Tag: florida

Florida diving team finds 32 cars submerged in a Doral lake on their mission to solve 40 missing persons cold cases

Divers in Florida have uncovered a total of 32 cars submerged in a lake that are expected to be linked to criminal cold cases.  

Ken Fleming and Doug Bishop said that they stumbled upon the vehicles, which were most likely dumped during criminal activities, in their bid to help solve missing person cases in Doral, near Miami International Airport. 

The volunteer divers are now working with Miami-Dade County to remove all the vehicles from the murky water near Northwest 87th Avenue and 13th Terrace – before they start to look into any potential cold cases connections. 

Videos captured underwater show the divers looking inside the abandoned vehicles during their excavations on Sunday.

Fleming told 7News: ‘When we discover a spot like this with multiple vehicles, it pretty much indicates that a crime where they’re disposing the vehicles and hiding them from law enforcement.’ 

The volunteers use sonar technology after doing their research on where clues on missing people cases might located. 

He added: ‘We have a giant database of our own that we extract.

‘We have 40 that we’re targeting right now of folks that disappeared, anywhere from two or three months ago to 30, 40 years ago.’

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Race Hoax: Florida State U. Fires Prof for Faking Data on ‘Systemic Racism’ as Multiple Papers Are Retracted

A Florida State University professor has been fired for “faking data” to prove that the legacy of lynching “makes whites want longer sentences for blacks” as part of his long-running work on “systemic racism.” Six of the professor’s studies have since been retracted.

Florida State criminology professor Eric Stewart, who claimed that “systemic racism” infests America’s police and American society, is now out of a job after nearly 20 years of his data was called into question, according to a report by the New York Post.

So far, six of the professor’s articles published in major academic journals — such as Criminology and Law and Society Review — between 2003 and 2019 have been fully retracted following allegations that Stewart’s data was fake or extremely flawed.

One of Stewart’s retracted studies from 2019 had suggested that the history of lynching’s in the United States has made it so that white Americans perceive black people as criminals, and that the problem is worse among conservatives.

Another retracted 2018 study had claimed that white Americans view black and Latino people as “criminal threats,” and even suggested that perceived threat could lead to “state-sponsored social control.”

A third retracted study had claimed that white Americans want tougher sentences for Latinos due to their community getting larger in America and them finding economic success.

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Retired pastor accused of exposing himself to 9-year-old at Wesley Chapel pool

A retired Temple Terrace pastor is accused of exposing himself two days in a row while at a community pool in Wesley Chapel last week

Allen Farabee, 76, is accused of exposing himself to a 9-year-old girl multiple times while swimming in the pool on July 21. According to an arrest report, Farabee was seen on surveillance video following the victim while in the pool and watching her “intently.”

It happened at the Meadow Pointe Clubhouse, according to the report, which said the victim was at the pool with her family.

In the report, a deputy with the sheriff’s office wrote the victim reported seeing Farabee’s genitals “approximately” five times and said she was uncomfortable with him constantly staring at her.

The report said Farabee, wearing goggles, would go underwater at the same time as the victim while he faced her.

In an interview at his home, Farabee initially denied exposing himself but later admitted to being an “exhibitionist” and said his genitals were exposed multiple times while at the pool, according to the report.

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Florida Supreme Court Gives Attorney General More Time To Argue Why Marijuana Legalization Should Be Blocked From 2024 Ballot

The Florida Supreme Court on Monday granted the state attorney general’s request for more time to file a brief arguing why voters should not get a chance to decide on a marijuana legalization initiative on the 2024 ballot.

On the same day that Attorney General Ashely Moody (R)—whose office is seeking to invalidate the cannabis measure—filed a motion seeking the one-week extension, the court agreed to the delay.

The attorney general—as well as the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Drug Free America Foundation—told the court that they had “numerous other responsibilities during the relevant period.” The official also previously requested a two-week deadline extension for initial briefs that the court granted.

Moody’s latest request noted that her office is tied up with fundamental administrative tasks, as well as filing briefs in two other unrelated court cases. Also, it pointed out that the court allowed ACLU of Florida to file its own brief two days after the last response deadline for supporters of the legalization measure.

“As a result, the current deadline gives the opponents just three business days to respond to the arguments in that brief,” the motion said.

Overall, Moody is arguing that the way the initiative’s ballot summary is written is affirmatively misleading to voters on several grounds, which she says is grounds to invalidate the proposal

The attorney general’s office said that they discussed the deadline extension request with the Smart & Safe Florida campaign, which opposed a one-week extension but would accept a shorter two-day delay. Instead, the court granted the full request, making the deadline for a reply brief August 2.

“Multiple extensions of time for the same filing are discouraged,” the court said on Monday. “Absent extenuating circumstances, subsequent requests may be denied.”

State officials have already affirmed that the campaign collected enough valid signatures to secure ballot placement.

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The Distorted Story of Florida’s African American History Curriculum

“‘Do not, for the love of God, tell kids that slavery was beneficial’”

Um, what? According to the Florida Phoenix, Ron DeSantis’s Board of Education wants to teach that slavery was good! I saw this insanity posted on Facebook by an acquaintance, who called it proof that Ron DeSantis was a “racist fascist.” It was just the first in a stream of articles, posts, and tweets grabbing my attention that claimed Florida plans to horribly distort black history.

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And the headlines were lies.

It didn’t stop with the media. This blatant falsehood was passed along by political leaders like Vice President Kamala Harris, who tweeted this to her 14 million followers…

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Dozens of Armed IRS Agents In Tactical Gear Raid Florida Business

Dozens of armed IRS agents recently raided a Florida business, with witnesses telling a local news outlet that they were stunned by the show of force by the tax agency.

At least 25 to 30 IRS agents in tactical gear executed a search warrant at a business in Stuart, Florida, last week, according to Fox 29.

“It was like a scene from a movie,” an unnamed witness told the outlet. “They had the big gear, tactical gear because they probably didn’t know what they were walking into.”

An IRS spokesperson confirmed to The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that the agents were from the IRS Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) unit, a division whose agents investigate crimes like fraud and tax evasion.

The agents, who are authorized to carry guns as their work can be dangerous, were at the location on “official business,” the spokesperson added.

The unnamed witness told Fox 29 that it appeared that the agents were removing evidence from the business in bags and boxes.

While details remain scant on the raid, the show of force by IRS agents was noteworthy as it recalled Republican criticism of a funding boost to the agency amid concerns that it would be used to hire more tax enforcers who would target ordinary Americans.

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Florida Bans Medical Marijuana in All State-Licensed Rehabs and Sober Living Houses

Last week, Florida legislators passed a law that will narrow the state’s medical marijuana eligibility. While the change might seem marginal, it’s a step in the wrong direction.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a leading contender in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, signed S.B. 210 into law. The bill pertains to substance abuse treatment programs licensed by the state, like rehabs or sober living residences. It adds language to Florida law that beginning in 2024, licensed treatment facilities must enforce “a prohibition on the premises against alcohol, marijuana, illegal drugs,” and prescription medications not prescribed to the person taking them. The text further clarifies that it “includes marijuana that has been certified by a qualified physician for medical use.”

Medical marijuana use in an addiction treatment or sober living facility is controversial. Cleveland House, a South Florida sober house, states on its website that if one resident is smoking pot, it could negatively impact another resident’s recovery. But studies increasingly suggest that marijuana can help alleviate symptoms of opioid addiction. Men’s Tribal House, a sober living facility in Utah, actively incorporates medical marijuana use into the recovery plans of half its residents.

In 2016, more than 70 percent of Florida’s voters chose to expand the state’s medical marijuana program. Under previous state law, only patients with “cancer or a physical medical condition that chronically produces seizures or severe and persistent muscle spasms” qualified, and only for doses low in THC, the principal psychoactive component in cannabis. The 2016 ballot measure, later passed into law as S.B. 8, expanded eligibility to include a variety of conditions like Crohn’s disease, post-traumatic stress disorder, and anything that caused “chronic nonmalignant pain.”

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‘Disgusting’: Cop Helps “Lifelong Friend” Pedophile Teacher Evade Arrest

A 31-year-old sheriff’s deputy in Florida found himself on the inside of a jail cell this week for allegedly using his access to information as a law enforcement officer to help his “lifelong friend” — a 36-year-old high school teacher accused of having a sexual relationship with a minor — evade authorities and flee the area before he could be arrested.

Former Osceola County Sheriff’s Deputy Arturo Dominguez was fired from his position and taken into custody on Wednesday. He was charged with one count each of accessory after the fact to unlawful sexual activity with a minor, unauthorized access to computers and devices, official misconduct by obstructing an investigation, and disclosure or use of confidential criminal justice information, all felonies, authorities announced.

Dominguez’s friend, Omar Ayala, is on the lam with a felony warrant out for his arrest.

According to Osceola County Sheriff Marco Lopez, his office received a complaint on April 20 regarding then-Deputy Dominguez. The complaint came from a detective with the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office who applied for an arrest warrant on Ayala, who is accused of engaging in unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

The mother of the minor victim had reported finding “disturbing text messages and pictures” of a sexual nature being exchanged between her daughter and Ayala, the victim’s cross-country coach. Upon further investigation, authorities said they found Ayala and the victim had sent each other “explicit images and videos” of each other.

The Okeechobee detective noticed that Dominguez had recently used a law enforcement database, repeatedly running Ayala’s name through the system,” Lopez said during a Thursday press conference. The detective contacted Dominguez and inquired why he had been checking Ayala’s name so frequently. Dominguez responded that he had only run Ayala’s name because he had recently pulled him over on a traffic stop, the sheriff said.

But authorities say that there was never any traffic stop.

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‘Trunk Lady’ murder victim identified over 50 years after she was found strangled to death with bolo tie

After over half a century, investigators in St. Petersburg, Florida, say they have learned the identity of the city’s oldest and most notorious cold case victim. Sylvia June Atherton, a 41-year-old mother of five from Arizona, was the woman whose body was discovered in a wooden trunk 53 years ago on Halloween, authorities announced.

According to a press release from the St. Petersburg Police Department, two officers found a black steamer trunk in the woods behind a restaurant on Oct. 31, 1969, in the 4200 block of 34th Street South.

Inside, officers found a woman wrapped in a large plastic bag. She had visible head injuries, was strangled with a man’s Western-style bolo tie, and was partially clothed in a pajama top. The unnamed victim was buried as “Jane Doe” in Memorial Park Cemetery.

The case quickly gained notoriety, with the victim being dubbed the “Trunk Lady,” and was featured in various television shows, articles, and cold case conferences.

Forty years after discovering the “Trunk Lady,” a doctor with the University of Southern Florida’s Department of Anthropology assisted authorities in exhuming her remains. Efforts to identify the victim using teeth and bone samples over the years proved challenging due to their degraded state. However, earlier this year marked a breakthrough when a St. Petersburg police cold case detective discovered original samples of the victim’s hair and skin, which had been taken during the victim’s initial autopsy.

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Man dies after cops refuse to let him take heart transplant meds while jailed on misdemeanor

A heart transplant recipient died after Florida jailers refused to let him take medication that kept his body from rejecting the organ two days after he was arrested over a dispute with his neighbor over wireless internet, according to a report.

Dexter Barry had waited 12 years for a new heart before finally getting a transplant in 2020, but went without his life-sustaining medication after a misdemeanor arrest for assault due to an argument with his neighbor over payment for a shared wi-fi account, reported The Tributary.

The 54-year-old Barry, who had remained calm during the arrest, told the officer he took heart transplant medication and requested a wheelchair, but no other medical notes were made in police records. Duval County jails allow outside drugs to taken in the case of rare or expensive life-sustaining medications with a verified prescription.

“The police officer could’ve gone inside and got his medication,” said son Dexter Barry Jr. “This man is telling you, my heart needs those meds. A two-minute walk would’ve saved his life.”

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