Tag: florida
FL Woman arrested for leaving 2-year-old boy with HOMELESS baby-sitter while she traveled out of state
A Florida woman was arrested after she told police that she left a little boy in the care of a homeless baby-sitter because she needed to make a quick trip out of town.
Tampa Police were called to an apartment building near Busch Gardens following reports that a child was outside unattended.
When officers arrived they found a 2-year-old boy sitting outside an apartment door with a blanket, sippy cup and half-eaten Lunchable, a police report states.
When deputies went inside the apartment, they found a computer mouse with an attached cord tied to a bedroom door to keep it secure. Authorities said the door had enough space for a small child to get in and out. Inside the bedroom was a cheese snack, a jug of iced tea, a Gatorade and pull-up diapers.
Police believe the child had been outside by himself for a few hours.
According to the report, 22-year-old Cotisha Long-Green was supposed to be looking after the child but she was in another state. Long-Green, who is the guardian of the boy, said she had to catch a flight early in the morning on Aug. 21 because she had a court hearing in Illinois. She didn’t return until late on Aug. 22. Long-Green said that she asked a homeless woman known as “Fe Fe,” or Felicia, to look after the child while she was gone. Long-Green said she had met Felicia on the street and let her nap at her apartment a few times.
According to the report, Long-Green didn’t know Felicia’s last name or a phone number she could be reached at. Long-Green also told police that she suspected Felicia was an addict.
“She knows for certain that Felicia smokes marijuana,” the report stated.
Authorities said Long-Green’s cousin lives nearby but she never asked her cousin to watch the child. She also never told the boy’s mother or his family members that she had to leave town.
According to neighbors, they have never seen a woman fitting Felicia’s description going in and out of Long-Green’s apartment. Tampa police spokesman Steve Hegarty told the Daily News that police have not been able to track down Felicia and the boy is now with the Florida Department of Children and Families.
Lawyers want man using big-penis defense to show jury his erection
Lawyers in the murder trial of a Florida man who wants to show his penis to the jury went back and forth this week on whether he would need to be erect.
The trial for Richard Patterson, 65, of Margate began on Tuesday, but the judge has not ruled whether his genitals will be presented in the court room.
Patterson’s lawyers want to use his penis as evidence to argue that his girlfriend Francisca Marquinez, 60, choked to death while performing oral sex on him in 2015.
The prosecution reportedly doesn’t object, but argued at the trial that his penis must be erect, according to news station WPLG.
“Do we do it in the back? Do we do it in open court?” assistant state attorney Peter Sapak asked. “How is the defendant going to be erect when the jury views it? Because a flaccid penis, whether it be a picture or the jury actually seeing it, is completely irrelevant. It needs to be erect.”
Defense attorney Ken Padowitz slammed the prosecution’s argument, saying the court should hear from a medical expert about the logistics. Padowitz wants to call former Broward County medical examiner Ronald Wright as a witness to testify that Marquinez’s death “is consistent with being accidentally sexually asphyxiated during oral sex.”
“He’s telling the court, as if he’s a medical expert in his argument, that it matters whether the penis is erect or not,” Padowitz said. “But he’s merely speculating here since he’s never asked that question to Dr. Wright in definition, and he doesn’t, obviously, know, actually, what the expert opinion is what is needed or not needed in order for a human being to choke.”
Patterson faces second-degree murder charges and if convicted, could be sentenced to life in prison.
via: http://nypost.com/2017/05/17/judge-to-decide-if-murder-suspect-can-show-penis-to-jury/
Woman dies after man fondles, punches her
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Authorities say a man fatally punched a woman who tried to prevent him from re-entering a bar where he had fondled her against her will.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports 35-year-old Michael Lamothe was arrested on aggravated battery charges after the incident at Oyster Bay pub in Daytona Beach early Sunday. The charge was upgraded to manslaughter after 54-year-old Debra Jost died.
The newspaper says police found Jost on the floor with a cut to the back of her head and blood coming from her nose and mouth.
Witnesses told investigators Lamothe walked up behind her, hugged her and grabbed her breasts. He left the bar and Jost tried to close the door when he attempted to return.
Lamothe remains in jail without bond. Jail records don’t list an attorney.
via: http://nypost.com/2017/05/02/woman-dies-after-man-fondles-punches-her-cops/
Woman busted for pepper-spraying, robbing Uber driver
A Florida woman was taken into custody Friday for an Uber ride that ended in robbery.
Police said Lontaisha Sharquay Durham, 21, and another woman pepper-sprayed and robbed an Uber driver during an April 4 ride in Delray Beach, Florida.
When the two women reached their destination, one of them allegedly used the pepper spray on the driver, Hermionne Belfort, temporarily blinding her, according to the Sun Sentinel.
Belfort said when she was able to see again, the passengers had vanished and her wallet, which was in the center car’s console, was missing.
The 29-year-old Uber driver reported the incident and was treated for exposure to pepper spray.
Police found Durham three days later with a nearly-empty bottle of pepper spray in her purse a few blocks from the scene of the robbery.
Durham was identified by the Uber driver in a police lineup and arrested, the Palm Beach Post reported.
She was booked Friday at Palm Beach County Jail, where she is being held on $3,000 bail. The arrest report does not indicate if the other suspect is at-large.
via: http://nypost.com/2017/04/25/woman-busted-for-pepper-spraying-robbing-uber-driver/
10 year old autistic boy in FL arrested for felony battery against a teacher
When John Haygood, a 10-year-old boy with autism, was arrested last week at a school in Florida, he kept repeating that he didn’t know what was happening, as seen in shaky cellphone video taken by his mother.
“I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t understand,” he cried out. In the video, his hands are cuffed as two officers escort him to the back seat of a police car.
His mother, Luanne Haygood, followed behind them while recording the incident on her phone. In the video, John appears distraught, and yells some profanities.
Luanne is heard in the video speaking to the officers, “Excuse me, do you have any paperwork or anything you can say to me?”
John, a student at Okeechobee Achievement Academy in Okeechobee, Florida, was arrested at the school last week for felony battery against a teacher in an October incident, allegedly punching and kicking his teacher, which left scratches and marks, according to an incident report from the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident occurred after John was being disruptive in class, throwing paper balls around the classroom and hitting other students, the report said. His teacher asked him to go to time out. When John refused, the teacher attempted to remove him, and that’s when John attacked, the report said.
The report also noted that John had allegedly made threats to kill the teacher in a previous incident. On November 1, the teacher requested to pursue criminal charges since John “had been given plenty of opportunities to change his behavior and has not,” the report said.
Autism spectrum disorder is a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how a person behaves and interacts with others, communicates, and learns. Many people with autism, for instance, are hypersensitive to and dislike being touched, as well as might be upset by a slight change in a routine.
In October, John was expelled from the Academy and has been completing his schoolwork from home since then, according to CNN affiliate WPBF. Last Wednesday, he returned to the Academy to take a standardized test, but was handcuffed and transported to a juvenile detention center, where he spent the night.
The next day, John appeared in court on charges of assaulting his teacher, was then released, and is now scheduled to appear in court again on May 11, WPBF reported.
CNN contacted Luanne Haygood about the incident and subsequent arrest, but has not heard back at time of publication.
“I know what happened six months ago,” Luanne told WPBF when her son was released, admitting that she knew her son had an incident with a school staff member. But she added that she was never warned of any warrants for his arrest or imminent problems with law enforcement.
“I never seen an arrest report, I never saw the charges I just know what was told that he may or may not press charges,” she said.
On Tuesday, Luanne posted to her Facebook page that she obtained copies of police records for John.
The school district sent the following statement to CNN in response to John’s arrest:
“It has been district procedure to invite students in to take the Florida Standards Assessment. The district would not invite someone to one of our campuses for the sole purpose to arrest. The district routinely assists students by providing services from our board certified behavioral analyst, licensed mental health counselors, school social workers, and psychologists.
“As a team, these individuals develop interventions, conduct assessments, and offer support both at school and in the home in order to assist students and families.
“The district is unable to provide specific information as to both current and past incidents regarding this or any other student due to educational laws and rules. It is our hope that we can continue to work with all families to help their students improve both behaviorally and academically.”
Ann Abramowitz, a professor of psychology at Emory University in Atlanta, with no firsthand knowledge of the situation, said the sequence of events didn’t provide her with enough information to comment on John’s incident. However, various students with autism tend to benefit from certain types of carefully planned disciplinary strategies, compared to other types of discipline.
Those strategies include maintaining a calm and orderly environment, maintaining a schedule for the student, and preventing any outbursts of distress, anger or aggression, she said.
“Keep kids engaged to prevent outbursts, because once outbursts occur, they can be very challenging to manage and can lead to situations where it exceeds the school’s capacity to manage the behavior,” Abramowitz said, adding that “I can’t really think where being put in handcuffs would be helpful to a child, and of course it just seems intuitively obvious that it could be traumatic.”
Florida Woman Smoked Crack Moments Before Giving Birth, Hiding Baby in Backyard
A Clearwater, Florida, woman was arrested Wednesday after police say she gave birth to a child moments after smoking crack-cocaine.
Arrest records show 24-year-old Katrina gave birth to the child Monday on a back patio and hid the baby in the backyard, WFTS reported.
“I couldn’t imagine doing that with my baby,” said Carrie Meeks, who lives in the home where Kegelman left the baby.
Meeks says she noticed Kegelman walking near her home and let her inside to give her clean clothes and a place to shower.
Records show Kegelman is a transient, with no permanent address.
Meeks noticed Kegelman was in labor and offered to take her to a hospital, but by the time she went in to call for help and stepped back outside, Kegelman had already given birth.
Meeks noticed blood on her pants, the baby tucked inside.
She says Kegelman pleaded with her not to call 911, so she told her instead she was calling a friend and stepped away to call for an ambulance.
That’s when she says Kegelman hid the baby under a plant in her backyard.
According to the affidavit, she later admitted to police that she was afraid she’d be arrested for the baby’s death and had smoked crack just moments before giving birth.
“There’s not a drug in this world that could have made me stash my baby in the bushes and then lie to people and tell them it’s not there,” said Meeks.
Fire rescue arrived at the home where Kegelman at first wouldn’t say where the baby was, but eventually pointed towards the backyard.
Officials say the baby boy survived and is now at a hospital.
Kegelman was also taken to a hospital after giving birth and was arrested Wednesday after admitting to the incident.
She now faces a child neglect charge.
Records show she bonded out of jail early Thursday morning.
Police say it’s now up to staff at The Florida Dept. of Children and Families to determine a home for the baby.
FL Nursing home worker posted residents sex videos online
A nursing home employee in Florida was caught secretly recording a pair of seniors having sex — and posting the footage to Snapchat, cops said.
Alexis Williams, 20, is accused of filming an 81-year-old woman and a 59-year-old man doing the deed inside a private room at the Bristol Court Assisted Living Facility in St. Petersburg last August, according to Bay News 9.
The Pinellas County woman was arrested Wednesday after being done in by a tipster, who spotted the video and alerted staff.
The couple apparently had no idea they were being filmed by Williams, who denies everything.
“I asked them, ‘Where’s their proof?’ and I won’t say nothing else until they give me proof,” she told Bay News after being released from custody Wednesday.
But investigators insisted that they had more than enough evidence to charge Williams with video voyeurism — including a confession, surveillance video of her in the act and records provided by Snapchat, itself.
“I think it’s deplorable,” said Helen King with the Area Agency on Aging, a private non-profit agency serving seniors and their caregivers in the area.
“I wouldn’t want it to be someone from my own family at that assisted-living when that happened,” she told CBS Miami. “I hate the fact that she’s already out of jail that quick.”
Bristol Court has since fired Williams and the sheriff’s office has also been reportedly probing whether to shut down the facility, as well.
State records obtained by the outlet show that the nursing home has shelled out more than $6,000 in fines improperly trained staff, workers forgetting to give residents medications and lying on their medical charts.
“You just have to be very, very careful because it’s the life of an older person that you’re placing into here,” King explained. “You want to trust that the people that hire them knew what they were doing and did all the things they should be doing.”
via: http://nypost.com/2017/03/23/nursing-home-worker-posted-senior-sex-videos-to-snapchat/
Teacher smoked weed, drank with student to set mood before sex
A tatted-up teacher in Florida slept with one of her students nearly a half-dozen times — boozing up and smoking pot with him to set the mood, cops said.
Valerie Michelle Valvo, 34, was arrested Wednesday in Hernando County and charged with unlawful sexual activity with a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor after she admitted to having sex with the 17-year-old inside her home, according to police.
The Central High School art teacher confessed to doing the deed at least five times, authorities said.
Both she and the teen, who was not identified, claimed that the romps were consensual.
The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office told WFLA they began investigating Valvo after receiving a tip about a high school teacher sleeping with a male student.
When deputies interviewed the boy, he admitted to having sex with her at her home in Spring Hill on at least three occasions, WFLA reports.
Valvo later agreed to talk to police — saying they actually had intercourse at least five or six times.
“He’s not old enough to consent to a relationship like that,” said Denise Moloney, of the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office.
Both Valvo and the teen confessed to smoking marijuana together and drinking alcohol while inside her home, cops said.
According to a spokesperson for the local school system, the art teacher has been employed for the past three years. She has since been suspended — with pay — pending the outcome of the investigation.
Valvo’s mugshot, which was posted to Facebook by police, shows her sporting a colorful chest tattoo, as well as some ink on her left arm.
“The sad part is that this Woman [sic] is well liked by many students,” wrote one user.
“I have to wonder what goes through the mind of an individual like this,” another said. “There have been so many cases such as this all over the country. Each time the teacher is caught and loses their job, their family, their dignity, and their freedom. Why does each one that comes after the countless before them makes them think they will end up any different?”
Valvo is one of several educators to be busted in the past few months for sleeping with their students.
Most recently, a high school teacher was caught engaging in “sexual contact” with a 17-year-old male student in Texas. Her mugshot wound up going viral after she chose to smile from ear-to-ear for the photo.
via: http://nypost.com/2017/03/23/teacher-smoked-weed-drank-with-student-to-set-mood-before-sex-cops/
Deputies Fatally Shoot Pompano Beach Man Who Was Eating Chicken Wings At Backyard BBQ
Two deputies from the Broward Sheriff’s Office shot and killed a man in Pompano Beach at around 10 o’ clock last night.
Deputies were responding to a call about a domestic disturbance. When they arrived, they were directed to the back yard, where the man (whose name has not yet been released) was holding a knife. Both deputies opened fire. Pompano Beach Fire Rescue later confirmed the man was dead on the scene.
Neighbors who were present at the time of the shooting say the man was shot in the back six times. BSO has not yet confirmed that.
The incident is currently under investigation, and both deputies have been placed on administrative leave.
Friends and family confirmed the victim was Gregory Frazier, age 56, who lived at the Pompano Beach home where the shooting took place. His sister, Deborah, had called 911 because he had been arguing with her daughter. He had a knife in his hand—the small, Swiss Army-style pocket knife that he always carried, she told dispatchers.
When officers arrived, the argument was over, and Frazier was sitting outside in his backyard eating chicken wings and fries. Quartaze Woodard, Frazier’s nephew, who was at the scene, says three deputies showed up and told Frazier to get down on the ground. Frazier responded, “Leave me alone.” The deputies repeated the order. Again, Frazier asked them to leave him alone. After that, Woodard says, the officers shot him. Then, after handcuffing him, and removing the handcuffs once they realized he was non-responsive, they attempted to perform CPR. It was too late.
“I never would have called the cops if I’d known this was going to happen,” Deborah Frazier says. “They just came in and started shooting right away.”
Pastor Miguel Rosa, who lives next door, was holding a meeting with several of his parishioners when he heard what he initially thought were fireworks. At least five shots were fired, he believes.
Frazier was black. The deputies who responded to the call were white. And friends and family say this is why Pompano Beach in particular, and Broward County in general, needs officers who better reflect the populations they serve.
“It’s too much,” says Sarahca Peterson, a friend of the Frazier family and a community activist. “There has to be change. They need to face criminal charges. If I kill someone, I’m going to jail. They shouldn’t be out there on the streets.”
Florida man shoots, kills brother over cheeseburger
ST. CLOUD, Fla. – An Osceola County man is facing first-degree murder charges after police say he shot and killed his brother during an argument over a cheeseburger.
St. Cloud Police received a call just after 10 p.m. about a shooting at a home in the 600 block of 6th Street, according to Central Florida News 13.
According to investigators, Benjamin Middendorf, 25, shot his brother, Nicholas Middendorf, 28, in the chest with a 9mm handgun during an argument.
Nicholas Middendorf died at the home.
“This is an impulsive incident that happened. Maybe anger, rage. But it was definitely over a verbal dispute that sadly, it was over a cheeseburger,” St. Cloud Police Department spokesperson Denise Roberts said. “It’s something that could have possibly been prevented, if he had held back those emotions.”
An arrest affidavit says their mother and the shooting victim, Nicholas, had been drinking with friends. Benjamin told detectives he does not drink.
Benjamin Middendorf was arrested on charges of premeditated first-degree murder. He was taken to the Osceola County Jail and is being held on no bond.
via: http://fox2now.com/2016/05/06/florida-man-shoots-kills-brother-over-cheeseburger-police/