister, who returned from work to find that Moss, along with all of his belongings and the children, were no longer in the apartment.

Moss is listed as the birth father of the seven month old boy but, there are no current court custody arrangements. Moss is not the biological father of the female child. It is unclear at this point what mode of travel Moss is using or his whereabouts. Moss has ties in New York, Tennessee, and the Montgomery, Alabama area.

Police are asking anyone with information on the whereabouts of Moss and/or the children to contact Detective Mike Rossomondo at 850-872-3100, or anonymous tips can be reported to CrimeStoppers at 850-785-TIPS.

WEWAHITCHA — A Marianna 16-year-old is dead after a crash late Friday night, Florida Highway Patrol reported.

Tyler Austin Gray, 16, was driving by himself north on State Road 71 just north of Lower Dalkeith Road, County Road 281-A, in Wewahitchka at about 11:10 p.m. Friday. A short time later he lost control of the vehicle, collided with a tree and sustained fatal injuries, FHP reported.

According to FHP’s report, at some point, Gray left the northbound lane, in which he was driving, onto the northbound shoulder. He attempted to steer the 2000 Ford F-150 back onto the road but over-corrected the truck, causing it to re-enter the northbound travel lane and travel towards the southbound lane, FHP reported.

Gray over-corrected a second time, causing the truck to go into a spin and run off the roadway to the right. The F-150 then spun over the northbound shoulder into a tree line along the road. The left side of the truck crashed into a standing tree, spinning it the opposite direction, before finally coming to a rest in the tree line.

Gray sustained fatal injuries from the crash. FHP’s investigation into the incident’s cause is pending.

FREEPORT -- A car of visitors from Texas crashed Friday afternoon into a Walton County sheriff’s deputy’s cruiser carrying the deputy and a prisoner, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Cassandra Nicole Martin, 29, and Randy Lewis, 30, both of Fort Worth, were heading west on State Road 20 in a 2014 Ford Focus about 1 p.m. with a newborn baby in the back seat, the FHP reported.

Deputy Brandon Coone also was in a left-turn lane approaching U.S. Highway 331 when the couple made a sudden turn to try to get to a gas station and hit his car on the passenger side.

No injuries were reported.

The deputy’s prisoner, 18-year-old Cody Tullis, was the only person not wearing a seat belt.