A Highlands County corrections officer is among nearly 250 arrested in a major Polk County human trafficking sting. Detectives say 56-year-old Robert Vincent Hill, III, of Lake Placid, a Florida Department of Corrections sergeant, tried to pay $200 to sexually abuse a 13-year-old. He was arrested Thursday in Highlands County and then booked into the Polk County Jail. The seven-day operation, which began September 8th, led to the arrests of 15 suspected child predators, including Hill, and more than 230 others tied to prostitution and human trafficking crimes. In all, investigators filed 371 charges, recovered 15 firearms, and identified 10 possible trafficking victims.
A Highlands County teen is headed to trial this week for an attempted murder case tied to a Valentine’s Day shooting. Nineteen-year-old Ladarius Mehki Brown is accused of shooting his sister’s boyfriend, Randy Mathis, during an argument outside the Budget Inn in Sebring. Police say Brown pulled a gun from his car and fired, hitting Mathis in the wrist before driving off. Security video and witness accounts backed up the victim’s story. Jury selection began Monday. Brown faces attempted second-degree murder charges, which carry up to 15 years in prison.
A Lakeland woman is behind bars after deputies say she was caught mid-burglary—snacking on canned beans. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office says 39-year-old Randi Chanel Reagan broke a window and entered a home on 1st Street West in Auburndale Saturday afternoon. Deputies arrived to find her still inside, acting impaired with slurred speech and unsteady movements. Reagan admitted to breaking in but refused to cooperate further. She was arrested and charged with burglary and criminal mischief.
Lassoing a gator is all in a day’s work for some Central Florida deputies. The Lake County sheriff’s office posted a video on Facebook this weekend of deputies responding to a home where a gator was on a woman’s front porch. The video shows two deputies throwing a rope around the gator, jumping on its back and duct-taping its mouth shut. They then put the gator in the back of their cruiser to relocate him. The LCSO writes, "not our first call like this, but it’s always a Florida classic."