Florida Criminal Attorneys Blog

Police responded to the scene of a reported home invasion. Residents contacted the officers and claimed that three to five pounds of pot had been stolen from a home located at 11480 Manassas Avenue in Hernando County. Police uncovered an additional 59 pot plants, irrigation equipment, ventilation equipment and additional contraband used for cultivating marijuana.

Five people were arrested in connection with the marijuana grow house. Three out of the five suspects admitted to knowing about the marijuana. At least one individual claimed she did not know the origin of the plants. The defendants, 40-year old Wilson Rodriguez, 25-year old Edilberto Serrano, 35-year old Javier Verde, 34-year old Jarol Herrera and 25-year old Batista Yunet, have all been charged with felony marijuana cultivation. The defendants have not posted the $5,000 bail and are currently awaiting trial inside the Hernando County Jail.

Two Cape Coral suspects, 20-year old Nicholas Stone and 19-year old Jami Wheeler, have been taken into custody on felony drug charges. Stone faces four counts of selling cocaine, including selling cocaine within 1000 feet of a church and another for selling within 1000 feet of a school. Both suspects face felony charges of trafficking cocaine, possession of Roxicodone and possession of Xanax.

The arrests came after a month long undercover sting operation. Stone allegedly sold drugs to undercover officers on four occasions. The authorities later obtained a search warrant for the pair's residence and found thirty pills and 36 grams of cocaine. The Cape Coral Police also recovered a digital scale and baggies used to measure and separate the drugs for distribution. Both suspects were taken into custody at the Lee County Jail.

Officers attempted to pull over a driver with an expired tag off of Cleveland Avenue in Ft. Myers. The driver pulled into the parking lot of a Steak and Shake restaurant and exited his vehicle. The suspect, 26-year old Ricardo Blanc, then made his way towards the entrance of the restaurant.

Officers ordered Blanc to stop, but he refused and entered the establishment. The deputies followed the suspect into the woman's restroom where they deployed their tasers against Blanc's back. Blanc fell to the ground and spit out a leafy green material from his mouth. The authorities later identified the green material as marijuana.

Oscar winning director Roman Polanski has been arrested in Switzerland after over 30 years on the run. In 1978, accusations arose of Polanski raping a child. He later entered a plea of guilty to sexual intercourse with a 13-year old girl. The State threatened the famous director to more prison time than originally agreed to in the plea bargain. Polanski fled the country prior to the sentencing hearing and has been on the run ever since.

The now 76-year old director relocated to France where there is no extradition treaty with the United States. Before the international terror crisis, European laws were very relaxed as far as detaining foreign fugitives. Polanski had no trouble publicly traveling around Europe up until this past weekend.

Information has not been released on what steps were taken to apprehend Polanski. However, Swiss authorities did arrest him inside the airport while he was on his way to accept an achievement award. Polanski directed the films Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby. He also was married to former actress Sharon Tate, who was infamously murdered by followers of Charles Manson.

A second individual has been charged in a fraud crime against an elderly man. The defendant and Stuart resident, 27-year old Apryle Marie Shepard, allegedly worked as an accomplice with her boyfriend to steal money from an 89-year old gentleman. In July, Shepard claimed she needed money to bond her boyfriend out of jail and then to have her car towed. The 89-year old victim, who also suffers from memory loss, handed over to the suspect $560.

Officers also arrested Shepard's boyfriend on similar charges. He told the authorities of Shepard's involvement and now she faces criminal charges. She is charged with two counts of larceny over $300 and fraud crimes against a senior citizen.

In addition to these theft charges, Shepard faces unrelated drug crimes. She is accused of four counts of manufacturing opium, four counts of possession of narcotics equipment and felony grand theft. Shepard has not yet posted $62,000 bond and is currently awaiting trial inside the St. Lucie County Jail.

Disney World Resort is in the headlines again for criminal activity against a minor. A man allegedly committed a sexual battery against a twelve year old girl at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground. Orange County Police state that the defendant met the girl at the resort's pool. The victim told authorities that a short time after meeting the defendant had his hands on her hips and they kissed out of sight of witnesses. The victim and the suspect then kissed throughout the day.

The defendant, 29 year old Jean Garcia, later met the twelve year old victim at the resort's marshmallow roast party. The two sat next to each other until the victim's mother arrived. While the victim's family packed to leave the resort, she met Garcia inside a laundry room. Garcia participated in oral sexual activity with the victim and attempted to have sex her.

Two weeks later the victim told her parents that she feared she may be pregnant and came clean about the ordeal. The victim's family contacted the Orange County Police Department and they set up a sting operation. An officer of the force contacted the defendant and pretended to be the victim. Garcia admitted to wanting to meet with the victim and organized a plan to have sex. Officers stopped the defendant on his way into the Disney resort.

A Lake Correctional Institution employee has been arrested for allegedly sneaking contraband to imprisoned inmates. An inmate caught with an illegal cell phone tattled that the defendant, 39 year old Julia Bedenbaugh regularly supplied prisoners with drugs and cell phones. Bedenbaugh is accused of having the contraband delivered to her personal post office box.

Clermont officials worked with the U.S. Postal Service to obtain surveillance video of the defendant obtaining her mail. She retrieved two packages from the post office box. The authorities obtained a search warrant and found one box contained a cell phone and the other possessed two plastic cigars containing crack cocaine.

Officers arrested Bedenbaugh and charged her with possession of crack cocaine with the intent to distribute. The defendant posted $20,000 bond and is currently awaiting trial out of jail. The Department of Corrections has terminated Bedenbaugh for her alleged actions.

Ft. Myers Police arrest three men in connection with drug and weapons charges. The police obtained warrants to search the apartment homes of the defendants, 23-year old Byron Harris, 19-year old Michael Donaldson and 18-year old Marquis Reid. The men attempted to flee the scene upon the arrival of the deputies and were apprehended.

The search recovered cocaine, marijuana and five guns. Three of the five guns were loaded. The men now face charges of felony drug possession, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, failing to have an active permit for carrying a concealed weapon, resisting arrest without violence and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Offenders lose many of their civil liberties after being convicted of a serious crime. Florida is one of the few remaining states that do not allow formerly convicted felons to vote or carry firearms. These rights originally granted to all Americans by the U.S. Constitution are revoked in Florida after a conviction. Governor Charlie Crist has made an effort to restore some of the civil rights back to the offenders who have served their sentence and paid their debt to society. He feels it is democratically appropriate to allow former criminals a second chance to move forward with their lives.

A Largo man faces criminal charges after leaving two toddlers alone in the car while he visited a strip club. Police arrested the defendant, 33-year old Kenneth J. Summers, on two felony charges of child neglect. The incident occurred at 11:00 p.m. this week at the Oz Gentleman Club on U.S. 19.

Police were contacted after witnesses reported the 3-year old and 4-year old children alone in the car for 20 to 40 minutes. The relationship between the children and the defendant has not been released. Summers as not posted the $10,000 bond and remains in the Pinellas County Jail.

Florida Statute 827.03 defines the crime of child neglect as the failure to provide a child with care and supervision in a good faith effort to maintain their physical and mental health. If an injury to the child resulted from the negligence, the State of Florida considers this crime a second degree felony and punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Otherwise, if no injury occurred towards the child due to the negligent adult, the offender faces a third degree felony. A third degree felony is punishable by up to 5 years in Florida State prison. 

Police arrested a Zephyrhills man after punching a senior citizen in the face. The defendant, 59-year old Dale Helmuth, struck the victim inside the Community Chapel Church of God. The Zephyrhills police have not reported any possible motive for the attack. The pastor of the church did acknowledge that the victim is a church worker.

The police located the suspect inside the Zephyrhills library and arrested him on charges of battery on a person aged 65 or older. Helmuth has allegedly confessed to Police that he did knock the glasses off of the victim's face. The defendant has not made the $5,000 bond and currently remains incarcerated inside the Land O'Lakes jail.