Residents began complaining in January that their mail was missing, and police zeroed in on Lori Souza, 47, who lives on Palmetto Avenue.
On Sunday about 11:40 p.m., neighbors told police that someone was riding a bicycle from mailbox to mailbox and stealing envelopes, a report states. Officers found mail that didn’t belong to Souza in her purse, they said.
Souza, also known as Lori Souza Maddox, was arrested on charges of loitering or prowling and violation her probation in a 2012 cocaine-possession case.
Investigators say she is the person captured on home surveillance video walking from mailbox to mailbox last month and removing the contents.
They suspect she has stolen the identities of at least three people using identification she obtained from the mail, Acting Police Chief Ronnie Wright said.
Residents who have information on the case or think they may have been victims can call police Investigator Rainey Hetznecker at 386-322-3046 or 386-322-3030.
In 2007, Souza pleaded no contest to grand theft in Flagler County. She was found guilty in 2008 of violating her probation in that case. Details were not available late Thursday.
Pasco County, Florida– Two Pasco teens are under arrest, accused of some very serious crimes. Detectives say one teen had sex with another student on the campus of Fivay High School, and another teen recorded it on his phone and sent it out.
Cameron Coleman and Dillon Falls were arrested by Pasco detectives. Deputies say 17-year-old Cameron had sex with a 15-year-old girl in the media center on March 11th, and Dillon, also 15, taped the whole thing.
Now both are charged with felonies and could face prison time.
“We can not turn a blind eye to this. This is child porn. I suggest parents talk to their kids tonight and check their phones. It is very serious,” Sheriff Nocco told 10 News.
Pasco Superintendent Kurt Browning echoed the sentiment saying, “This is inappropriate behavior. This goes back to parents teaching kids what is inappropriate, and what is appropriate.”
Cameron Coleman is charged with lewd and lascivious behavior, and Dillon Falls faces child pornography charges along with transmission of video.
The sheriff tells all parents to delete this video if they see it because their kids could get charged with a crime as well if caught with it.
A second person involved in a high speed motorcycle chase with deputies in January was arrested Tuesday.
The chase took place January 21st. Deputy Anthony O’Dea was on patrol at the 71 mile marker at 7 p.m. when he saw two motorcycles speeding northbound. He turned on his lights and siren to stop them, but instead they sped up. While the deputy followed, he saw them pass numerous cars in no passing zones, traveling in excess of 75 miles an hour in heavy traffic.
At the 74 mile marker, one of the motorcycles turned off the highway and eventually stopped on Iroquois Drive. At that point, 18 year old Jose Bolivar of Islamorada was placed under arrest. He was charged with fleeing and eluding police, reckless driving and received numerous traffic citations. A notice to be on the lookout for the other motorcycle was issued, but it was not located that night. Bolivar told the deputy the other driver was 20 year old Anthony Hoover of Key Largo.
Bolivar had a video recorder mounted to his helmet which was running at the time of the chase on the highway. The video was collected as evidence and helped to confirm Hoover’s identity, as well as confirming the traffic violations committed by the two men as they sped away from Deputy O’Dea.
A warrant was issued for Hoover’s arrest. He was booked into jail on Tuesday, charged with fleeing and eluding a law enforcement officer and reckless driving.
The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office has arrested Kristina Grzep, DOB 4/20/71, 9035 Misty Creek Dr., Sarasota, following a bizarre incident that ended on I-75 this morning.
Deputies received a call around 9:00 a.m., of a suspicious vehicle on State Road 72 and the Bee Ridge Road extension. When the marked units arrived, Grzep fled, driving her Hummer H3 toward a deputy’s vehicle and forcing him to take an evasive maneuver. Grzep drove north on Bee Ridge Road and twice deputies successfully deployed stop sticks to deflate the tires but Grzep continued driving, forcing deputies to use a PIT maneuver to bring her vehicle to a stop at the northbound onramp to I-75.
Grzep would not exit the vehicle and deputies initially feared she was suicidal, but once the negotiator convinced Grzep to exit the vehicle, deputies found she had been huffing nitrous oxide. Grzep was medically cleared and then taken to the Sarasota County Jail.
Grzep is charged with Fleeing to Elude, Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon on a Law Enforcement Officer, Unlawful Distribution of Nitrous Oxide and two counts of Resisting Arrest without Violence.
A 23-year veteran DeLand police officer investigated in thefts from a Goodwill store retired from the police department Thursday, police and investigative reports show.
Brice Miller, 58, chose to retire before police Chief Bill Ridgway could make a decision on the investigation’s findings, said Sgt. Chris Estes, DeLand police spokesman.
“The recommendation was for him to be terminated,” Estes said. “But Officcer Miller made an appointment with the chief and it was his choice to resign.”
Miller went into the state’s drop program three years ago meaning he had to leave his job in five years.
According to Internal Affairs reports, video surveillance showed Miller on at least two occasions driving in his patrol car while on shift to the Goodwill store and pulling behind the building at 1560 N. Woodland Blvd. after business hours.
Miller can be seen examining the items left outside the business by donors, loading it into his police car and driving off, an IA investigator said.
When told he was being investigated, Miller said he took the items to help a needy family. He said it all started when he took a blanket once to help a homeless person.
Although Miller said he had permission from a store employee, numerous interviews by the investigator with the employees showed they never gave Miller permission to take the items.
The items consisted of clothing, dishes and glasses, the report shows.
Investigators identified the woman Miller had been giving the things to, a friend the officer had known for 12 years.
“What was learned from this was that the recipient of the property is a friend of his for many years and the actions seem personally motivated,” the investigator wrote in his report.
Miller told investigators he did not see signs posted by the business prohibiting people from taking items left outside the store.
“I would also submit that whether or not Officer Miller saw or read the signage, his presumed knowledge and years of experience should have given him pause and caused some concern that these actions would fall under scrutiny, particularly while on duty,” the invesigator said.
Police officials learned of the thefts of the donations from the Goodwill store when the loss prevention officer of the business contacted the police chief on May 21.
The loss prevention officer said that video surveillance had identifed a DeLand police officer removing property belonging to Goodwill. The video identified “PD 65″ the car assigned to Miller, reports state.
In a statement released this afternoon, Ridgway said: “It is unfortunate whenever an individual officer’s actions tarnish the image of law enforcement as a whole. When an incident of this type is alleged it affects the public trust and I am embarrassed that this incident involved a DeLand Police Officer. As the Chief of Police I can assure the public that this type of alleged behavior will never be tolerated.”
An argument over beer in an Ocala convenience store parking lot early Sunday resulted in one of the arguers being booked into the Marion County Jail on accusations of threatening the other with a knife.
According to booking records, William D. Shope, 26, of Ocala faces two counts of aggravated assault with a weapon, a black pocket knife. According to a Sheriff’s Office report,
According to the report, Shope and a man identified as David Walker were arguing at the Circle K at 5182 E. Silver Springs Blvd. when “the suspect pulled out a pocket knife and raised it in the air in a threatening manner,” noted the report.
“The victim (Walker) advised the suspect raised the knife in the air approximately three times, each time threatening to stab the victim if he did not give him a beer,” the report continued.
The two, both described as “regulars” at the store, were separated by a witness, who told deputies he jumped in “once he saw the suspect pull the knife.”
Shope reportedly ran off, but was found at a nearby business. In a small concrete pond in front of that business, Deputy James Amidei wrote that he found a knife matching the description of the one used during the argument. Shope reportedly told the deputy that “he put the knife in the pond because cops make him nervous.”
A woman standing in a checkout line with her husband and children Tuesday night felt something touch the inside of her leg. She turned around and saw a man kneeling behind her aiming an iPhone camera between her legs, according to a report.
The woman’s husband grabbed the man and restrained him until a security guard arrived, while the man frantically tried to delete the phone’s files, Gainesville police said, who gave this account:
At around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, the 25-year-old woman, her husband, 27, and her two young daughters were in line at Target at 3970 SW Archer Road. The woman felt a bump and turned to see Michael Saavedra, 28, behind her.
She told police she could see her legs on Saavedra’s iPhone 4 camera screen.
As her husband held Saavedra in a headlock, he kept trying to delete photos and videos from his phone.
Saavedra admitted to police that he had taken pictures and videos under women’s dresses at both Target and Walmart. He told police he is a Walmart employee.
Saavedra was arrested on a charge of destroying evidence, a felony, and a sworn complaint of video voyeurism also was filed against him.
A Georgia man has been arrested after police say he filmed an unauthorized, behind-the-scenes video of Hooters International Swimsuit Pageant contestants disrobing at the swanky Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel.
Miami Beach police arrested Ronald Keith Rolfes Sunday night and charged him with video voyeurism.
They said evidence against the 31-year-old, who was in the models’ changing room as part of an entourage with Waterbabies Bikini, was ironclad: he recorded himself hiding his camera and admitted to the crime.
“Man to man, I did it because I’ve never had a girlfriend,” Rolfes allegedly told a male officer.
According to Rolfes’ arrest report, officers Rosa Olivo and Lisa Lobello were in the Fontainebleau responding to a different issue when one of the 101 contestants who will compete for a $50,000 first place prize during a Saturday swimsuit pageant at The Fillmore Miami Beach “frantically” ran up to them.
The model said she had discovered a hidden camera in the contestants’ changing area.
The model said she was undressing in the hotel meeting room where a curtain had been raised to create a private changing area when she noticed a video camera recording from inside an unzipped backpack stashed below a chair.
Olivo wrote in her report that she found the camera inside the open backpack but still plugged into a wall outlet. Rolfes was sitting in the room, she wrote.
Olivo confiscated the camera after she said she viewed the recording and watched Rolfes setting up the camera and then a model undressing.
Michael Chu, owner of the Georgia-based Waterbabies, said Rolfes isn’t an employee but a friend who sometimes pays his own way to travel with the company on business. He said Rolfes was supposed to be standing at the door to ensure that no one “walked away with our products.”
Chu and police said Rolfes set up the camera without the bikini company’s knowledge.
A Volusia County high school teacher accused of having a YouTube video titled “Gay Threesome Sex” appear on a projector in front of his class resigned this week rather than face termination.
Jose Rosario-Gonzalez, 53, a ninth-grade social studies teacher at T. Dewitt Taylor Middle-High School, which serves grades six to 12 in Pierson, resigned on Tuesday.
According to Volusia County Schools, Rosario-Gonzalez was informed on May 25 that allegations against him, if substantiated, would lead to a recommendation of his termination. He chose to resign instead, school officials said. He was put on 3 days unpaid leave before he resigned.
According to officials, a student’s parent reported that Rosario-Gonzalez had his computer hooked up to a projector in his classroom, and, after he accessed YouTube, the title of the sex video appeared.
Rosario-Gonzalez, who has taught for 12 years, did not deny the incident and said he “did this on his own time, in the privacy of his home and it was never his intention to show students,” according to school documents.
Several students made written statements confirming that the entire class saw the title of the sex video.
“Mr. Rosario was on YouTube, he scrolled through his videos and there was history videos except for one,” a student wrote. “This was one was titled ‘Gay Threesome Sex.’ The whole class was saying ‘eww’ and ‘What is that doing on there?’ and he just kept scrolling and didn’t say anything.”
School officials said there were several files on Rosario-Gonzalez’s computer classified as homosexual pornography.
Rosario-Gonzalez received an overall “satisfactory” evaluation in 2009 and 2010, according to school documents. His evaluation for 2011 was redacted for confidential reasons.
A Key West man accused of recording his roommates having sex via a camera taped inside an air vent was arrested Monday.
Edward Raymond Mathis, 49, of Hilton Haven Drive, was charged with sex offense/video voyeurism as well as possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. All the charges are misdemeanors.
Officers were called Sunday to Hilton Haven Drive, where a 30-year-old man reported finding a recording device in the air conditioner vent located directly over his and his girlfriend’s bed, according to a police incident report and arrest affidavit.
“He said he was lying in his bed and looked up at the AC vent and noticed a flash in the vent,” the report states.
The man reportedly removed the vent and found a camera suspended with black tape pointing at the bed.
Police obtained a search warrant for Mathis’ bedroom and found a USB wire running from his bedroom, through the attic and into the other unit bedroom where the couple slept, according to the arrest affidavit.
When questioned by police, Mathis reportedly told them that he first installed a web camera in the bathroom vent, but he reportedly “got bored and switched it over to the bedroom.”
“I asked Mathis why he changed the positioning of the camera,” the affidavit states. “Mathis stated it was somewhat hard to have sex in the bathroom. The USB cable was connected to Mathis’ Dell laptop, which was located inside in his bedroom.”
Mathis’ reportedly admitted to watching the couple having sex and to watching the 26-year-old woman naked in the shower via the camera, according to the affidavit.
Mathis told detectives he downloaded the videos to his computer, but never downloaded the videos to the Internet or made CD copies of the videos, adding that the woman did not know she was being recorded and that she never gave him permission to record her, the affidavit states.
Police confiscated the Dell computer and assorted USB wires and thumb drives.
They also allegedly found 6 grams of marijuana and a pipe during the search, according to the affidavit.
Mathis was released from the Monroe County Detention Center on Stock Island Tuesday after posting $12,000 bail.
