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SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. - A Florida man was arrested Thursday for allegedly robbing two banks within two hours in broad daylight, the Seminole County Sheriff's Office said. Duwane Edward Gilmore was charged with robbery without a firearm, attempted robbery without a firearm and grand theft, officials said. The 35-year-old is being held at the John E. Polk Correctional Facility with no bond. The double bank robberies occurred Wednesday afternoon. The first one happened around 1:15 p.m. at the Seacoast Bank at 2695 W SR-434 in Longwood. The man from Leesburg reportedly passed a note to a bank teller demanding money,...

A Florida city police officer was reportedly arrested and stripped of his duties after being pulled over by a county sheriff's deputy for alleged reckless driving. Officer Alexander Shaouni was allegedly driving 80 mph in a 45 mph zone in a marked Orlando Police Department vehicle when he was pulled over by a deputy of the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, according to police dashcam footage. The deputy activated his lights and raced to catch up with Shaouni's SUV after reportedly noticing him speeding down a local road. "Over 100 miles an hour trying to catch up to him," the deputy...

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....

A 22-year-old woman in Florida is accused of intentionally using her car over the weekend to hit into another vehicle that she knew was occupied by young children before pinning a man to a fence and fleeing the scene. Sasha Keeshawn Lemons was taken into custody on Saturday and charged with five counts of aggravated battery on a person using a deadly weapon as well as one count each of child neglect and leaving the scene of a hit-and-run, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show. According to arrest reports from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office and the Sanford Police Department,...

The office of Florida’s Seminole County Republican Party was vandalized with the message “eat -— fascists” on Sunday. The message, scrawled in graffiti, included a symbol of an enclosed “A” in what appeared to be a symbol for anarchy. The perpetrators also attempted to use a form of glue-like substance on the locks, State Committeeman Jesse Phillips said. “We basically had to break into our own office,” he added. The Seminole County GOP is considering adopting additional safety measures for the office in light of the incident. No potential suspects have been identified, and a police report has been filed.

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. - A Central Florida woman has been arrested in the death of an infant in Connecticut back in 1986, police said Friday. Janita Philips, 62, of Lake Mary was arrested for the charge of Murder, according to police. Her bond is set at $50,000. According to Greenwich police in Connecticut, on May 16, 1986, an infant boy was found deceased inside a sanitation truck that had just emptied a dumpster at the apartment building. "The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that the cause of death was strangulation and ruled the case a homicide. It was...

Did you know the guy behind the Matt Gaetz allegations just pleaded guilty to making false allegations about sex with a minor about another of his political opponents? The media doesn’t seem to want to report this part of the case, which is available for anyone who wants to read it in Joel Greenberg’s plea deal released on Monday. Greenberg, a Florida tax collector in Seminole County, pleaded guilty this week to a series of crimes. The corporate media is reporting on his plea deal with prosecutors and the implications for firebrand Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz. But there’s something else...

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — A Florida mother and her 15-year-old son are both facing charges after he robbed a convenience store at gunpoint while she acted as the lookout and getaway driver, according to a Seminole County Sheriff’s Office arrest report. Amanda Meador is being charged with robbery with a firearm and neglect of a child in connection to the robbery, which happened Halloween night at a Circle K at the intersection of Red Bug Lake Road and Tuskawilla Road. Meador drove her son and two others to the store, the arrest report states. It goes on to say that...

Rev. Bryan Fulwider, a former Winter Park minister who was recently arrested on charges that he repeatedly raped a teenage girl while he was her pastor, killed himself at his Altamonte Springs home, according to police. Emergency crews were called to Fulwider’s home in the 600 block of Post Oak Circle about 11:50 p.m. Sunday for a possible suicide. Fulwider was pronounced dead there, ASPD spokeswoman Michelle Sosa said. Fulwider, 59, had been out on bail since Oct. 17. The former 'Friends Talking Faith’ co-host faced a slew of charges including sexual battery on a minor by a person in...

The new governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis has named Seminole County Supervisor of Elections Mike Ertel as the new Secretary of State, who will be overseeing elections in Florida. Although he is a Republican, he does not endorse candidates nor does he allow corruption from anyone, regardless of political affiliation. He counts the votes and that is all. Seminole County under Ertel has an excellent record of tabulating votes. Snipes has been an embarrassment to the entire state and Florida elections will be much better in 2020 under his leadership. That will likely not be to Snipes liking because if...

Pam Bondi was an early endorser of Trump. She's the attorney general in her second term, an 18-year prosecutor. She's an outsider who became an insider, and she has a good, strong relationship already with the candidate.... I think he's looking for someone that brings something to his ticket that does not go against the narrative he's been selling for the last six months, and I think people like Pam would fit the bill.

A Sanford judge today ruled that Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi does not have to answer defense attorneys' questions under oath in a mammoth Internet casino gambling case pending in Seminole County. Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. made that ruling this morning.The case involves more than 50 defendants, accused of violating the state's gambling, racketeering and money laundering laws by operating Internet cafes that prosecutors say served as storefront gambling parlors. Each had ties to the non-profit Allied Veterans of the World, a group that provided charity to military veterans but, according to authorities, donated just two percent of its...

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. -- A Seminole County judge denied a bond request Thursday afternoon for a man accused of shooting at George Zimmerman. During the hearing, Matthew Apperson's attorney argued his client should be granted bond, because Apperson has high blood pressure and back pain. Apperson was arrested in May for an attempted second-degree murder charge. He's accused of shooting at Zimmerman as the two drove in separate vehicles along Lake Mary Boulevard. In October, Apperson was found guilty in an unrelated public urination case, for which he served 60 days in jail. "He was on bond for a very...

TALLAHASSEE -- Two suspicious Seminole County voter registration cards became a flash point Wednesday in the Republican effort to suggest the community group ACORN is committing fraud in its historic Florida get-out-the vote efforts. An ACORN spokesman said the group spotted what appeared to be forged registration cards weeks ago and fired a worker over them. Seminole's election chief, Mike Ertel, said he was still "tremendously concerned," but stopped well short of calling the incident "fraud." The Republican National Committee, though, levelled the accusation and blasted the housing and wage advocacy group in a nationwide conference call with reporters, saying...

ACLU Sues Seminole Co. Elections Office Over Faxed Registration POSTED: 6:39 pm EDT October 19, 2004 ORLANDO, Fla. -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida is suing Seminole County elections officials, saying they refused to register a voter living in Germany. David B. de Treville has lived overseas since 1987. He says elections officials denied his application to register and request an absentee ballot because it was a fax, not the original. He faxed the application in August, and was informed of the denial eight weeks later when he called to follow up because he had not heard anything....