It's bad enough to have to work when you're 82 years old. It's worse when you have to work as a greeter at a place like BJ's Wholesale. And it's phenomenally shitty that the job also placed 82-year-old George Sobol in the unenviable position of trying to stop a computer thief. The incident below happened just after 5 p.m., October 30 at the store on Hillsboro Boulevard in Parkland. From the BSO release:
Surveillance cameras were rolling as the suspect is seen casually walking into the store and past the greeter at 5:12 p.m. as he heads straight toward the computer merchandise. A couple of minutes later, the suspect approaches Sobol to ask for his assistance with the computers. He tries to get Sobol to leave his post at the entrance of the store, but Sobol refuses.
Tyrone Pinkney, a 23-year-old who was released from prison in September, looks like he'll be heading back. He's been arrested by police and charged in the November 9 shooting of Demetrus Sutton on Seacrest Boulevard.
According to the probable-cause affidavit, Sutton, 32, had been in an argument with two women -- Tomika Roberts and a woman named Keisha, who summoned Pinkney. He allegedly brought a silver handgun to the scene, causing Sutton to turn to leave. That's when Pinkney is said to have pulled the trigger. Sutton was taken to the Delray Medical Trauma Unit. He survived.
Pinkney, who was identified in a lineup by two witnesses, had previously served a year in prison for willfully fleeing and eluding.
Daniel Arnodo, a 26-year-old from Coral Springs, was one of the two people killed Sunday morning in a fire that erupted in his home in the Shaker Village subdivision just north of Commercial Boulevard.
The other fatality is a woman, but Broward Sheriff's Office investigators aren't going to name her until they've made a positive identification.
A third victim, 27-year-old Nicholas Figueroa, also from Tamarac, was hospitalized with smoke inhalation. The group had gathered to watch the Saturday-night boxing match between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto.
Roldry Philia, a 34-year-old Delray Beach Police officer, was arrested late last night on charges of beating his wife. The probable cause affidavit released by the Boynton Beach Police Department does not mention the name of Philia's wife, just that she's 24 years old. She told police that she'd been fighting with Philia all day, that he'd taken her cell phone, locked her out of the house in the garage and slammed a door on her arm.
In the affidavit Philia's wife claims that as the fight escalated, Philia placed her in a headlock, then put a gun to her head, saying that "she was not leaving with 'his' daughter. A 6-year-old son and the 11-month old daughter witnessed the altercation, according to the report.
A parked car, a shooting in the early morning hours: The death of Michael Frank, a 22-year-old from Lighthouse Point, sounded like it was drug-related, and that's what Broward Sheriff's Office detectives are reporting, now that they've arrested Filipe Cruz, the man they believe killed Frank around 2 a.m. Thursday. From the BSO release:
The victim, Michael Frank, had gone to the area to purchase cocaine from Cruz. After Frank's friend got the drugs, the friend punched Cruz in the face and attempted to flee the area. As he tried to get away Cruz approached the car and shot Frank, who was sitting in the front passenger seat.
A 22-year-old man was murdered early this morning in Pompano Beach. Broward Sheriff's Office detectives say that Michael Frank, a Lighthouse Point resident, was sitting in the passenger seat of his friend's car around 2 a.m. when someone walked up and fired at him. It occurred in the 200 block of Northeast 14th Avenue.
This is footage from Saturday's fight between South Florida's own Glen Johnson (in gold) and "Bad" Chad Dawson. For most of the fight, Dawson, age 27 and undefeated, floated around Johnson, who will turn 41 in January. Johnson never made strong contact with Dawson and in the end looked worn down. Yesterday we put up a post wondering if this loss was going to be the last time we saw the "Road Warrior" in action.
Apparently Johnson was having similar thoughts. I spoke to him last night about the fight, his immediate thoughts after the loss (the 13th of his career), and his plans for the future.
For some old-timers in Riviera Beach, the start of any date out with your woman begins with sea turtle eggs. You poach them, sprinkle salt on their papery skin, and then eat the aphrodisiacs in one bite. Back when I first wrote about that nasty habit back in 2002, cops told me Bruce Bivins was the man to see when you wanted eggs. And Bivins is finally going to prison for it.
Bivins history with sea turtle eggs goes back to at least 1997, when cops caught him and anther guy on the beach with a bag of 610 sea turtle eggs. Bivins got off with just probation.
But on May 8, Palm Beach Police pulled over someone just after midnight who said he had just dropped someone
Shortly after Marc Goldstone began his new job as general counsel of Broward Health in November of last year, he found that the public hospital district -- which is among the nation's largest -- had been violating a range of federal laws and court orders, some of which jeopardized the safety of patients.
He also found that at least two of the seven commissioners who hired him had committed grievous ethical lapses that warranted change. In a suit he filed yesterday afternoon in Fort Lauderdale's U.S. District Court, Goldstone claims that he was fired in mid-May before he could make these reforms and that the decision by commissioners was based on their desire to protect a corrupt status quo.
A spokesman for Gibraltar Private Bank and Trust, Peter Whalen, just released the following statement about its association with suspected Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein.
The law firm of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler maintained traditional banking accounts with Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust for law firm operations, including payroll. Gibraltar Private immediately reached out to the court-appointed receiver for the law firm, Herbert Stettin, regarding disposition of the balances of the accounts. Gibraltar Private has not been contacted by any governmental agencies or authorities; however the bank will provide full cooperation.
The Fort Lauderdale Police Department has provided new information on the shooting by its officer yesterday afternoon near the bus station downtown. The man shot has been identified as 20-year-old Jonas Joseph. From the release:
Sergeant Dean Schoen, a 12-year-veteren, received information from a citizen that the suspect, Jonas Joseph was armed with a knife. Sergeant Schoen located and approached the suspect at which time Joseph brandished a knife. According to multiple witness accounts, Sergeant Schoen repeatedly demanded Joseph to drop the knife. Joseph did not comply and instead advanced towards the sergeant. Sergeant Schoen, in fear for his life, fired rounds at the suspect and struck him. Joseph ran away and collapsed in front of the bus terminal. He was rushed to Broward General Medical Center and does not appear to have life-threatening injuries. He will be charged with Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon on a Law Enforcement Officer.
During the incident, a bystander, Luis Redina, 1/1/56, was inadvertently struck. He has been treated and released.
Details remain vague, but Fort Lauderdale Police are investigated a shooting that occurred near the Broward County bus terminal downtown involving an off-duty officer. From the release:
Preliminary investigation has revealed that a Police Sergeant was working an off-duty detail at the Broward County Main Bus Terminal. The Sergeant was advised that there was an armed male at 300 Northwest 1 Avenue. The Sergeant advised via radio that he needed an emergency back-up to his location. A few moments later the Sergeant advised via police radio that shots had been fired and he requested EMS. The suspect, who was shot, ran away on foot southbound towards the main bus terminal. The suspect was apprehended at the bus terminal and was transported to Broward General Medical Center. The suspect is currently in surgery.
A second person was struck at 300 Northwest 1 Avenue. Detectives are currently working with witnesses to determine exactly how that person was shot.
The Fort Lauderdale Police Department will have a press conference in one hour to give information on a shooting that involves a cop. That's all the information that's available at the moment. We'll update when there's more.
Ever since lawyer Scott Rothstein went missing last week, only to return to the country amid allegations of running a $400 million Ponzi scheme, some observers have wondered how this news might affect one of the story's subplots: the March 2008 murder of Melissa Britt Lewis, a young attorney who worked in Rothstein's firm.
In this article by Bob Norman, Rothstein told Norman that Debra Villegas, another employee, handled all of his accounting. Villegas's husband, Tony Villegas, was eventually charged with the murder of Lewis. The motive was supposedly revenge for Lewis's closeness with Debra. As the murder story unfolded last year, Bob Norman described the case as "mind-boggling" and reported how Debra Villegas had given seemingly conflicting statements to separate media outlets.
For four months, the Boynton Beach Police Department has been investigating the Platinum Showgirls strip club on North Federal Highway, and tonight they swooped in. According to a just-issued department release, some 50 police officers have swarmed the club in what spokeswoman Stephanie Slater is calling "an extremely active scene."
When asked about the the coalition's allegations, Maxwell said, "Is there a way to answer this question? It's like the old 'When did you stop beating your wife?' routine? Referring to his alleged association with Stormfront, he said, "I would never knowingly associate with that type of organization. I'm saddened and disappointed that the issues important to the neighborhood are being swept away because those folks choose to talk about something that I have never for a moment brought up in this campaign."
Kudos to the witnesses who stepped forward in the murder case of Junior Cesar. The Boynton Beach Police Department acted on witness tips to arrest Suprinet Augustin, 22. He allegedly confronted Cesar during a basketball game at Pence Park, pistol-whipped him, then shot Cesar three times. Another 22-year-old, Jakenson St. Hilaire, allegedly drove Augustin from the scene in a 1996 Ford Mustang. He's been charged with accessory to murder.
According to the arrest affidavit, St. Hilaire gave a statement to police corroborating witness statements, adding that Augustin phoned Cesar before the shooting and arranged the meeting in the park.
The knife fight that broke out during Holocaust-denier David Irving's speech at the Ritz-Carlton on Manalapan this week appears to be the latest twist in an ongoing spat between two white supremacist factions, according to a watchdog that monitors hate groups nationwide.
"This is just the latest manifestation of a war that has been developing between the Confederate Hammerskins and Volksfront," says Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report. "This is something that's happening in Florida, and this is really the event that has sprung it into public view."
So 30-year-old Junior Cesar had several friends with whom he played basketball but none of them recognized the person who walked up to Cesar, then shot him dead? Really? Here's the latest from the Boynton Beach Police Department:
The victim has been identified as Junior Cesar, 30, of Boynton Beach. Witnesses told detectives that
Cesar was with 6-7 males playing basketball around 7:30 p.m. when numerous shots were fired. Cesar
was shot multiple times and died on the basketball court.
Police know that there were a lot of other people in the area at the time of the shooting and are urging
them to come forward with information.
WPTV reports today that the bus stop across the street from convicted sex offender Alexander Scholling's residence will be moved, thanks to a decision by the Palm Beach County School District yesterday.
Alexander Scholling, the Tequesta man who was arrested in 2005 when he took a computer filled with kiddie porn to a local computer repair store, was released from prison -- only to move into a house directly across the street from a bus stop in Jupiter transporting students to Bak Middle School.
Serial bank robbery was one of South Florida's favorite new sports this summer, and the game turned out to be surprisingly polite and thankfully bloodless.
Police announced today that they've taken one pair of our local Bonnie & Clydes off the street. An unusually calm man, who has now confessed to robbing a dozen banks in Palm Beach County to fuel his Oxycodone habit, is being held at the Palm Beach County Jail. And so is the woman who's acted as his getaway driver.
Glenn Hooper and his girlfriend Kimberly Smith, both in their early 50s, were spotted by a teller this morning who thought she'd been previously robbed by Hooper at the Sterling Bank on Hypoluxo Road in Lantana. Hooper evidently changed his mind, and the pair had made a U-turn to leave the bank's parking lot as bank officials phoned police.
Hooper and Smith, both of Hollywood, were pulled over and apprehended shortly on I-95. We'll update with new info as we get it.
That's last night's CBS 12 report, which tells of two people stabbed at the Ritz-Carlton in Manalapan, where it's believed neo-Nazi author David Irving was giving a speech.
Juice was the first to report that Irving was scheduled to appear in the area, though prospective demonstrators had yet to learn his precise location. That post quoted a protester named Nick, who declined to give his last name and who sent an email to us last night, about an hour before the stabbings occurred.
Defective drywall from China is full of bacteria and fungus and, in at least one case, fecal matter.
That's according to Spiderman S. Mulholland, an expert in building inspections. Mulholland says the drywall is so corroded with bacteria that it's likely causing health issues for those who live in homes built with the defective wall board.
Mulholland announced his findings Sunday at a conference in Orlando for owners of homes with Chinese drywall. He told the hundred or so homeowners that he and his team spent 20,000 hours and about $500,000 testing Chinese drywall.
The defective drywall is in perhaps as many as 100,000 houses nationwide, and
New numbers released today by a journalism industry auditor show that the Sun-Sentinel has won a rare victory in the South Florida media wars: Over the past year, its Sunday circulation surpassed the Miami Herald's.
Preliminary numbers compiled by the Audit Bureau of Circulations show that by the end of September, the Sentinel's Sunday circulation was 239,230, compared to 238,613 for the Herald. Last year at this time, the Herald's Sunday
Sinclair photographing himself; saving time for investigators.
Losing your cell phone is not a crime. If it was, we'd all be locked up! But if you lose your cell phone at a crime scene -- say, a strong-arm robbery -- well, then you might have some trouble. Right, Scano?
Scano Conrade Sinclair is a 28-year-old man from Miramar who Broward Sheriff's Office investigators say tried to rob a Palm Beach County man, failing and losing his cell phone in the process. This is the point where Sinclair probably should have stopped his campaign.
Instead, investigators say Scano and a buddy then sneaked into the bedroom of that man's girlfriend, Lindsey.
This article on a breaking news website claimed that Spirit Airlines Flight 837 originating in Fort Lauderdale crashed near San Juan, Puerto Rico, and that it was the source of an explosion that firefighters are still putting out.
I just got off the phone with Greg Meyer, a spokesman for Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, and he told me, "I have no knowledge of any Spirit Airlines incident." My call was the first he had heard of it.
"I would have been notified if there had been a missing flight," said Meyer.
There actually was an explosion near San Juan, but a more credible news organization says it came from an oil storage facility.
Kids: Do not talk to cars, especially when you're gobbling psychedelics.
Hot off the wire from the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office:
There have been several suspicious incidents in the area of Osceola Creek Middle School, Loxahatchee in the last week or so. We have two vehicles that have tried to stop and talk to middle school children.
Talking cars, eh? Are we sure the kids at Osceola Middle School haven't discovered a taste for mushrooms?
Apparently, this Girl Scout couldn't afford clothes, either, so she improvised!.
The Boynton Beach Police Department has arrested Magaret Ann Willett, a volunteer for the Girl Scouts of America, on suspicion of credit card fraud after a victim picked out Willett from a surveillance video.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Willett is suspected of having gone on a shopping spree with a credit card that belonged to Mary Ann Paris of Boynton Beach. The card was used at Ross Dress for Less, WalMart, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Target. (A real "frugalista," isn't she?) She scooped up some pet supplies at Pet Supermarket. And then she apparently needed groceries, so she made stops at Publix and WalMart. In all, she spent about $700.
The affidavit says that after confronting Willett, she admitted that she had found Paris' credit card at the office for Girl Scouts of America where they both worked. She blamed the theft on financial trouble.
Contributors: Eric Barton, Michelle Centrone, Deirdra Funcheon, Keith Hollar, John Linn, Michael J. Mooney, Bob Norman, Lisa Rab, Nicole Rodriguez, Gail Shepherd.
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