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The ruling stipulates flowers, bowling, and Red Lobster.Just in time for Valentine's Day, a Florida judge ruled on Tuesday that a man involved in a scuffle with his wife treat her to an evening at a local bowling alley and a romantic meal at Red Lobster. Judge John Hurley ordered that Joseph Bray, 47 and his wife Sonja, 39, also visit a marriage counselor. Hurley handed down this ruling instead of setting bond or slapping Bray with a prison sentence after he deemed domestic violence charges leveled by Bray's wife to be "very, very minor." According to Bray's arrest affidavit,...

A 48-year-old Florida businessman has legally adopted his 42-year-old girlfriend as his daughter in what one attorney is calling an attempt to shield assets in a wrongful death civil suit that has entered a "legal twilight zone," according to a judge. John Goodman, who founded the International Polo Club Beach in Wellington, legally adopted Heather Hutchins on Oct. 13 in Miami-Dade County, according to a court order by Circuit Court Judge Glenn Kelley. "The events which serve as the grounds for the relief sought by the Plaintiffs border on the surreal and take the Court into a legal twilight zone,"...

Students at a high school in Boca Raton, Florida, must step over rivers of urine and endure the stench of rancid waste after a plan to bring 'green' waterless urinals into bathrooms backfired. School officials at Spanish River High School thought they had found an environmentally-friendly, cost-saving solution for their bathrooms when they installed Falcon Waterfree urinals in their boys bathrooms.

With the field of Republican candidates down to four, GOP voters trickled to the polls on the first day of early voting in South Florida with plenty of opinions about their choice to challenge President Barack Obama in November. Many said they were deciding between former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in what has been a rollercoaster race. Romney is ahead in Florida, with more than 40 percent of GOP supporters, followed by Gingrich with 22 percent, Sen. Rick Santorum with 15 percent and Texas Rep. Ron Paul with 9 percent, according to an average...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Authorities say a 25-year-old described as an Islamic extremist was arrested in a plot to attack sites around Tampa, Fla., after taking possession of disabled guns and bombs The U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrest of Sami Osmakac on Monday. Authorities say Osmakac is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in the former Yugoslavia. He has been charged with one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. His first appearance in federal court is scheduled for Monday afternoon.

Pinellas County Sheriff's detectives have caught the man responsible for two recent bank robberies in Seminole and Largo. Investigators say they were able to identify 49-year-old Raymond Shaeffer as the robber from fingerprints found on a demand note used in the Seminole bank robbery. After fleeing the Cornerstone Bank in Seminole on Jan. 4, Shaeffer dumped the orange jacket and baseball cap he wore in the dumpster behind the Treasure Island Fun Center near the bank. Detectives were able to lift the fingerprints from the demand note found in one of the pockets of the jacket. Detectives found Shaeffer at...

A Brevard County family and the NAACP call it injustice. A 16-year-old Palm Bay High football player faces attempted second-degree murder charges of a law enforcement officer. It all stems from a high speed chase. Even though Darrick Washington and his family admit wrongdoing, they said the charge does not fit the crime. Washington, an unlicensed teen, led police on a chase in Indian River County on Oct. 24, 2010. Deputies said Washington topped 100 miles an hour while his car was full of Brevard County teens. He admits running from police and driving without a license were wrong, but...

Man in 'Star Wars' mask attacked trooper: FHP.Darth Vader may be able to handle most lightsaber-wielding Jedis, but he's met his match when it comes to Florida Highway Patrol troopers with pepper spray. Authorities say a drunk man wearing the "Star Wars" villain mask was arrested Thursday in Orlando after he tried to punch and kick an FHP trooper near a construction site. The trooper responded to the area of Summerlin Avenue and Anderson Street around 2:45 a.m. when he was advised by construction workers of an intoxicated man walking in the roadway in the mask, according to the FHP....

Call University of Florida football players a bunch of classless trash talkers if you want. Call them dirty if you want. But racist? For using the term "cracker"? That seems a stretch.

A 45-year-old woman who said she called 911 because she "ate too much food" was arrested following an encounter at a Traveler's Inn in Fort Pierce, according to a recently released affidavit. A St. Lucie County Sheriff's deputy on Dec. 18 went to the motel in the 3400 block of South U.S. 1 and saw a woman "jumping up and down and yelling in room #108." A man walked out and said the woman was his girlfriend, Mary Ellen Lisee. He said Lisee wouldn't stop talking and that he was leaving so he could sleep in peace. When Lisee, who...

Marine Lt. Col. Karl Trenker has a message for the criminal who shot him. “If he didn’t have a pistol I would’ve whipped his butt,” the Miramar resident said. Trenker’s fiancé advertised a gold necklace on Craigslist, hoping to drum up a little more cash for some Christmas presents. When Trenker went to the arranged meeting place outside an apartment complex in Deerfield Beach, the would-be buyers snatched the chain and took off running. Trenker gave chase. “I did not perceive any danger, and being a Marine and all I’m not one to back down from a fight, so I...

WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — The truth is sometimes stranger than the fiction you see at the movies. Deputies in Florida say a man stole a woman's car while they were on a date at a Tampa area movie theater. The St. Petersburg Times reports that 27-year-old Michael Pratt told the woman he needed to get something from the car while they were watching the movie. She gave him her keys. When he didn't return, she called him. Authorities say Pratt laughed, then told the woman he had stolen her car. Pasco County Sheriff's deputies say he now faces grand theft...

PORT RICHEY — Debra Jackson was tired of a neighbor's dog defecating in her yard, authorities say. So when she saw the dog and his owner Wednesday afternoon, she grabbed her shotgun. "I'm having a bad day," said Jackson, 50, according to a Pasco County Sheriff's Office report. "I'm gonna shoot you and that dog."

An Orlando-area man who confessed to fatally stabbing his live-in girlfriend because of her Voodoo spells was ordered held without bond today. Leonce Charles, 48, made his initial appearance before a judge today after being with second-degree murder this weekend. He was arrested Saturday for allegedly killing Cecile Freus, 46. SNIP Charles told investigators he 'blacked out from anger" and stabbed Freus to death with a knife he found on the floor of their bedroom during a confrontation about alleged infidelities, an arrest report said.

WESLEY CHAPEL — A 78-year-old man was shot in a bizarre accident early Saturday when a dog bumped a rifle and caused it to fire, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Billy E. Brown of Dade City, a friend and a bulldog set out before dawn to hunt deer, which has been a tradition of theirs for more than 25 years. They were traveling down a bumpy, rocky road in a pickup truck to their hunting stands when the dog got excited and bumped a high-powered Browning .308-caliber rifle. The bullet struck in the right thigh as...

The story of the vandal squirrel lives on in the Manatee County School District. Long after the rascally rodent pulled his stunt — setting off a fire alarm that led to the evacuation of an elementary school last year and an investigation into who pulled the false alarm — the squirrel's actions came up at a School Board budget meeting this week. In defense of why the district maintenance department needs a contingency fund, an official pointed out that almost anything can happen at any time in a school district with 44,000 students and 60 schools and other buildings. Such...

Woman who drove into Palm Beach County canal had just finished Black Friday shiftA tired Target worker who was heading home after an early morning Black Friday shift had to be rescued by a deputy after she drove her car into a canal in Pahokee. The unidentified woman somehow lost control of her car and drove into the canal near Much City Road and Connors Highway at 7:46 a.m., Palm Beach County Sheriff’s spokesman Teri Barbera told the Palm Beach Post. Luckily, Deputy Frank Mayo, who was also on his way home after working his shift, responded and jumped into...

Landlord John Miller will miss Thanksgiving at home this year after what may be Central Florida's first case of eviction rage ending in attempted-murder charges. Miller remains held without bail in the Orange County Jail after crushing a mobile home with a large front-end loader while a terrified child cowered inside as a woman tried to save her, according to Sheriff's Office records. "Good, then I got what I wanted," Miller, 51, said after deputies told him the roof had collapsed and the small trailer was uninhabitable. The attack began Tuesday afternoon on West Ponkan Road near Apopka when 911...

A kiss between two 12-year-olds is under investigation by authorities in Fort Myers. Deputies said they were called to Orange River Elementary School after a girl kissed one of her classmates during physical education class last week. The school reported the incident as a possible sex crime, and the Department of Children and Families was called in. Investigators said the girl could be charged with battery if the boy didn't consent to the kiss.

A Fort Myers principal involved Lee County sheriff’s deputies in an elementary school crush. Deputies were dispatched Wednesday to Orange River Elementary School in reference to what Assistant Principal Margaret Ann Haring called a “possible sex crime” — two students kissing. “This incident is more of a simple assault, though by definition there would have to be a victim,” Sgt. Stephanie Eller said. Haring told deputies she had two students, both under 12, who kissed while in physical education class, reports said. Haring said one of them was debating about who liked who more. The student then went over and...

Disturbed by the prospect of lambs and goats being slaughtered in her city, Sunrise Commissioner Sheila Alu single-handedly blocked a Muslim religious ceremony set to take place on Sunday. "Yes, I was trying to stop it," Alu said on Wednesday. "It's shut down. I'm trying to protect innocent animals. This is not an appropriate setting for the slaughtering of animals in an open field in a city that's as populated as Sunrise. Usually these religious ceremonies take place in a rural area."

An illegal slaughterhouse in Hialeah was raided today, according to a report from the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office. The Hialeah Police Department arrested Rudesindo "Rudy" Acosta, the prime operator of the slaughterhouse. He is charged with three counts of animal cruelty, one count of using a firearm during the commission of a felony, 40 counts of animal confinement, and three counts of conspiracy to commit these felonies.

This was no ordinary flat repair. Oneal Ron Morris took a look and went to work. Not on a tire. But on the backside of a Miami Gardens woman who was seeking the derriere of her dreams. Instead, she got a tush full of toxins. Morris, a self-proclaimed doctor, injected a concoction of “fix-a-flat’’ — cement, mineral oil and Super Glue — into the woman’s buttocks, police said. The materials eventually spread through her body and nearly killed her. The woman, whose name is not being released because of medical privacy laws, went to three different hospitals before doctors finally...

A Lauderhill police officer fired 10 shots at another officer, but missed... The officer who was shot at was working an off-duty detail at the time, but police said she was in a marked cruiser and in uniform. The shooter pulled up in his personal car and quickly fired 10 shots at the other police officer, and then took off... sources say that the shooting stems from a domestic situation between the two officers; allegedly, the officer who was targeted had broken up with the shooter on Friday. Police would only confirm that the two worked the same shift and...

One Broward County drug counselor has been fired and another suspended for an incident in which an "N-word" was used. Not necessarily "the N-word," but a word that might have been mistaken for it. The two sanctioned workers told investigators the word was "niggardly." That word, meaning miserly, is of Scandinavian origin and has nothing to do with race, says an attorney for one of the disciplined workers. But the county sided with a substance-abuse client who took offense. He filed a complaint saying a counselor called him "n----- dumb" in a June meeting with two workers at a county...

According to a lawsuit filed in Palm Beach County court, kitchen workers at the Morton's of Chicago steakhouse in Boca Raton stuck raw vegetables in their underwear before serving them to unsuspecting diners, the website www.GossipExtra.com reported. In his harassment action against the restaurant chain, sous-chef Reggie Williams claims he witnessed a colleague at the restaurant at the Shops at Boca Center "place stalks of asparagus inside his underwear, next to his anal/genital area in order to simulate his penis," then "serve that asparagus to Morton's unsuspecting paying customers."

A South Florida woman is facing shoplifting and child neglect charges after police say she tried to rip off a Davie Target store and left her young child behind. Deirdre Reneat Grant, 40, was arrested Tuesday at the store at 5800 University Drive, according to a Broward Sheriff's Office arrest report.

LAKE WORTH, Fla. -- Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office deputies said a man's body discovered in a bathtub had been there since at least May. Sheriff's office spokesman Eric Davis said Wednesday the identification of the man will not be official until the medical examiner's office confirms it. Davis also said deputies found the victim's wife inside the home when they executed a search warrant Monday. Now detectives want to know why she never reported the death.

A trio of cruel Halloween hooligans are behind bars Tuesday after police say they targeted trick-or-treating children with paintball guns in North Miami. Marc Dolcine, 18, Rodson Travine, 19, and Darrel Labranche, 21, are all facing aggravated battery charges, according to North Miami Police. Police say the three drove up in a car and opened fire on a group of children in the area of Northeast 7th Avenue and 132nd Street. A Holiday Safety Enforcement Detail was in the area and witnessed the shooting, police said. The suspects tried to flee the area but were stopped by police and taken...

You know we’ve had a lot of rain when the annual October swamp buggy races have to be postponed because of high water. That’s the decision officials at the Florida Sports Park made early Saturday morning. Friday night’s persistent downpours left the facility’s parking lots off Collier Boulevard under water and the water level in the track itself was deemed too deep for safe competition. While the swamp buggy parade went on as scheduled Saturday morning, all other events were put off until the weekend of Nov. 12-13. “We’ve got some lakefront property out here right now. Want to buy...

<p>LAKE CITY, Fla. (AP) — The battle for pizza supremacy has taken a wrong turn in Florida.</p> <p>Two managers of a Domino's Pizza restaurant in Lake City, in north-central Florida, have been charged with burning down a rival Papa John's location. The motive? Police say one of the men admitted that he believed with his competitor out of the way, more pizza lovers would flock to his restaurant.</p>

"These thieves are grasping for any metal they can get their hands on," said Fort Lauderdale Detective Travis Mandell, adding that manhole covers have also been taken. "At this point they are probably looking for any scrap they can sell and have realized sewer grates are a viable option." He said his department has assigned a detective to investigate scrap yards and try to locate the stolen property. "It really disgusts me that these criminals can live with themselves after they place the safety of the public in jeopardy, all for pennies on the dollar," said Mandell. "There seems to...

In the movie "5 Card Stud," Robert Mitchum hid a handgun in a Bible while playing a murderous preacher. In Fort Pierce, police reported finding a crack pipe in a Bible in a purse belonging to Tonya Sutton. Police encountered Sutton, 42, about 11:30 a.m. Oct. 23 standing at North 9th Street and Avenue E, a recently released arrest affidavit states. She was walking and had an open 16 ounce container of Colt 45 malt liquor, an alcoholic beverage advertised with the slogan, "It works every time." Police took Sutton into custody, and while searching her found a crack cocaine...

A Gainesville woman was taken to jail Monday after being charged with helping to steal an $800 cash register. Inside the cash register was a quarter, police said. Erica Denise Phillips, 28, of 4131 SW 17th Place, was charged with grand theft and burglary in connection with a break-in at the Bagel Bakery, 4113 NW 16th Blvd. An arrest report filed by the Gainesville Police Department shows a sworn complaint was filed against another person implicated in the case, John Victor Harrington, 51. The State Attorney’s Office reviews sworn complaints to determine what charges — if any — should be...

A man is in police custody after another's close call on the way to churchA driver is in custody after his car struck an older man on a bicycle, three cars, a tree, and a church fence in Hialeah. "I was coming this way, and he was coming that way," said bicyclist Edgar Garcia in Spanish, gesturing to the intersection of West 68th Place and West 30th Lane. Garcia said he was heading to Santa Barbara Catholic Church on West 30th Avenue when he saw the driver heading straight for him and was able to avoid serious injury. "I was...

Two terrified divers were left stranded in shark-infested waters when their charter boat disappeared. Paul Kline and Fernando Garcia Puerta had to cling to a buoy for two hours after surfacing from their late-afternoon dive in the Atlantic Ocean three miles from Miami and finding no trace of their boat. 'We were in shock. We could easily have died,' Kline, 44, told the Miami Herald. 'If night had fallen, the situation would have turned into panic.' He said they kept talking to each other throughout their ordeal 'to try to keep up our high spirits'. Mr Kline, a married father...

An 18-year-old Florida girl accused of helping lure a 16-year-old boy into a fatal trap says she's a vampire who has drunk the blood of her boyfriend. Stephanie Pistey confirmed assertions by police in Parker, Fla., that the people involved in the July murder of 16-year-old Jacob Hendershot were in a vampire cult. Pistey, who was arrested last Monday and charged with accessory to murder, said she sees herself as a modern day Dracula. "Since I was like 12 every fiber in my body, basically everything, I know this is going to be crazy, but I believe that I'm a...

Once and for all, people, it's an ice cream cone. The owners of Ice Cream Family Corner and Sandwiches at the busy intersection of South Pine Avenue and Southwest 17th Street say their two-month-old business is getting creamed because passers-by have mistaken their white-hooded ice cream cone mascot for a KKK protester. Co-owner Jose Cantres says rumors are swirling on Facebook about the exact nature of the little vanilla cone, and employees heard through word of mouth that potential customers have steered clear of the shop to avoid the character. Liza Diaz, who manages the store for Cantres and co-owner...

Bradenton, Florida -- When an alleged prostitute put an undercover officer on the spot, he was prepared with a rubber... rubber set of genitals to be exact. Manatee County deputies were conducting a prostitution sting on the night of September 14, when 31-year-old Christina Vavra reportedly got into an undercover deputy's unmarked vehicle. According to Vavra's arrest report, the undercover deputy asked how much it would cost for oral sex, to which she replied, "You get however much you think you need." After stopping to get cash, the undercover deputy put several 20-dollar bills in a cupholder, asking that she...

A Bonita man is accused of breaking into a home to do his laundry. Robert James Luther III, 23, of the 25100 block of Carnoustie Court, was arrested Monday by Lee deputies at the Sheriff's Office, and is facing charges of burglary. The owner of the Bonita Springs home says the property is vacant and ready to rent. He believes Luther may have been friends of the prior tenants. Luther did not, however, have permission to enter the home or use the laundry equipment, reports said. According to the victim, he was sitting in his truck when he saw Luther...

Tim Stroh of Hobe Sound has been hunting alligators with his mom and dad for five years. Over the weekend he reeled in the catch of a lifetime. Stroh and his family and a friend were boating in the St. Lucie County Canal when they saw a huge gator just before a bridge. "I've just never seen a gator that big and so close," said Tim. "When I saw how big it was it even intimidated me," added Tim's dad, Steve. With his bass fishing rod he tossed his line and the 800 pound alligator chomped down. Tim has a...

A woman said to have howled "like a dog" and harassed neighbors was arrested on a disorderly intoxication charge in a situation involving a lawnmower, recently released records show. The case against accused dog howler Merrilee Schwarz, 51, began before 11 p.m. Sept. 14 after complaints that the owners of a home in the 4500 block of Southwest Cacao Street were "riding a lawnmower down the roadway, back and forth," a Port St. Lucie police report states. A neighbor showed police video surveillance of a man riding the lawnmower in circles, but when investigators arrived the mower had been put...

Last Modified: Wednesday, September 14, 2011 at 5:45 p.m. Police said a feud at the Meadowcrest apartment community late Tuesday involved a stun gun, machete, baseball bat and a witness seven-months pregnant who apparently began hyperventilating while the drama played out in front of her and later was rushed to a hospital. When it was over, Henry Earl Byrne, 43, of 3413 NE 183rd Lane, was charged with aggravated battery and aggravated assault and booked into the Alachua County jail by the Gainesville Police Department. Police spokeswoman Cpl. Andelina Valuri said the motive for the incident was an argument between...

A 48-year-old Oak Hill woman was arrested this week on felony charges, accused of dumping a cucumber salad on the head of her boyfriend's father. Alicia Ducharme faces charges of abuse of an elderly person or disabled adult and resisting arrest without violence. According to an arrest affidavit: Volusia County deputy sheriffs were called to a residence in the 100 block of Indian Creek Road about 4 p.m. Tuesday for a domestic disturbance. Daron Dyer, identified as Ducharme's boyfriend, called deputies after his father, Michael Dyer, threatened to kick the two out of his residence. Michael Dyer, whose left leg...

Cops say this guy discovered Subway doesn't sell $2 sandwiches and shot the people working there. ​A man walked into a Fort Lauderdale Subway store last night and asked the two employees if they sold $2 sandwiches. The employees said they didn't, so the guy demanded cash and shot both of them. The Broward Sheriff's Office says this happened around 10:30 p.m. yesterday in the 2800 block of West Sunrise Boulevard, and investigators don't yet know who or where the gunman is. According to police, the man started demanding cash after he was told there were no $2 sandwiches. The...

CORAL GABLES (CBS4) – They’re back. Giant African land snails which once took a decade to eradicate from South Florida have returned. Giant African land snails, considered to be one of the most damaging snails in the world, have been found in the Coral Gables area of Miami-Dade County, according to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The Giant African land snail is one of the most damaging snails in the world because they consume at least 500 different types of plants, can cause structural damage to plaster and stucco on houses, and can carry a parasitic worm...

A self-described drunk man who apparently used pliers in efforts to extract a tooth got locked up after accusations he shouted obscenities at authorities and disturbed the peace, according to recently released records. Port St. Lucie police on Sunday went to Francisco Rojas' home after his wife told 911 dispatchers her 49-year-old husband was "drunk and in the garage trying to pull his tooth out with a pair of pliers, and she needs the police to respond." Three officers made contact with Rojas. "We observed him attempting to extract his tooth and there was vomit on the floor from his...

Terry Lynn Kimbell's run for the border landed him in jail early Wednesday. Police said Kimball, 50, called 911 late Tuesday after employees at the Taco Bell at 13709 Walsingham Road would not sell him tacos while he was standing in the drive-thru lane. He told the dispatcher he was hungry and upset employees at the fast-food restaurant wouldn't sell him the food, police said. Kimball remained on the phone until officers arrived, police said. He told them he was on the phone with a dispatcher and that he did not have an emergency "except that he was not sold...

Former Miami-Dade officer admits he violated probation in illegal monkey saleThe former Miami-Dade cop who was busted stealing cash and pot from a motorist then violated probation by trying to illegally sell a monkey over the Internet will have to pay his debts if he wants to stay out of prison. Jesus Rodolfo Hernandez, 26, admitted to the monkey business in court Tuesday and will have to pay $5,000 towards the $25,000 he owes authorities for the investigation into his misconduct, the Miami Herald reported. If Hernandez doesn't make the first payment, he'll face up to five years in prison....

A man using a lighter to hunt for his baby's pacifier under a bed set the bed and his duplex on fire Monday afternoon. Lealman Fire Capt. Jim Millican said firefighters had the blaze at 3417 52nd Ave. N under control within 10 minutes. The fire was called in about 3:30 p.m. The resident, whose name wasn't released, escaped the blaze with the baby. Both were unharmed, Millican said. He said the baby does not live with the father, but with the mother at another location.