One man is dead after a rollover crash on US 27 near New Life Way, on Friday afternoon. The man was reportedly walking his bicycle in the ditch next to 27 when the accident occurred. According to witness testimony, a Nissan Sentra heading south on 27 at a high rate of speed, drove through the intersection and hit the front end of a Ford Edge SUV attempting to turn left onto New Life Way. After impact, the Nissan Sentra lifted and rolled at approximately 50 mph hour, striking and killing the bicyclist. One passenger in the Nissan was ejected. Her injuries required her to be airlifted to Tampa General Hospital. Another crash victim was also treated by paramedics at the scene. The crash remains under investigation by the Sebring Police Department.
A man is in custody and his dogs were seized after a traffic stop turned into a drug bust in Polk County. FHP says a trooper arrested a man Sunday morning in Lakeland on SR 400. Xavier Alexander Benitez was pulled over for speeding and driving erratically. FHP says the trooper smelled marijuana coming from the car. That led to a search, and the FHP says the trooper found over 200 grams of pot. Benitez was also allegedly driving on a suspended license. He was arrested, and two puppies in the car were turned over to Animal Control.
A Central Florida School principal has been arrested for hosting an under-aged drinking ‘open house’ party for her students. Cocoa Beach police say forty-seven year old Elizabeth Hill-Brodigan, a principal at Roosevelt Elementary School, and third-grade teacher, forty-five year old Karly Anderson, are facing child neglect charges and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Reports show over one-hundred teenagers allegedly were drunk and drinking alcoholic coolers last weekend. One teenager had to be treated and another was arrested for suspected D-U-I during a traffic stop. Hill-Brodigan has been released on a 35-hundred dollar bond and previously had been Teacher of the Year. Anderson is released on a three-thousand dollar bond.
One of the FBI’s most wanted is now in custody in Central Florida. Missouri’s Donald Eugene Fields, the Second was arrested Saturday in Lake County. According to Lady Lake Police, an officer realized the license plate didn’t match the car Fields was driving. Fields had been one of the FBI’s ten most wanted fugitives for almost two years. He’s facing child sex trafficking and child rape charges.
Authorities are investigating a deadly shooting involving a state trooper at a Central Florida hospital. Police in Marion County say officers were called out to HCA Florida Ocala Hospital Friday morning to help a trooper who was involved in an altercation with a suspect in custody. During the incident, one person was shot and killed. No law enforcement officers or hospital employees were hurt. The Florida Highway Patrol and FDLE are looking into the moments leading up to the shooting.
A Central Florida family is still looking for answers exactly 19 years since their loved one disappeared. Relatives posted on the "Find Jennifer Kesse" Facebook page, saying the FDLE is continuing to work on the case. The 24-year-old went missing from her Orlando condo near the Mall at Millenia on the morning of January 24th, 2006. Her car was found several days later. The biggest evidence discovered during the investigation was a blurry surveillance video of a mysterious man parking about a mile from the complex. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Crime line at 1-800-423-TIPS.
The Sunshine State is cashing in on a national opioid settlement with a major drugmaker. The Florida Attorney General’s Office says the state-led effort against Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler Family, was able to secure more than seven-billion dollars for the 16 states that participated in the lawsuit. The company is accused of aggressively marketing opioid products for decades, fueling a countrywide crisis. Florida is expected to get at least 230-million dollars as part of the agreement. The state agency says the settlement will end the Sacklers’ ability to sell opioids in the United States and will provide funding to communities over the next 15 years.
Florida ended 2024 with job gains, with no change to the unemployment rate. The Florida Department of Commerce reports the Sunshine State added 18-thousand jobs in December, with the jobless rate at three-point-four-percent, the same as November. Overall, there were 377-thousand jobless Floridians out of a labor force of more than eleven-million. Monroe County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate last month, at one-point-nine percent. Citrus County had the highest at four-point-eight percent.