PANAMA CITY — Four juveniles have been arrested in connection to two burglaries at the same Panama City Beach home.

Bay County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived at a vacation home on the west end of Panama City Beach after a Aug. 29 call. A neighbor noticed two bicycles in the backyard of the same vacation home. Knowing the home had been broken into in June, the neighbor was concerned it might happen again, officials reported.

BCSO found Travis A. Nodaros, 15, and Tylor C. Auton, 16, inside the home. Nodaros and Auton said they had stolen the bicycles, ridden to the empty home and broken in through a window. Both also stated they had been in the home in June during the first break-in but only watched while three other juveniles trashed the interior.

BCSO first visited the vacation home in June after the owner had come for a visit and discovered the inside of the home almost completely trashed. Furniture and dishes were destroyed, food had been dumped on the floor and condiments sprayed on the walls. The chandelier had been ripped from the ceiling and holes made in the walls.

Nodaros and Auton were charged with burglary of a dwelling and criminal mischief over a $1,000.

BCSO investigators made contact at a local high school with two of the three other juveniles allegedly involved. Tanner Auton, 16, and Tristan Duncan, 15, were arrested and also charged with burglary of a dwelling and criminal mischief over a $1,000.

GREENHEAD — The Florida Department of Corrections is investigating three deaths at a Washington County state prison and a fourth is being reviewed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The investigations are part of a statewide probe of prison deaths requested by DOC Secretary Mike Crews.

Wednesday, the DOC announced that five prison guards at Northwest Florida Reception Center near Greenhead were arrested for allegedly stomping on a handcuffed and shackled inmate last month and a sixth —- a captain —- was also charged with taking part in the attack and lying about it.

By Friday evening, 11 prison guards were arrested and fired this week for allegedly abusing inmates in separate incidents at two Florida prisons.

Guards in Washington County allegedly knocked a prisoner, who had been gassed with chemical agents, to the ground face-first and jumped on him while he was handcuffed and his legs were restrained and then tried to cover it up, according to probable-cause affidavits accompanying arrest documents.

The Wednesday arrests came less than a month after Crews initiated a statewide house-cleaning prompted by news reports that officials had covered up deaths of at least two inmates and amid accusations of widespread brutality within the prison system.

Sgts. William Finch, James Perkins, Robert Miller, Christopher Christmas and Dalton Riley were charged with felony battery on an inmate at the prison in southern Washington County. Capt. James Kirkland, accused of getting the sergeants to lie about what happened, was charged with official misconduct. Crews also fired the workers, according to a news release issued by his office late Thursday.

According to the affidavits about the Aug. 5 incident, the five prison workers were taking inmate Jeremiah Tatum, 31, to the cold-water shower after he had been gassed with chemical agents. It is unclear from the reports what prompted the gassing, or who ordered the use of chemical agents.

Videos showed that Tatum —- who was handcuffed with his hands behind his back and whose legs were restrained, “thus preventing the inmate from protecting himself” —- was “slammed face first to the concrete floor” by Finch and Riley, according to the arrest documents. According to the affidavits, Christmas and Perkins jumped on the back of Tatum’s legs while Miller pinned his head to the ground.

In sworn statements to inspectors, four of the guards said that Kirkland told them he “wanted Tatum taken to the ground” as the inmate was led to the decontamination shower shortly before 11 p.m.

“Captain Kirkland would make an audible noise and/or state that Inmate Tatum spit on him. The escorting officers were to then force Tatum to the ground,” the complaint reads. All five later said that Tatum never spit on anyone.

After the attack, Kirkland ordered Finch to write up accounts of the incident saying that Tatum had spit on him, according to the allegations. The other four officers said they did not write or sign the reports. The five underlings “aided in concealing and covering up Captain Kirkland’s illegal order to commit a malicious battery,” according to the arrest records.

Meanwhile, five guards at Lancaster Correctional Institution in Gilchrist County were arrested for battery on an inmate. According to probable-cause affidavits, officers Earl Short, Stephen Nygard and Julious Riley and Sgts. Robert La Puma and Brittain Williams are accused of punching prisoners in the face.

According to the documents, La Puma and Williams allegedly pulled inmate Kristopher Sanchez off of his bunk on April 16 and “began to simultaneously strike him in the face with their closed fist” while asking Sanchez if he had brought weapons and contraband into the unit. Williams also kicked Sanchez in the head with his boot, and La Puma then kicked him in the head and upper torso area, according to investigators.

Short is accused of slapping and striking four inmates in the head on separate occasions between Dec. 30 and Jan. 14, according to probable-cause affidavits provided by the Department of Corrections.

Nygard and Riley slapped five new inmates in the head “because they didn’t move fast enough” during exercise drills at the Trenton institution on Dec. 30, according to the probable-cause affidavits.

Meanwhile, four Department of Corrections investigators are suing the agency, saying they’ve been punished for calling attention to a cover-up about an inmate’s death. The whistleblowers claim they started an investigation into allegations of prison-guard misconduct at Franklin Correctional Institution near Carrabelle in 2013. That investigation revealed that an earlier probe into the 2010 death of an inmate “was false and misleading.”

On Tuesday, the day before the Northwest Florida guards were arrested, Disability Rights Florida sued Crews and Wexford Health Systems, a private vendor that provides health care services to prisons in the southern portion of the state, alleging that torture and abuse of prisoners, including Rainey, had been ignored for years.

But the firings don’t go far enough, said Florida Justice Institute Executive Director Randall Berg, who represents prisoners in lawsuits against the corrections department.

“The culture hasn’t changed,” Berg said.

Department leaders have for too long ignored a multi-generational pattern of abuse, Berg said, and firing low-level workers won’t fix that.

“Crews needs to make certain that everyone from the top down is going to be held accountable. It’s not filtering down to the rank and file and it’s being ignored,” he said.

Crews has handed over investigations into at least 85 unresolved prison deaths to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which was already delving into nine mysterious inmate deaths.

The FBI is also reportedly scrutinizing Suwannee Correctional Institution, where an inmate-led riot injured five prison guards in October. The April 2 death of inmate Shawn Gooden at the facility is one of those being examined by FDLE.

PANAMA CITY — Police are asking for assistance in a car egging case.

The Panama City Police Department requested the public’s assistance Friday with information on a criminal mischief case.

While patrolling the Candlewick Acres subdivision, an officer noticed several vehicles had been “egged.” In the area of the 100 block of Candlewick Circle, Panama City, a total of eight vehicles were hit with eggs.

The officer noticed the criminal activity at 2:30 a.m. It is unknown what time this occurred and there are no suspects at this time. If anyone has any information regarding this case, they are urged to call the Panama City Police Department, 850-872-3100, or they can report their tips anonymously to CrimeStoppers at 850-785-TIPS.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — A suspended license led Bay County Sheriff’s Office to arrest a Panama City Beach man who was allegedly traveling with several different narcotics, officials reported Friday.

Deputies arrested Shawn Halfacre, 29, Thursday night after a traffic stop allegedly revealed a variety of illegal narcotics within his vehicle. The traffic stop, near the intersection of Thomas Drive and U.S. 98, resulted in the discovery that Halfacre possessed a suspended Florida driver’s license, a criminal offense. Narcotics officers then found him to be in possession of cocaine, MDMA, marijuana and oxycodone.

Halfacre has been charged with possession of cocaine, two counts of possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, possession of marijuana and possession of a suspended Florida driver’s license.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — A 2-year-old has returned home after a dog attack earlier this week snapped the child’s left arm, officials confirmed.

The attack was not the first by Ziggy Muggle, a black and white male pit bull, but, as it turns out, it was his last. The dog was euthanized Wednesday.

In July, the dog attacked Donna McBride’s boyfriend, Andy Gill, at their Anemone Street home. Bay County Animal Control officers could not find Gill’s pinky finger after the attack. The finger is thought to have been ingested by Ziggy, the couple’s dog.

Ziggy had grown up in the home and was seized by authorities at that time until McBride requested the dog be returned so she could find it another home, according to Animal Control activity reports.

But the dog was euthanized Wednesday after it struck again, this time latching onto the left arm of a houseguest’s 2-year-old child before also biting the guest’s ear.

McBride said precautions had been taken in the home to keep the child and the dog separated until she could find it a new home, but a moment of slack supervision led to tragedy.

“We saved this dog and were actively looking to adopt him out,” she said. “Had I ever known this would have happened, he would have been exterminated then.”

Animal Control would not adopt the dog out after the July attack, according to Bay County spokeswoman Valerie Sale. But since Ziggy was “provoked” and tested negative for rabies, Florida Department of Health officials allowed McBride to reclaim the dog.

According to Animal Control reports, Ziggy attacked Gill’s clenched fist as he reached back like he was going to swing at McBride. The bite severed his pinky finger, which was not found on the scene. Officers advised McBride she could suffer legal repercussions if she reclaimed the dog and it injured another person.

“We repeatedly advised it was a bad idea to keep this dog,” Sale said. “But, ultimately it was her property.”

McBride was quoted $177 for Ziggy’s impound and boarding fees.

A short time later, McBride and Gill separated. McBride continued to search for Ziggy a private home or state agency to take the dog, she said, until Tuesday.

According to an Animal Control incident report and eyewitness accounts, earlier this week Ziggy was lying on the floor, the houseguest was on the couch and the child was standing near the dog. Seemingly unprovoked, the dog jumped up and bit the child’s left arm and would not let go. The guest put her hands in the dog’s mouth to unclamp his jaws. Ziggy then reared up and bit her right ear, then ran off, she told officers.

The guest’s right ear was nearly torn in half, and the small child suffered four puncture wounds on its left bicep and a compound fractured humerus. Due to the reoccurring, severe attacks, Ziggy was euthanized Wednesday after McBride signed over custody to Animal Control.

“He was always around people, so you would have thought there’s no way this could happen in a million years,” McBride said. “Maybe all pit bulls are evil, because you would have never thought he would be capable of this.”

The child was released from the hospital Friday. He is recovering and does not seem to demonstrate any fear of the other small dogs at the residence, McBride said.

“This entire situation was awful,” McBride added. “We just want to move on and put this behind us.”

MARIANNA — A 72-year-old Altha woman is in critical condition after an early morning, single car collision launched her car about 100 feet, according to Florida Highway Patrol reports.

Betty Louise Grover, 72, was taken by helicopter to a Bay County hospital Monday at about 8 a.m. after losing control of her car and crashing into a culvert along State 73, just south of Marianna. The maroon 1986 Oldsmobile she was driving came to a rest upside down on the grass, FHP reported.

Officers do not currently know what caused Grover to leave the roadway. However, physical evidence at the scene indicated she was traveling north on State 73 before she drove onto the east shoulder, crossed the roadway and entered the west shoulder. Grover traveled about 870 feet before the car struck a culvert at Topelo Drive, FHP said.

The impact caused the Oldsmobile to vault some 100 feet before landing and overturning. It then came to rest on the west shoulder upside down. Grover suffered critical injuries and was Lifeflighted to the hospital. FHP reported Grover was wearing her seatbelt at the time.

CALLAWAY — K9 officers assisted Bay County Sheriff’s Office in a methamphetamine arrest, officials announced Monday.

A BCSO deputy conducted a traffic stop Sunday on Cherry Street in Callaway. Justin Watson, the driver, was arrested after a K9 alerted the deputy to the presence of illegal narcotics.

When a BCSO K9 alerted to the presence of illegal narcotics, a search of Watson’s vehicle was done. Deputies discovered 10 grams of methamphetamine and a scale within the vehicle. BCSO Special Investigations was notified and responded to the scene. A search of Watson for contraband turned up several plastic baggies inside his front left pocket.

Watson was taken into custody and charged with possession of meth with intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — “What’s your life worth to you?” Parker Fire Chief Andrew Kelly asked.

It’s a moment burned into Panama City Beach firefighter Brandon Polkowski’s memory. One of his co-workers brought his elderly mother-in-law into the station. Her health already was deteriorating when she started to spiral downward in front of his eyes. She experienced stroke-like symptoms before collapsing to the floor in cardiac arrest.

Polkowski was part of the team that went to work. Using advanced life support equipment available at the station, the firefighters brought her back to life.

“You don’t give these people a lot of thought until you need them,” Callaway Mayor Thomas Abbott said of firefighters.

Firefighters have been a hot topic with the Callaway City Commission, specifically how much they should be paid.

Callaway has one of the smallest full-time departments in Bay County, with just nine total employees and six firefighters, although the commission recently approved two more firefighters for the department.

As for compensation, entry-level firefighters in Callaway were receiving the lowest salary of any of the departments in Bay County at just $8.63 per hour for a 53-hour week, equaling $457.39. The City Commission approved raising the starting figure to $10.25 per hour on a 53-hour week, of $543.25 per week, which is more consistent with area departments but behind neighbors Springfield and Panama City.

Callaway Fire Chief David Joyner said the department had been experiencing steady turnover recently because of low pay and these raises are meant to halt that trend.

“It’s usually within a year,” Joyner said. “That’s the turnover rate.”

Joyner has previously and proudly described his firefighters as the “Maseratis” of firefighters because of the versatile experience they receive. With the small size of the department, firefighters perform a myriad of duties on calls — driving the truck, pumping the water and guiding hoses, but also responding to medical calls and car accidents.

“We ask a lot of our new firefighters,” Joyner said.

P.C., Bay County

Only Panama City has what would be considered a traditional department structure in Bay County. Covering five stations, Panama City has 77 sworn personnel and six support staff, with 33 firefighters, making it the largest full-time career department in Bay County. With more firefighters available on each call, Panama City firefighters can specialize in particular tasks.

Starting firefighters in Panama City receive $9.95 an hour for a 56-hour week, which equates to $13.94 in a 40-hour-a-week schedule, which works out to $557.73 per week. Joyner said Panama City was the department his firefighters wanted to join.

“I don’t have a retention problem,” Panama City Fire Chief Alex Baird said.

A firefighter trainee with Bay County has a minimum salary of $10.93 in a 53-hour week, or $579.29 per week, but can receive as much as $18.02, $955.06, with prior experience. The trainees are then moved up to firefighter between six months and a year, with a salary starting at $12.01 an hour, $636.53.

Bay County has 54 people in its department, with 16 firefighters on duty on any given day, but that personnel is spread over six stations. Bay County has 12 stations and the department supplements the career firefighters with volunteers.

“It’s certainly more challenging than having an all-career department,” Bay County Emergency Services Chief Mark Bowen said.

Other cities

On a much smaller scale, Parker also uses a combination volunteer and career department. Parker has three paid firefighters, with one working per shift in a somewhat supervisory role over 17 volunteers. The starting salary for firefighters is $10 per hour on a 53-hour work week, $530.

“It’s a problem in all of Bay County,” Parker Fire Chief Kelly said of low firefighter pay.

Panama City Beach, Lynn Haven and Springfield are set up similar to Callaway, with firefighters having to be more versatile. Lynn Haven’s department has 18 employees on shift at a time. Their starting salary is $10.34 per hour on a 53-hour week, $548.02, but there is a 10 percent increase in pay with Emergency Medical Technician certification.

Panama City Beach has had a change in salary structure, raising its starting firefighter pay to $10.56 an hour for a 53-hour week, $559.68, in 2007. The city is currently working on another raise. Chief John Daly said he was losing many firefighters to South Walton.

Panama City Beach has 18 firefighters and a department of 32. The beach has the added requirement that a paramedic must be available on every call. South Walton pays their firefighter/EMTs — to be hired firefighters must have EMT certification — $13.67 an hour to start and $15.71 when they are trained to work as a solo paramedic.

Springfield has a department of 14 with nine firefighters. Their starting pay is $11.33 an hour for a 53 hour week, $600.49 per week.

“Nobody ever gets paid enough,” Springfield Chief Michael Laramore said.

Yet the common theme among firefighters is that they are not doing the job for money.

“If you’re here to get rich, you’re in the wrong business,” Daly said.

Polkowski enjoys the team dynamic of the station. It reminds him of athletics.

“There really is a family atmosphere here,” Polkowski said.

Parker firefighter Matt Jensen said it was the job he has wanted since he was a child.

“Our job is to save lives,” Jensen said.

Polkowski, Jensen and Springfield firefighter Shannon Hogberg agree that helping people is an important part of the job’s appeal. Public service is the example Hogberg, a single mom of two, wants to set for her children.

“I want them to be proud of me,” she said.

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Beach campers woke up a sleeping giant this summer season.

While the beach is typically known for a laid-back attitude, Panama City Beach Police arrests of people camping or being in a “resting position” on the beach soared during the summer months. From Memorial Day to the Labor Day holiday, police arrested 50 people — more than eight times the arrests from the same time period last year, according to PCBPD records. And police still were arresting transients for camping on the beach after the Labor Day holiday, so the numbers continue to rise.

Though the majority of those arrested were identified as transients, Beach Police Chief Drew Whitman said law enforcement has not been targeting the homeless.

“It’s not against the law to be homeless, but it is against the law to trespass on people’s property,” Whitman said. “I think people are just getting frustrated with people coming on their property all the time.”

Public beach accesses and the actual sand on the beach is public property, but a city law dating to 1973 prohibits sleeping in public areas from 1 to 6 a.m. Coupled with an individual not having lodging or a destination, even being in a “resting position” can be interpreted as camping in the city limits.

The offense is a misdemeanor and can cost the offender between $450 and $500, roughly the same amount as a speeding ticket of 20 to 30 mph over the posted limit in a school zone, according to state traffic citation guidelines.

Whitman said the response by law enforcement has been complaint-driven, for the most part, but police have been keeping an eye on camping “hot spots,” he said.

PCBPD records indicated none of the complaints came from residential property owners. The stretch of beach formerly known as Long Beach — near the Front Beach Road Wal-Mart — was one of the “hot spots” that yielded 11 arrests on July 3, just before a major tourist holiday for the city.

Many of 24 logged complaints were reported by commercial interests like Spinnaker Beach Club, Pineapple Willy’s or the nearby Waffle House. A couple of motels and hotels complained, as well, but a majority of complaints was phoned in by condominium owners, renters or security guards.

Bob Bernandier, manager of Ocean Reef Condominiums at 14415 Front Beach Road, said the multiple complaints called in from the condos were due to safety concerns. In one instance, a man was sleeping in a patio chair on the pool deck.

“It just makes people uneasy,” Bernandier said.

The significant increase in arrests does not necessarily mean more homeless are taking to the beach for slumber, Whitman said. It just reflects an increase in complaints.

And police have been responding to the complaints as a matter of public safety, he added.

“It is a safety concern for everybody really — not just visitors — but the property owners and their property rights,” Whitman said.

LYNN HAVEN — A Lynn Haven man who was spotted drinking beer in a fast-food drive-thru has been arrested for assaulting two officers before he crashed into a tree, according to Florida Highway Patrol reports.

FHP officers were inside the Subway at 1800 Hwy 77 Sunday at about 4:45 p.m. when one of the employees informed them a patron was outside, drinking a beer in his car while waiting for his food in the drive-thru.

Troopers approached 27-year-old Justin Devon Caldwell outside. When Caldwell had his window rolled down a quarter of the way to speak with the officers, the troopers noticed he had a bottle of beer and a can of beer in the center cup holders. But when he was asked for his license, Caldwell cursed at the troopers and punched the gas.

Both of the officers had to jump back to avoid being struck by the car as it sped off through the busy Lynn Haven Shopping Center parking lot, FHP reported.

FHP started to pursue Caldwell until they saw that he had struck a tree and came to a halt near the entrance of the shopping center.

He was ordered out of the car at gunpoint and arrested on two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill. Caldwell was also charged with reckless driving, driving with a suspended license and taken to Bay County Jail. 

The Bible says thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, but where does it stand on beach towels?

Panama City police responded to a Fairy Avenue home this week after a woman said she came home from a day at the beach and placed her beach towel on the fence.

“She saw her neighbor take the beach towel,” the officer wrote, adding that when the complainant contacted the neighbor, the neighbor claimed the towel as hers.

“I made contact with the neighbor,” the officer wrote. “She informed me the towel was her towel. I asked where she purchased the towel and she was unable to provide any information, she just said the towel was her towel.”

The officer explained that if the towel wasn’t returned, charges would be pending, and the woman “went to her bedroom and got the black and tan beach towel,” and it was returned to its owner.

A missing towel would be a good day for another Panama City woman, who called police with an unusual complaint the same day.

“She explained that her neighbor has been urinating in gallon jugs and leaving them in his yard,” the officer wrote. “While speaking with (the neighbor) I observed multiple jugs with what appeared to be urine in them.”

The home apparently does not have running water and since the man would not answer the door, the case was turned over to the Department of Children and Families.

PANAMA CITY — The trial of a Cincinnati man accused of trapping a woman in his car before beating and raping her continues Wednesday after a judge rejected an attorney’s request for an acquittal Tuesday.

Jurors heard testimony in the state’s case against Corderro Ryan Britten, 27, who was arrested in October on suspicion of holding the woman against her will, beating and raping her, and then threatening to kill her and her children. The attack allegedly occurred after a party in Panama City Beach when Britten offered to give the woman a ride to her Lynn Haven home, but he instead continued to a secluded location.

The state rested its case at the end of the day, but Britten could testify on his own behalf today when the trial resumes.

The News Herald does not identify rape victims; but in a written statement, the victim told law enforcement she suffered a dislocated jaw, busted lips and numerous bruises on her body at Britten’s hand. Britten allegedly punched her several times before she tried to jump from his moving Volkswagen hatchback.

“I tried to escape and took my seatbelt off and it beeped,” the victim wrote. “I opened the door and started yelling, ‘help me, help me,’ but no one heard me.”

She told police Britten then put on a condom and raped her before telling the woman he would kill her and her children if she reported him, she said. Britten then allegedly made her wipe her face with a red and grey hooded sweatshirt in the car before dropping her near U.S. 231 and Transmitter Road.

When Lynn Haven police caught up with Britten about 12 hours later in the restroom at Burger King on Front Beach Road, they found the sweatshirt in his car, stained with blood, along with an empty condom wrapper. DNA analysts with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement took samples from the sweater that matched the victim. However, tests for bodily fluids on the victim’s person belonging to Britten came back negative.

Defense attorney Russell Wilson conceded to the charge of battery and asked Judge Michael Overstreet to acquit Britten on the charges of sexual battery.

“The state has failed to provide evidence there was ever penetration,” Wilson said. “Not to mention, there was no evidence he ever tried to confront her, force her or threaten her family.”

Overstreet denied the request, but as the trial commences Wednesday, jurors could hear Britten’s account of the incident.

PORT ST. JOE -- Three men sustained minor injuries after a dump truck overturned Monday afternoon, according to Florida Highway Patrol reports.

The Mercedez Benz dump truck was northbound on State 30A approaching the intersection of U.S. 98 Monday at about 1:55 p.m. The truck’s driver, 40-year-old Jason Richter, was unable to stop sufficiently; and due to its heavy weight, the truck began to run off the roadway to the right. It traveled along the right shoulder of State 30A before it struck a tree with its right front. The dump truck then overturned onto its right side and came to final rest on the right shoulder of State 30A.

Two passengers, 47-year-old Alvin Chambers and 20-year-old Aaron Ward, also were injured in the accident. All three men were wearing their seatbelts, FHP reported, and were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries.

Charges are pending in the case.

PANAMA CITY -- Police are asking for public assistance to find a Panama City man who abandoned his moving car after an attempted traffic stop, officials said Tuesday.

Officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop for an equipment violation in the 1700 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on 35-year-old Normando Ramon Brown’s car. Brown fled from police and after a short chase, exited the still moving vehicle in the 1700 block of Louisiana Avenue and then fled the area on foot, police said.

The vehicle came to rest without incident and the passenger of the vehicle was unharmed. Brown was positively identified as the driver in this incident, and police are obtaining warrants for felony driving while license suspended or revoked and resisting an officer without violence.

Brown was previously wanted on charges for felony driving while license suspended or revoked and failure to appear out of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.

If anyone has information on the whereabouts of Brown, they are encouraged to contact the Panama City Police Department at 850-872-3100, or they can report their tips anonymously to CrimeStoppers at 850-785-TIPS.

SPRINGFIELD -- Police have arrested a Panama City man for a purse snatching, according to Springfield Police Department press release.

Springfield police arrested Richard David Seaborn, 30, for strong-arm robbery Tuesday in his Panama City home Tuesday at about 3 p.m. About an hour earlier, police heard a woman screaming for help near Everitt Avenue and U.S. 98 while two men pursued another on foot. The victim would later identify Seaborn in a photo line-up as the man fleeing the scene, police said.

Officers learned the victim had been walking toward the Exxon at 3100 E. Bus. 98, when a man approached her. He asked for some money then struck her on the shoulder and tried to snatch her purse. The contents poured out onto the ground. The man grabbed the victim’s billfold out of the pile and ran, police reported.

Seaborn was located at his home on East Sixth Court and arrested for strong-arm robbery and taken to Bay County Jail. He was also on probation from a previous criminal offense.

GREENHEAD — While state law enforcement proceeds with investigations into brutality on inmates at a Washington County state prison, a review of court documents shows two corrections officers at the facility have been arrested in the past two years on other charges.

Alicia Candice Michelle Bell, 23, was charged with accepting a payment to sneak in contraband and Nicole Lian Grun, 26, was charged with introducing contraband into the Northwest Florida Reception Center. Both were arrested and fired in December.

Grun was arrested Dec. 20 after officers allegedly caught her in possession of 186 grams of “K-2 Spice,” a synthetic marijuana.

According to her arrest affidavit, Grun arrived for duty, passed a routine staff search before she was instructed to report to the Visiting Park for a more thorough search — along with three other female officers. Investigators found a sealed package of sandwiches in Grun’s lunch bag. She hesitated before admitting to having the concealed synthetic marijuana, officers reported. Investigators found the missing sandwiches during a search of Grun’s car.

Grun then told investigators she brought the contraband at the behest of an inmate. She said she received Western Union money transfers for $100 and another for $200 from the inmate’s relatives. Grun revised her story after investigators found $400 in her car’s glove box, according to investigators.

The arrest of Bell stemmed from an allegation by an inmate she planned to introduce tobacco, synthetic marijuana, MDMA, crack cocaine and cellphones into the prison. Western Union records revealed Bell received $300 from an inmate’s relative, which she provided her ID to acquire, according to investigators.

Bell admitted she conspired with multiple inmates to introduce the contraband but only accepted the $300 for cigarettes that she never delivered.

“I kind of screwed myself,” Bell told authorities. “I shouldn’t have took the money. Me taking the money and not bringing something in got me into this mess.”

Both officers were fired after their arrests. Bell was sentenced to five years of probation this month for accepting bribery. Grun was sentenced to 15 years of probation in August for possessing a controlled substance, introducing contraband to a state correctional facility and accepting bribery, according to court records.

Last week, six officers were arrested and fired in connection with the beating of an inmate at the prison.

CHIPLEY — An officer-involved fatal shooting that took place near the Holmes-Washington county line earlier this year has been ruled “legal, justified under the circumstances,” according to the Office of the State Attorney.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) investigated the March 11 incident at the request of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO) after an officer shot a suspect who reportedly failed to comply with requests to put down what appeared to be a rifle.

The WCSO, Holmes County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) and the Bonifay Police Department (BPD) had responded to a report of an armed subject on U.S. 90 at the Alligator Creek Bridge in Washington County. After officers encountered the subject, later identified as Michael Snyder, he was shot by HCSO Deputy Jason Stafford and Bonifay police officer Jim Hall.

A review of evidence indicated seven shots were fired by two officers, with Snyder receiving a total of five gunshot wounds, which resulted in death.

A review of the video from WCSO Deputy Duran Harrison’s patrol car indicates the deputy saw Snyder with a long rifle and scope at the time he initially passed the suspect at the Alligator Creek Bridge. Harrison could see the scope was pointed at him. During the first 25 minutes of the video, Harrison can be heard attempting to communicate with Snyder via a loudspeaker.

During that time, according to the report, Harrison can be heard repeatedly giving verbal instructions to Snyder, including to put his weapon down, “come out with his hands up,” that he “wasn’t in any trouble” and that he “just wanted to talk with him.”

Snyder didn’t respond to any of those requests, despite being told to put down or drop his weapon on at least 20 separate occasions during the first 25 minutes of the video. After 25 minutes, multiple officers can be heard yelling commands for the suspect to put his gun/weapon down and to show them his hands.

Snyder later can be seen walking into the camera view, toward the officers, holding what appears to be a long rifle with scope. The weapon was shouldered and leveled in the direction of officers, according to investigative reports.

Again, officers can be heard shouting commands for Snyder to put the weapon down and to show his hands before shots are heard and Snyder is seen falling to the ground.

FDLE Special Agent Ronnie Austin responded to the scene and noted Snyder’s body was lying on the south shoulder of U.S. 90, covered by a blue tarp. Snyder was “fully clothed and handcuffed,” according the FDLE reports.

Austin’s report stated he also observed what appeared to be a rifle on the ground to the west of the body, also covered with a tarp, and a rifle scope lying between the body and the suspected rifle.

FDLE special agents soon interviewed officers who responded to the scene, as well as civilian witnesses during the course of the six-month-long investigation.

Among those witnesses was Eddie Joe Byrd, of Chipley, who stated he called WCSO to report Snyder “wasn’t acting right,” elaborating that Snyder was incoherent and had a pellet gun. Byrd alleged Snyder told him “if the law came to get him, they would have to kill him.”

Washington County 911 records show Byrd called dispatchers twice, at 6:04 p.m. and 6:10 p.m., stating he was calling to give WCSO “a heads up” because Snyder was sitting outside with a gun “waiting for them to come pick him up” and that he “wasn’t going down without a fight.” Byrd was told during each call that there was not a warrant for Snyder’s arrest.

Snyder’s sister, Angela Sills, also was interviewed by FDLE, telling investigators her brother had been her roommate since the previous month.

Sills said Snyder recently had been arrested in Slocomb, Ala., and felt WCSO deputies would come get him. He also asked her to help him take care of some “last minute details,” including making a will because he had been “mistreated by law enforcement,” and “if they ever came after him again, they wouldn’t take him alive.”

In the final ruling, Assistant State Attorney Shalla Jefcoat stated evidence that showed Snyder was armed with a Winchester air rifle that appeared to be a real firearm.

“Mr. Snyder leveled this weapon at officers while advancing towards their position,” Jefcoat reported. “Mr. Snyder ignored repeated commands by law enforcement to drop the weapon. It appeared that Mr. Snyder was aiming the weapon at individual officers as they attempted to take cover behind their patrol vehicles.”

Florida law stipulates that to use deadly force, the danger facing law enforcement officers need not have been actual, but must have appeared so real that a reasonably cautious and prudent person under the same circumstances would have believed the danger could be avoided only through the use of force.

“The evidence clearly shows that the officers reasonably believed that Mr. Snyder was armed with an actual rifle, that he was committing an aggravated assault upon multiple officers, and the officers were in fear for their own safety as well as the safety of their fellow officers,” Jefcoat said.

PANAMA CITY — A man who grabbed a woman by the throat, dragged her out of her car and then stole the car is the subject of a Panama City Police Department manhunt.

The victim was in her vehicle at the Panama City Mall at about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday when a white male grabbed her by the arm and attempted to remove her from the vehicle. The male choked and dragged the victim from the vehicle, after which he got into it and drove off, police reported.

Police described the white male as being bald with blue eyes, a short, stocky build and wearing a gray shirt.

Patrol officers located the stolen vehicle, shortly after midnight, parked next to the Winn Dixie store at 3621 U.S. 231. Panama City Police crime scene investigators photographed the vehicle and collected evidence.

At this time the suspect is still at large. Anyone with information about this crime or who may know the suspect, are urged to contact Detective Jeff Rogers at 850-872-3100 or they can report their tips anonymously to CrimeStoppers at 850-785-TIPS.

PANAMA CITY — A Panama City man who attempted an afternoon snatching of a store clerk’s purse failed to notice the store’s customers, according to officials.

Walter Lee Barnes, 49, was arrested Tuesday at about 4:30 p.m. after officers arrived to the Cannon Oil station, 1520 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, to calls of a robbery. The victim told Panama City Police she was conducting a “cash drop” into the store’s safe when Barnes jumped the counter and attempted to take her purse.

The attendant dropped the money she was placing into the safe and attempted to get her purse back from Barnes, so he also grabbed some of the money she dropped. As he turned to leave, he noticed several customers in the store were calling the police. Barnes returned the money and then fled the scene, police said.

Officers found Barnes nearby and took him to the PCPD for questioning. After investigators completed the interview, Barnes was taken to the Bay County jail, charged with robbery by sudden snatching.

PANAMA CITY — Jurors have found an Ohio ex-convict guilty of violently beating and raping a Lynn Haven woman before threatening to kill her and her child in an attempt to prevent the woman from filing a police report.

The jury’s guilty as charged verdict Wednesday found, though only one rape took place, 27-year-old Corderro Ryan Britten committed rape in two ways: by physical force and threats of retaliation.

As the woman tried to escape from his moving car, Britten held her against her will before he pulled off the road, beat and raped her in the car while wearing a condom. Britten was driving the woman to her Lynn Haven home from a party on the beach on an early morning last September, and he left her on the side of the road miles from home after telling her that if word made it to authorities, he would slit her throat and kill her child.

She ultimately was able to run for help at a nearby residence and report the incident to police.

Britten did not attempt to deny the beating — which left the woman with a dislocated jaw, busted lips and numerous bruises — and said a lack of DNA evidence from the woman’s cavities was a cause for doubt of sexual intercourse.

But prosecutors argued the opened condom wrapper and bloodied sweatshirt found in Britten’s car, along with traces of saliva on the victim’s ear, pieced together the attack.

“That is how (the saliva) got there,” Assistant State Attorney Barbara Beasley told jurors. “He was licking and sucking her ear while he raped her.”

Britten and the woman were introduced before the party in Panama City Beach, where Britten made unwanted sexual advances toward the woman, which she rejected.

“But he wasn’t taking no for an answer,” Beasley said. “He told her, ‘I’ll take you home,’ but instead he drove around looking for a good, dark place.”

When the woman pointed out that Britten had driven past her residence, he told her to shut up and punched her several times in the face. She tried to jump from the moving car, but he grabbed her hair and pulled her back and drove to a residential area near East 14th Street and Transmitter Road.

He pulled to the side of the road, put a condom on and raped her. Britten held her for a time, made her wipe her bloodied face on the sweat shirt and then dropped her off after he threatened the lives of her children and members of her family.

Britten was found guilty as charged of sexual battery by actual physical force, sexual battery by threat of retaliation, false imprisonment and tampering with a victim. Britten will be adjudicated of only one of the rape convictions at sentencing.

Britten was released from an Ohio prison nine months before the attack. He served about 16 months of a two-year sentence for assault, weapons possession and escape, according to the Ohio Department of Corrections website. He had served time for other crimes, including grand theft auto and forgery, according to the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts website.

He faces life in prison when Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet sentences him Nov. 3.