Free Republic

DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, Fla. -- A huge turtle and a man trying to be a hero caused a multi-car crash in Florida on Tuesday, according to Walton County Sheriff's Office. It happened around 6:45 in the morning on Highway 331 in the Florida Panhandle. Dash camera from an 18-wheeler caught the whole thing on video. The 18-wheeler is driving down the divided four-lane highway when it quickly comes up on several stopped and slowing cars. The 18-wheeler cannot stop in time. It veers off the side of the road and then back onto the road where it collides with several of...

A North Carolina tourist town plagued by rising crime is resorting to hiring off-duty county sheriff's deputies at an overtime hourly rate to help city police patrol the downtown district. A team of six deputies with the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office in western North Carolina are being paid $75 per hour to help their counterparts in the staff-strapped Asheville Police Department (APD) on Fridays and Saturdays from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., according to a document reported by local outlet Asheville Watchdog.

ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. (WKRG) — A Pensacola man is behind bars Tuesday after being caught with meth and other drug paraphernalia inside a M&M minis container in a Winn Dixie parking lot, according to an arrest report from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office. Edward Busbee was booked into the Escambia County Jail at around 2:27 a.m. on Tuesday, April 25 on no bond. Busbee is charged with possession of a controlled substance without a prescription, possession of drug paraphernalia and failure to appear. According to the arrest report, a deputy saw a green Ford Ranger parked next to a dumpster...

A Florida man who said he was a registered nurse threatened Orange County sheriff’s deputies after he was arrested following a drunken scene at Disney Springs. Edward Stephenson, 30, of Brandon, pleaded not guilty in March to trespass, according to Orange Circuit Court records. “It took three deputies to place his arms behind his back and secure him,” Orange County Sheriff’s arrest report said. “Once secured, he continued to tell deputies he was going to sue deputies. Mr. Stephenson also advised he was a Registered Nurse and told deputies we better hope he is never our nurse in an Emergency...

A 28-year-old intoxicated Florida man on a bicycle was arrested Wednesday after he failed to exit U.S. 1 or stop for deputies. Clayton Guy Peavey of Marathon was charged with DUI and fleeing and eluding, according to Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. According to deputies, Peavey was impeding traffic while on a bicycle on U.S. 1 near 15th Street at approximately 9 a.m. Deputies attempted to stop Peavey with their lights and sirens activated. Peavey did not stop and began to peddle faster. He finally stopped at 29th Street after tiring and was booked into the Monroe County Jail on a...

MARION COUNTY, Fla. — A Florida man is facing domestic violence charges after allegedly slapping a woman in the face with a slice of pizza. Marion County deputies responded to a home after receiving a 911 hang-up call and possible domestic disturbance, as per Click Orlando. When they arrived, they met with 39-year-old Ortelio Lazaro Alfonso outside the home. According to a probable cause affidavit, Alfonso said he got into a verbal argument with a woman. When deputies spoke to the woman, she told them Alfonso slapped her on the left side of her face with a slice of pizza...

(March 17, 2023)- On March 16, 2023, at approximately 9:11 p.m., officers from the Cape Coral Police Department responded to a call for service at 2100-Block of SW 45th Terrace, Cape Coral, Lee County, Florida, in reference to a boating hit and run. The call notes stated that a male, later identified as Kurt James Snowden (W/M 8-25-1971, 2517 SW 52nd Street), was highly intoxicated and was operating a boat inside the canals, causing a scene. Mr. Snowden played music loudly, screamed, disturbed the peace, and struck several docks in the area with his boat. Contact was made with witnesses...

GOLDEN GATES ESTATES, Fla. — A Naples man attempted to take off with a hefty payload after stealing a heavy equipment truck in Golden Gates Estates. According to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO), a Caterpillar front loader was stolen from a property on the 5800 block of Everglades Boulevard North on Sunday. At around 7 a.m. on Sunday, deputies spotted Lazaro Urquiaga Perez driving a truck pulling the front loader on a flatbed trailer. Urquiaga Perez was arrested after deputies matched the front loader with the one stolen earlier in the day. The company from which the front loader...

DUNDEE, Fla. (WFLA) – A 24-year-old man has been arrested after he was allegedly seen “peeping through the windows” at a motel, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. On Tuesday, a PCSO deputy was dispatched to the Economy Motor Lodge in Dundee around 5:49 p.m. after a “suspicious person” was reported at the motel. According to officials, a motel employee reported seeing a man walking around the hotel “peeping into room windows.” After arriving at the scene, the PCSO deputy was able to identify the suspicious person as 24-year-old Donte Clinton. When Clinton spoke with the deputy, he confirmed...

A Florida man is under arrest after police say he stole from a gas station and left his debit card with his name on it at the scene of the crime. Deputies with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office responded to an alarm at a gas station early Sunday morning in Palm Coast, Florida, and found the front door of the business unlocked, Fox 35 Orlando reported. After searching the gas station, deputies found a debit card with the name Lantz Kurtz sitting on the counter near a register. Security camera footage showed a man entering the store from the back...

OCALA, Fla. (WCJB) - Marion County deputies arrested 53-year-old Chuck Legette this Wednesday on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and battery. Deputies say Legette threatened to hurt another man with a chainsaw before battering him. Deputies responded to a home on Southwest 16th Avenue, where they found Legette intoxicated and uncooperative. Legette has been arrested in Ocala on five separate occasions since 2020. His bond is currently posted at $17,500.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office arrested a 38-year-old Ocala man after he was accused of carrying a machete inside a local store and threatening several employees and customers. On Sunday, an MCSO deputy responded to the Family Dollar located at 6060 SW Highway 200 in Ocala in reference to a suspicious incident. A store employee had contacted the sheriff’s office to advise that a man, later identified as Carl Jay Woodruff, had walked into the store with a black machete in his hand, according to the MCSO report. Upon arrival at the store, the deputy made contact with Woodruff and...

A Florida man has been arrested for allegedly harassing a gay couple who live next to him, even going so far as to menace their children, authorities say. Frank Norviel, 57, of Leesburg, Florida, is accused of harassing his neighbors and their children as part of a months-long campaign, shining lights on them and shouting anti-gay slurs at them while he stood along the fence dividing their properties or passed by on a bicycle, according to deputies with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office. Other instances of Norviel’s harassment included an incident in September in which he allegedly screamed “It’s not...

WEKIWA SPRINGS, Fla. – A man living in Wekiwa Springs was arrested Thursday, accused of arming himself with a handgun and shooting it during a dispute with a landscaper working near his address that morning, according to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office. Jeffrey Perlman, 68, and the landscaper were on opposite sides of a brick wall between Terra Oaks and Kapok courts when the dispute began, with the landscaper on the Kapok Court side, deputies said. Perlman allegedly drove his vehicle to the Kapok Court side, where he confronted the landscaper and stated he would call the police. To this,...

Why can’t a Florida Man find a Pay n’ Spray when he needs one? Reinier Lazaro Perez and Dayanly Cutino Gonzalez were spotted behind the Days Inn in Palm Coast Florida. They were spray painting a Peterbilt semi-tractor in the back corner of the parking lot. The hotel is located just off I95, we’ll get back to that. Someone (who obviously can’t mind they own business) thought that someone spray painting a semi truck in the parking lot of a hotel was suspicious. So they called the cops. When Flagler County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived the two dropped the cans...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (WCJB/Gray News) - Authorities in Florida say a woman has been arrested after she threatened to injure a man at a bus stop. According to the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, 31-year-old Gabriela Mcleskey was taken into custody on Tuesday after she threatened to cut off a man’s penis and barricaded herself inside a residence. WCJB reports that deputies received a call regarding a woman at a bus stop holding a knife who was threatening to cut off a man’s genitalia before driving away. Deputies located the woman’s vehicle at a nearby Circle K and tried to perform a...

It looks like Steven Johnson, 29, from DeBary, Florida, has a bit of a voyeuristic hobby. According to Fox News, on Thursday night, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office caught him red-handed. He peeking into a woman’s window. The security video shows him snooping around when the deputies spotted him. Luckily the officers were doing extra patrols in the neighborhood at the time. The suspect tried to flee and lead them on a foot chase. But thanks to a trusty drone, they found him hiding in a nearby swampy area. Officials revealed that Johnson lives in the neighborhood. The man also...

A Florida man angry with his homeowners association set his unit on fire, causing an explosion that damaged other units and shot himself afterwards, authorities said. Marc Hermann, 53, was arrested Monday and is being held in the Seminole County jail on four arson charges. The fire broke out on Jan. 14 in a small apartment community in the Orlando suburb of Longwood, according to a police affidavit. A responding deputy found Hermann sitting on the ground draped in towels and bleeding, the documents said. When asked about his injuries, Hermann allegedly told authorities they were caused by a gun....

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Two men in a pickup truck with “stolen tag” written on a piece of cardboard to serve as a license plate were arrested in connection with multiple burglaries in Brevard County, according to sheriff’s officials. Anthony Sosa, 31, and Chad Doulette, 36, were taken into custody Thursday and face multiple charges of grand theft and burglary. According to a probable cause affidavit, the pickup was spotted Wednesday at several houses on Tropical Trail on Merritt Island, where the burglaries occurred. The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office said jewelry worth thousands of dollars and a handgun were stolen...

ORANGE CITY, Fla. — An Orange City man is accused of locking three tenants inside the garage apartment they live in and threatening to shoot them if they came out. Sixty-six-year-old Lawrence Cohen is charged with three counts of false imprisonment and in addition to that, resisting arrest. Deputies say they had to use a taser on Cohen after breaking down the door to get in. A judge found probable cause and set bond at $16,000. Deputies say Cohen got into a confrontation with three tenants who were living in Cohen's garage apartment attached to his main home on Sparkman...