Sheriff Staly recognized exceptional service by Sheriff’s Office employees and members of the community, including honoring the team directly responsible for saving the life of a juvenile threatening to jump off the I-95 overpass.
Cops/Courts
Two Parents Are Arrested on Felony Child Neglect Charges After Leaving Toddler Unsupervised Overnight
The parents of at least three children were arrested on November 10 on felony child neglect charges after they were found to have left a toddler unsupervised at their house at 57 Blare Castle Drive in Palm Coast, where the toddler’s sisters, 13 and 14, were also left without supervision.
Public Viewing, Funeral Service and Honors Set for Sgt. Dominic Guida
Funeral services for Bunnell Police Officer Sgt. Dominic Guida are scheduled for Monday, Nov. 15 at First Baptist Church of Bunnell, with two public viewing sessions scheduled for Sunday afternoon and Monday morning at the church.
James McIntire, 71, Pleads to Molesting Girl, 15, in Exchange for 2 Years in Prison; He’d Faced Up to 15 Years
James Lee McIntire, a 71-year-old resident of 71 Florida Park Drive in Palm Coast, pleaded guilty on Monday to molesting the 15-year-old daughter of a woman who said he’d molested her, too, when she was 14, some 28 years ago. McIntire pleaded only to the offense for which he was charged–the more recent case, which covers several incidents that took place at McIntire’s home in the summer of 2019.
Sgt. Dominic Guida, A 19-Year Veteran of Bunnell Police and Sheriff’s Office, Dies After Heart Attack in Training
Sgt. Dominic Guida of the Bunnell Police Department was rushed to AdventHealth Palm Coast this afternoon after suffering a cardiac event while in training with Flagler County sheriff’s deputies at the county’s training facility and burn tower on Justice Lane in Bunnell. He died at the hospital. The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Guida’s death at 5:40 p.m.
In Flagler, Nor’easter’s Damage Is Limited to Some Dune Erosion, a Few Walkovers, Street and Yard Flooding
Flagler County made it through the weekend nor’easter with some heavy rains and the expected high waters and some flooding and minor damage to walk-overs and dunes, but no reported flooding into homes or any serious property damage. The forecast for rain had been for 4 to 8 inches. The county got roughly 5.
Corporal Punishment Is Child Abuse. Florida Law Must Stop Protecting It.
Under Florida law, child abuse is legal as long as the violence doesn’t amount to intentional, malicious harm. There is no age cut off. There are no limits on what means are used to brutalize a child. The law is a leftover from barbaric days.
Matthew Wright Dies of Wound in Attempted Murder-Suicide, Gia Troutman, 23, in Critical Condition
Matthew Wright, the 25-year-old Palm Coast man involved in what appears to be an attempted murder-suicide Thursday afternoon, had spent most of his adult life in prison. He’d been out less than a year when he died Thursday of what authorities are reporting as a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, after shooting his girlfriend, Gia Troutman, four times.
Domestic Argument Between Man and Woman Leads to Apparent Attempted Murder Suicide on Bunker Knoll Lane
Flagler County Sheriff’s detectives are investigating a domestic altercation between a woman and her boyfriend on Palm Coast’s Bunker Knoll Lane that resulted in a shooting that left both severely wounded this evening. The shooting appears to have been an attempted murder suicide.
In Wrenching Hearing, Judge Opts for Closure More than Retribution in 5-Year Prison Sentence for Fatal Hit and Run
Joshua Carver had faced up to 30 years in prison for the hit and run collision that left 29-year-old Jonathan Rogers dead on the side of State Road 100 in February 2020. Circuit Judge Chris France sentenced him to five years in prison and five years on probation after hearing from families on both sides of a divide marked not by enmity but mutual loss.
‘You Know This Always Ends Up with You in Jail,’ Cop Tells Fleeing Felon After Manhunt and 10th Arrest in a Decade
A Flagler County Sheriff’s deputy was investigating the latest domestic disturbance at David Badal’s Palm Coast house when Badal fled, almost injuring the cop, and triggered a two-hour manhunt resulting in his arrest and two felony charges, the latest in a chronic, temperamental criminal history.
Turf Battle Over Picnic Tables at FPC Devolves into Threats of a Shooting and Felony Arrest of 15 Year Old Student
An argument over a picnic table between two groups of students at Flagler Palm Coast High School on Tuesday allegedly led one of the students to threaten to shoot another at given place after school. The student was arrested.
Flagler County Fire Rescue Holds Pinning Ceremony for Recent Hires and Promotions
Flagler County Fire Rescue held a “Pinning Ceremony” on Monday for its hires since January 2020, and for the promotion of three of its own to lieutenant.
Detectives Investigating Alleged Home Invasion Robbery and Shooting on Palm Coast’s Coral Reef Court
Early Monday morning a 36-year-old Palm Coast resident of Coral Reef Court reported to Flagler County Sheriff’s detectives that he was the victim of a home-invasion robbery, in the course of which he fired a gun belonging to one of the assailants, but missed.
Flagler County Fire Rescue Hosts ‘Push In’ Ceremony for New $224,485 Ambulance
The new rescue, housed at Station 62 cost $224,485 and was purchased from Ten-8 Fire and Safety. It is a 2021 Ford F450 gas powered Braun Chief XL Ambulance with state of-the-art features.
Felony Cruelty Charge for Man Who ‘Whacked’ Trapped Raccoon and Left Injured Cat Without Care for 3 Months
Todd Rainey, 55, told a sheriff’s deputy he “whacked” a raccoon that had been trapped in a cat trap because it couldn’t get out, and had left his own cat’s injured leg go without medical attention for three months. He faces a felony count of animal cruelty.
Palm Coast Fire Department’s 20th Year of the Hall of Terror
This year marks the 20th year of the highly anticipated annual ‘Hall of Terror’ event and the Palm Coast Fire Department (PCFD) is ready to bring on the frights!
Father of 20-Month-Old Boy Found Guilty of Brutalizing and Burning Him, and Faces 80 Years in Prison
A jury this evening found Deviaun Toler, 29, formerly of Palm Coast, guilty on all charges of aggravated child abuse, felony abuse and neglect at the end of a five-day trial. The victim was his 20-month-old son, who was near death when hospitalized, but survived.
School Officials and Sheriff’s Deputies Again Forced to Respond to Generic Attempt to Disrupt the Day at FPC
A local school–this time, Flagler Palm Coast High School–was again the target of a vague threat of violence, disseminated on social media and mirroring similar, low- to no-credibility threats circulating in other parts of the country.
After 3 1/2 Years of Lies, Keith Johansen Is Found Guilty of Murdering His Wife and Is Sentenced to Life Without Parole
A jury found Keith Johansen, 39, guilty in the first degree murder of his 25-year-old wife Brandi Celenza in April 2018 at their Felter Lane home in Palm Coast. Johansen had been angered by his wife’s online “infidelities.” She was the mother of a boy, 6 years old at the time, who was in the house when Johansen shot her twice.
Homeless Man Didn’t Want to Walk Back to Volusia. So He Carjacked a Truck.
Eric Christian Marcotte is a 25-year-old homeless person who normally makes Volusia County, is accused of carjacking the work truck of a power line crew on State Road 100 in Bunnell because he didn’t want to walk back to Volusia.
After Lying to Cops, EMTs and His Own Parents About Killing Brandi Celenza, He Takes the Stand to Say He’s Now Truthful
Keith Johansen, who faces a first-degree murder charge in the shooting death of his wife, Brandi Celenza, said he lied about killing her–fabricating stories that she’d killed herself accidentally or by suicide–to protect her name: he didn’t want his parents to know they’d done meth. Now he’s claiming he killed her in self-defense because she was out of her mind and was about to shoot him.
Whippings Had Nothing to Do With 20-Month-Old’s Skull Fracture and Critical Condition, Defense Argues at Trial
In the first full day of Deviaun Toler’s trial on first degree felony charges of aggravated child abuse, his defense attorney said Toler disciplined his 20-month-old son the way he’d been disciplined when he was a child, and argued that the child had suffered from a stroke, not a skull fracture inflicted by Toler.
Keith Johansen Springs New Defense in Gunning Down of Wife Brandi Celenza: ‘Self-Defense’
Keith Johansen, 39, is accused of murdering his wife Brandi Celenza at their F-Section home in Palm Coast in 2018. In opening arguments at his trial this morning, his attorney, discarding previous defenses of suicide or an accidental shooting, said it was self-defense, because Celenza had pointed a gun at Johansen.
A Child at Rymfire Elementary Makes False Report of a Shooting, 7 Weeks After Identical Incident There
Rymfire was again locked down early this afternoon when authorities got a call from a child reporting the same claim as seven weeks ago: a shooting in a classroom–the same classroom that had been the supposed location of the shooting in early September.
‘This Is Not a Jury of My Peers,’ Man on Trial Over Child Abuse Charges Objects Moments Before Jurors Are Seated
Deviaun Toler, 29, is on trial on four charges of child abuse, two of them first-degree felony aggravated child abuse charges, and faces up to 80 years in prison if convicted. He objected to the make-up of a jury of four men and four women, all white but one.
Traffic Stop Leads to Recovery and Controlled Explosion of Grenade
A man said he had cleaned out a veteran’s home and found the grenade and decided to keep it. He was unaware if it was active or not. The grenade was removed from the vehicle and safely detonated by St. John’s County Explosive Ordinance Disposal experts at a nearby county-owned facility.
Jury Seated in Keith Johansen Trial, With Key Ruling on Admissibility of Incendiary Video Evidence Still Pending
One of the more high-profile trials of the last few years in Flagler–Court TV will be covering it–the case hinges on indirect evidence. The admissibility of some of that evidence has yet to be decided. The prosecution has surveillance video clips from inside the house graphically revealing sexual situations underscoring infidelities cleaving the couple’s relationship on one hand and Johansen’s violent temper, threats and racism on the other.
2 High-Profile Trials, in Killing of Brandi Celenza and Alleged Disfigurement of a Child, Are Set for Monday
They are two of the most lurid, high-profile, long-lasting cases on the felony docket of Flagler County’s court: Keith Johansen, 39, faces a first-degree murder charge in the shooting death of his wife Brandi Celenza. Deviaun Antriel Toler, 29, faces two counts of first-degree aggravated child abuse. Life in prison is at stake for the relatively young defendants in both cases. And today, both cases were set for trial the week of October 25.
There Is a Vengeful America and a Just America. Guess Which Florida Promotes.
Florida’s sentencing guidelines statute details the primary purpose of sentencing is to punish, not to rehabilitate. Honor demands vengeance. Respect commands justice. Two significantly different approaches.
Barry Brady and Daniel VanDeusen Promoted to Flagler Fire Rescue Battalion Chief
Barry Brady and Daniel VanDeusen were promoted of the 10 applicants who tested. Barry Brady was hired by Flagler County in May of 2007. Daniel VanDeusen began his career in Flagler County over 16 years ago in 2005.
Marion Gavins Jr., Who Murdered FPC’s Curtis Gray, 18, Is Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison in Plea
Marion Leo Gavins Jr., 20, pleaded guilty today and was sentenced to 45 years in prison for the murder of Curtis Gray, 18, in April 2019 outside a smoke shop in Palm Coast, a killing that shook the Flagler Palm Coast High and Matanzas High communities and that led his mother to create an enduring non-profit in Gray’s name.
With 100 Cases and $190,000 in Missing Funds, Sheriff Turns Flagler Tax Services Fraud Case to IRS Investigators
The cases against Bob Newshomle, long-time owner and operator of Flagler Tax Services, began emerging soon after he shot himself in an apparent suicide attempt in August. The Sheriff’s Office was overwhelmed with complaints about Newsholme’s tax business, resulting in allegations of grand theft, organized scheme to defraud, and embezzlement.
6 School Boards’ Challenge to State Ban on Mask Mandates Goes Forward
The decision by Judge Brian Newman came a day before a hearing is scheduled to start in the challenge filed by the school boards in Miami-Dade, Broward, Orange, Duval, Alachua and Leon counties.
Road Rage Incident Spills Into Circle K and Leads to Violent Confrontation, 2 Hospitalizations, 1 Felony Charge
Bruce Hunter Rohr, 22, of Palm Coast, faces an aggravated battery charge, a felony, after a bruising confrontation with a 53-year-old man at the Circle K on Palm Coast Parkway Tuesday night. But there may not be surveillance video of the a crucial part of the fight: who threw the first punch.
Flagler Sheriff’s Deputy Saves 3-Year-Old Boy as he Hid from Flames and Alarms in W-Section Kitchen Fire
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office’s Marcus Dawson, first at the scene of a W-Section fire in Palm Coast Sunday evening, entered the smoke-filled house and found a 3-year-old boy hiding under a cover in a bedroom. The fire was contained to the kitchen.
Do Unbiased Jurors Exist in Social Media Age Anymore?
It’s a fundamental question for this era: Is it possible to find unbiased citizens to serve on a jury in high-profile cases during an age of ubiquitous social media? The dilemma facing the Supreme Court is how prescriptive they want the voir dire process to be. It could issue an opinion requiring lower courts to ask jurors more penetrating questions about their exposure to media accounts in high-profile cases.
Flagler’s 1st Domestic Violence Conference Confronts Myths and Silences Often Complicit With Abusers
Panels at the conference, called Rise Up 2021, was organized by Daytona State College and the Flagler County Domestic Violence Task Force, delved into religious organizations’ silence toward or complicit enabling of domestic violence, the mechanics of stalking, trauma on children and other prevalent but rarely discussed fallout from a widespread problem.
Palm Coast Man, 63, With Recent History of Domestic Violence, Faces 1st-Degree Attempted Murder Charge Over Roommate Attack
Steven Schneider, on probation over a stalking charge, was charged with attempted first-degree murder after allegedly attacking his 29-year-old roommate with a hammer and a knife and repeatedly stabbing him. The roommate survived. the incident was witnessed by the roommate’s mother.
Panel Discusses Eliminating Flagler Beach’s July 4 Parade, or at Least Significantly Scaling It Back
Flagler Beach City Manager William Whitson suggested doing away with the Independence Day parade, an idea that gained little traction among July 4 committee members today, but there was more unanimity about significantly scaling back the parade and eliminating politicians and most businesses from participation.
State Attorney Drops Felony Charge Against Mom in Indian Trails Incident With Boys But Files Misdemeanor Battery
Ruffin, 31, of Palm Coast’s R-Section, drew as much mainstream and social media attention a month ago from an allegation that she had assaulted a juvenile boy as she did from a 15-minute video of herself indignantly countering the charge and describing her role as an instance of instinctive protection of her son, who she said had been targeted by others.
A Buddy Taylor Middle Student Is Arrested for Making Threats to Kill at School, Adding Misogyny to Insults
A 13-year-old student at Buddy Taylor Middle School was charged with two felony counts of making threats to kill after he allegedly threatened his teacher and a classmate at school on Tuesday. It is the second instance of a student arrest for making threats at school since school resumed on Aug. 10, the third involving a child making such threats on or off campus.
U.S. School Boards Association Asks Biden for Better Security at Meetings. Florida Association Says Count Us Out.
The Florida School Boards Association is refusing to pay membership dues to the National School Boards Association after the Washington, D.C.-based organization wrote in a letter to President Joe Biden’s administration that the country’s “public schools and its education leaders are under an immediate threat.”
Throwing Sledge Hammer, Tool Box and Other Items at Cops from Bed of Truck, Man and Woman Are Arrested After Chase
One man is being held on $278,000 bond, a woman is being held on $152,000 bond after the two combined for 34 criminal charges in a chase through Bunnell that included throwing heavy tools and a tool box from the bed of the stolen truck at chasing cops.
Sheriff Staly Elected Chairman of State Board that Sets Policing Standards Across Florida
Law enforcement accreditation by the legislatively-created state organization is both a sign of distinction among law enforcement agencies and of reassurance to the public:, while Sheriff Rick Staly’s election as its chairman “speaks very clearly about how trusted and respected Sheriff Staly is here and across the State of Florida,” in a former agency director’s words.
Florida Marks 30 Years of Silver Alerts
October 8 marked the thirteenth anniversary of Florida’s Silver Alert program. Since the program’s inception in 2008, 2,721 Silver Alerts have been issued, and Florida’s Silver Alert program has been directly responsible for 268 recoveries of missing senior citizens.
A Matanzas High School Football Player Shoots and Wounds Another With BB Gun, and Faces Felony Charges
A 14-year-old student at Matanzas High School, faces two felony charges after allegedly shooting a BB gun and wounding a fellow-student early Thursday evening in Palm Coast’s F Section. The incident was preceded by a case of bullying and sexual humiliation that had originated earlier in the day at the school, though authorities say no connection was established between the bullying and the shooting.
Doctor Recommends Sending Man Who Killed His Father Back to State Hospital. Defense Wants 2nd Opinion.
Dunn, 60, killed and mutilated his elderly father in Palm Coast 15 years ago. He was close to regaining his full freedom this summer when he started exhibiting strange behavior and violated his probation, landing him back in jail for the first time in eight years. A doctor is recommending that he be returned to a state psychiatric hospital.
Ruth Rupprecht, Owner of Animal Rescue Operation with Checkered History, Faces 17 Animal Cruelty and Drug Charges
Ruth Rupprecht, accused of using her animal rescue operation as a front for selling drugs, has run the organization known as Saffari since 2012, and surrendered numerous animals to the Humane Society in 2016. A search of her property in September revealed deplorable conditions–and drugs–and she surrendered 46 animals before being charged.
49-Year-Old Bunnell Man in Mental Crisis Decapitates Family Parrot of 48 Years and Faces Animal Cruelty Charge
A 49-year-old Bunnell man with a recent history of mental disabilities faces a felony charge of animal cruelty after killing a parrot that had been in his family for 48 years, and threatening to do harm to other pets and family members in the household.