Woman claimed she was videotaped while naked in tanning booth May 20, 2013

Clermont police are investigating a woman’s complaint that she was videotaped while naked in a tanning booth by a man in the room next to her.

Police say the incident happened Tuesday about 5:30 p.m. at L.A. Tan on U.S. Highway 50 in Clermont.

The 24-year-old woman told police that she had just finished tanning and was about to get dressed when she saw a man’s arm holding a camera phone while hanging over her seven-foot privacy wall. She yelled and that’s when the man’s arm disappeared, according to a police report. The woman quickly dressed, knocked on the room next door and confronted the man.

The 36-year-old man, who police would not identify, denied taking pictures over the wall and police could not find photos from that day on his phone after a quick inspection. Police did find a chair in the man’s room near the wall that could have been used to stand on to take the photos. The phone was taken as evidence and police are readying a search warrant to more thoroughly review its photos.

A manager from the tanning salon was not immediately available for comment.

High schooler expelled, charged with felony for lesbian relationship. Florida lives up to its reputation May 19, 2013

A Florida family says their 18-year-old daughter was charged with a felony and expelled from high school as a result of a consensual, same-sex relationship with another student.

Kaitlyn Hunt started dating a female classmate at the beginning of the school year when she was 17 and the girl she was about three years younger. According to an account posted to Facebook by Kaitlyn’s mother, in February, shortly after Kaitlyn turned 18, she was arrested on felony charges at the behest of her girlfriend’s parents. The specific crime was “sexual battery on a person 12-16 years old.”

Kaitlyn’s mother believes the charges were motivated by anti-gay animus:

They were out to destroy my daughter, they feel like my daughter “made” their daughter gay. They are bigoted, religious zeolites [sic] that see being gay as a sin and wrong, and they blame my daughter.

But Kaitlyn’s problems did not end there. Her girlfriends’s parents appealed to the school board and had her expelled from Sebastian River High School. Kaitlyn’s mom reports that the State Attorney, Brian Workman, has offered Kaitlyn a plea deal of “of two years house arrest and one year probation.” Kaitlyn has until next Friday to accept the plea deal or face a trial.

The family has started a petition calling on the state attorney to drop the charges against Kaitlyn.

Florida deputy and his girlfriend arrested with 30 marijuana plants May 17, 2013

LEE COUNTY, FL – A man hired to enforce the law was allegedly breaking it himself.

Former Lee County deputy Piotr Urbanski arrested for not only possessing marijuana but growing it with his girlfriend Shannon Clancy on their lanai.

“It’s really weird because you never know. I can see nothing wrong,” said neighbor Mario Bahamon.

But someone did, and tipped off the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

Within 24 hours, investigators got a search warrant for the Cape Coral home the couple lived in.

They found dried marijuana in the kitchen, two pipes for smoking, and 23 live plants on the lanai.

Seven additional plants were found in a small trash can on the porch.

Sheriff Mike Scott tells us the couple claims they had a reason for growing it.

“His story was that he doesn’t use it and she does for medicinal purposes and whatever. It doesn’t matter. It’s illegal it’s a crime,” said Scott.

Urbanski and Clancy were arrested on Friday at 3:30 a.m. and were charged with possessing and producing marijuana and also possessing drug paraphernalia.

Neighbors can’t believe it.

“He’s really a good person.  Don’t know what happened. I don’t understand,” said Bahamon.

“I don’t know why these people do these things. We try to select good people – we do, 99 out of 100 or more cases and the background process is pretty significant. Polygraphs and you name it,” said Scott.

Urbanski was only with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office for about a year and now he’s out.

Sheriff Scott wants to reassure the community when people commit crimes, they go to jail.

“Whether the criminal is hiding behind a fence, behind a tree or behind a badge, they’re going to jail. And it’s unfortunate when the bad guy or bad gal is a law enforcement officer,” said Scott.

We did some digging and found out Urbanski first applied to Cape Coral Police Department a few months before getting the job with LCSO.

When he applied to LCSO, he admitted he used Marijuana three times in 2007 for experimentation.

Sheriff Scott says his office does very thorough background checks, but in the future those might include going to the applicant’s home and checking that out as well.

Teen tries to rob home; residents beat, kick and tased him … wait till you see this guy’s face! May 16, 2013

PALM BAY, Fla. -  Residents inside a Palm Bay home beat, kicked and used a Taser to shock a 19-year-old during a home invasion.

Michael Maxwell, of Palm Bay, was charged with one count of home invasion robbery with a firearm or deadly weapon and four counts of battery after police were called about 1 a.m. Wednesday to investigate a disturbance at a home in the 700 block of Monterey Drive.

Maxwell was being held on a $51,000 bond at the Brevard County Jail Complex in Sharpes.  Police also arrested a 17-year-old companion of Maxwell on the same charges.

Police said that several men, including Maxwell, arrived at the home in a gold 2004 Chevrolet Malibu and stormed the home, but the residents inside managed to fight off the attack.

Maxwell, who police said works as a tattoo artist, was taken to Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne for treatment after he was repeatedly kicked, Tased and struck by the victims, according to police reports.

Police questioned the victims but did not immediately report whether they knew Maxwell, the teen or the other men.

Man covered in gas busted for arson …. WHAT????

A man who deputies saw leaving the scene of a vehicle fire in Golden Gate on Tuesday was arrested and charged with arson.

Oscar Tejada, 29, was ‘covered in gas’ when a deputy pulled him over during a traffic stop after spotting Tejada leaving the scene of the fire, according to arrest reports.

Deputies also found a gas can and lighter in Tejada’s vehicle, along with receipts for the items, reports said.

Tejada, 821 7th St. S.W., is charged with second-degree arson, a felony.

Arrest reports gave this account:

A deputy patrolling Golden Gate came upon a vehicle on fire on Santa Barbara Boulevard at 27th Court Southwest around 1:47 a.m.. The deputy noticed a Ford truck with its lights on leaving the scene and became suspicious.

After confirming that no one was inside the burning vehicle, the deputy attempted to locate the truck. The deputy spotted the truck at the intersection of of 55th Terrace Southwest and Coronado Parkway. When the deputy approached the intersection the driver of the truck sped off.

The deputy activated the emergency lights on his cruiser and attempted to make a traffic stop in the 2700 block of Santa Barbara Boulevard, but the driver kept on going. The driver pulled over on Golden Gate Parkway.

As the deputy approached the truck, he noticed a gas can in the truck bed. The driver, whom the deputy identified as Tejada, smelled strongly of gasoline. Tejada told the deputy he spilled gas on himself while putting it in the gas can in the bed of the truck.

When the deputy asked him why he was in the vicinity of the burning car, Tejada replied, “I wasn’t and I don’t know.”

A search of the truck turned up an empty container for a “diamond” lighter and also an empty package for non-slip gloves. When the deputy asked him if he smoked, Tejada replied no. Deputies also searched Tejada’s pockets and found receipts for the gas can, lighter and gloves. He also had $4,100 cash in his wallet.

In addition to arson, Tejada was charged with felony driving on a suspended license. He has three prior convictions for driving on a suspended license, reports said.

Christmas won’t arrive for another 223 days, however; 1 family starts their preparations months in advance. May 15, 2013

Christmas comes early in Plantation Acres every year, but this year the battle over one family’s holiday extravaganza is starting now.

The “Hyatt Extreme Christmas” won’t start appearing on their lawn until September, but some homeowners are already calling on the city to intervene.

Councilman Bob Levy said two of the cul-de-sac’s homeowners have already started calling him. There are eight homes on the street, including the Hyatts.

“The lights are blinding,” he said. “The traffic from cars, the pedestrians … are creating a real problem. There has to be something. … I just can’t believe that our hands are totally tied.”

Mark and Kathy Hyatt host their “Hyatt Extreme Christmas” — an annual Christmas display on Northwest 14th Street, which includes almost 200,000 lights, a 20-foot Ferris wheel that gives stuffed animals a ride, a 30-foot Christmas tree, life-size gingerbread men, a snow-blowing machine, moving elves and a 20-foot inflatable movie screen that loops Disney movies.

The neighbors have long complained about the noise, the lights and the crush of hundreds of visitors who litter the streets and park in their driveways each night for more than a month. At least one said their family leaves town for weeks.

At the city’s request last year, the Hyatts reduced the number of days the display is illuminated and added more volunteers to direct traffic.

For the inconvenienced neighbors, it still isn’t enough.

“I’ve tried to be the peacemaker,” lamented Mayor Diane Veltri Bendekovic recently. “It’s just not happening. It’s like the Hatfields and the McCoys out there.”

Kathy Hyatt called the mayor “a hater of Christmas.”

“I don’t know why she doesn’t have better things to do with her time,” Hyatt said. “I don’t know why she doesn’t embrace Hyatt Extreme Christmas.”

Not fair, said Bendekovic, who is Catholic.

“I don’t hate Christmas, that’s all there is to it,” she said. “I think the holidays are a celebration of family and all the good things we have in this country.”

The city has applied to the state for “no parking” signs along Old Hiatus Road. While the mayor said the intention was for consistency along the road, it would limit the number of people who could attend the display, because throngs of cars park on the street around the corner from the Hyatt house.

“The city has done legally [everything] it can,” she said.

Bendekovic said residents have the option of asking a civil judge to declare the property a nuisance, citing a quality-of-life issue. “It’s a civil matter — neighbor to neighbor,” she said.

But that would be very costly and not neighborly, said neighbor Adam Fractenberg,

“I don’t want to sue. I just want the enjoyment of our home without hundreds of cars.”

He said he’s asked for the city to provide shuttle buses to keep cars off the street and to pay for off-duty police to manage traffic, but the city said the money isn’t there.

Fractenberg also suggested the city use a park for overflow parking, but the mayor responded in a February letter that holiday display guests would take up too much parking and not allow enough spots for people who wanted to use the park.

Fractenberg is hopeful no parking rules along Old Hiatus Road would be helpful — if the city enforces it with tickets.

But Mark Hyatt said enforcing no parking along the road would cause more problems because if people can’t find parking, they’ll drive around the cul-de-sac which is just what the neighbors don’t want.

And Hyatt said he keeps the event well-controlled. He won’t stop the display: “It’s something I’ve been doing since I was a kid,” he said. “It’s to bring the community together.”

Kathy Hyatt said complaints are limited to a few neighbors.

“There is no public nuisance,” she said.

Dolly Imbert said she is dreading the season, especially since the Hyatts start setting up their props and testing the lights a couple months before display is open to the public.

“We cannot enjoy our peace of the Christmas season, because we have a nightmare across the street,” she said. “I’m a Catholic, I celebrate Christmas. But [you] live there, be there, spend one season there, try to get to your own house after 6 p.m. Don’t we have some rights to have some peace in our home?”

Moms spend Mother’s Day jailed after ditching kids for booze cruise

Law enforcement officers said two mothers left their young children alone at the beach at Gator Joe’s Bar and Grill on Mother’s Day while they took a boozy tour on Lake Weir.

Billie Jean Williams, 27, and Mary Joyce Daffron, 28, were arrested and accused of leaving their children, 8 and 6 respectively, at Gator Joe’s, at 12431 SE 135th Ave., Ocklawaha. The children approached staff of the restaurant and told them they could not find their mothers and suspected they had left them, according to Marion County Sheriff’s Office reports.

After a deputy arrived, the children said they were playing on the beach when they noticed their mothers were missing. The women’s chairs and belongings were found undisturbed on the beach, reports state.

A man, who only gave his name as “John,” told deputies he knew one of the women from high school and had run into her Sunday. He said he had seen her and the other woman get on a boat at least an hour before, according to reports.

The boat on which the women left was eventually spotted approaching the beach. As the vessel neared Gator Joe’s, both women, who were highly intoxicated, fell into the water as they tried to get off the boat, reports state.

Williams began yelling at her 8-year-old due to having law enforcement called, reports state. The women said they had been gone only 10 minutes and the children were left under the supervision of the 8-year-old’s  “godfather.”

Officers later discovered the “godfather” was, in fact, the man named John, whose last name neither woman knew. The 8-year-old said Sunday was the first time they had ever met John, reports state.

It was determined the children were left alone for almost an hour while the women went drinking on the boat, according to reports.

The women were both arrested just before 5 p.m. Daffron tried to pull away from officers and was thrown to the ground and handcuffed, reports said.

The children were placed in the care of relatives.

Williams and Daffron were booked into the Marion County Jail on one count each of child neglect. Daffron was additionally charged with resisting arrest without violence.

Williams was released Sunday night after posting $5,000 bond. Daffron remained at the jail Monday evening with bail set at $5,500.

Man smitten by inmate went from lovebird to jailbird May 14, 2013

Deputies say a Sanford man stalked a woman he met at the jail, sent her hundreds of text messages, showed up at her court hearings, and even tried to get the woman’s probation officer and court officials to intervene on his behalf.

Carmine Michael Bravo, 42, remains in the Seminole County Jail, where he is being held on $3,500 bond.

According to a Seminole County Sheriff’s Office report, Bravo sent the woman and her family roughly 500 unwanted text messages and has repeatedly sent her emails, packages and flowers despite being told to cease his contact.

Bravo has appeared at the woman’s court hearings, her drug rehabilitation meetings, and tried to intervene in court by speaking with the public defender and the judge’s assistant, the arrest report said.

The woman’s parents tried to block his telephone number, but he resorted to calling from different phones to harass them too.

They have “substantial fear” for their safety because of Bravo’s actions, the report said.

Deputies also reported that Bravo has several framed jail mug shots of the woman in his Sanford home.

Witnesses told deputies they thought Bravo, who was several prior arrests for battery, might kill the woman.

Deputies said Bravo’s contact with the woman and her family serves to legitimate purpose. Most of the messages were intended to harass and threaten them.

Deputies spoke with Bravo at his Northlake Drive home Friday, and he denied stalking the woman. But he admitted to attending the hearings, sending emails and printing out photographs of the woman.

He was arrested on one count of stalking.

Records show Bravo has prior arrests for grand theft, aggravated battery and criminal mischief.

Used COW lot? No bull!

Holy cow! Here’s an udderly unusual sign — “USED COWS FOR SALE”.

You can see it driving south on Interstate 95 in St. Lucie County on the west side of I-95 near Midway Road. I was moooving pretty fast but stopped April 27 to take these photos. There wasn’t a used cow salesman in sight at the apparent used cow lot, which looked strikingly similar to a pasture.

After I got out of my car on the side of I-95, I nearly stepped in an ant mound so I hoofed it out of there to avoid an ant bite on my calf (not entirely untrue). I have no beef with the sign, but hoped for a phone number to call for more information. Are used cows a bunch of bull? I don’t know. Perhaps an “Floridaduht” reader can steer me in the right direction?

Questionable traffic advice: ‘Smoke weed erryday’ May 13, 2013

Harold and Kumar aren’t running the public works department in Winter Park, but it sure looked like the Hollywood stoners were on the job Sunday.

A portable traffic sign — the kind that usually warns motorists of road work or lane closures — instead advised: “Smoke weed erryday.”

The sign, near the intersection of Minnesota Avenue and Clay Street, drew a steady stream of attention from passers-by, several of whom stopped and jumped out of their cars to take photos.

Meanwhile its companion sign a few blocks away, reading “Jackson Ave closed to thru traffic,” attracted no undue attention.

“It seems like typical Winter Park vandalism to me,” said 19-year-old Andrew Layton of College Park. He said he suspected the sign was the work of local high-school students.

“You see guides on the Internet on how to hack into these things,” said the Edgewater grad.

One passer-by claimed his brother was the culprit. After taking a picture, he offered a bit of criticism of his work:

“Dude, that’s bad grammar.”