Palm Beach County
SUSPECT ARRESTED
The Florida Office of Financial Regulation arrested Victor Bauza, 49, of Boca Raton on securities fraud-related charges. He is accused of soliciting more than $800,000 from investors to purchase shares of a medical information firm based on false claims of a pending public offering. Authorities say he used most of the money to pay himself commissions and on personal items.
GANG ARRESTS
West Palm Beach police arrested five alleged gang members who rented a house owned by former Palm Beach County Commissioner Maude Ford Lee. Drugs and weapons were also seized from the home. The men are charged in connection with the shooting of a 12-year-old boy. Neither Lee nor her family are involved in the incident. She is the first black to serve on the Palm Beach County County Commission.
FAU PRESIDENT
Florida Atlantic University selected John Kelly as its new president. Kelley hails from Clemson University in South Carolina, where he was vice president of economic development. He was picked over some heavyweight politicos such as state Sen. Jeremy Ring, Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux.
Broward County
SUED AGAIN
Swap Shop owner Preston Henn recently settled a lawsuit filed by luxury apparel manufacturer Coach for $5.5 million over the alleged sale of counterfeit Coach purses and other products at the flea market. This week, luxury designer Louis Vuitton filed a similar suit against him. Henn is accused of knowingly looking the other way at sales of knockoffs at his flea market. The new lawsuit seeks millions for trademark infringement. Henn, 83, says he regrets settling with Coach and intends to fight this latest lawsuit.
STOLEN ATM
An ATM was ripped out of the concrete and stolen from a Bank of America located at Southwest 29th Street and Dykes Road in Miramar. It was loaded onto a truck, which was found abandoned and found with the ATM. A forklift used in the heist had been reported stolen from a construction site.
PRISON TIME
Former Deerfield Beach Housing Authority administrative assistant Cardra Robinson has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. She was convicted of stealing more than $348,000 in federal Housing and Urban Development funds intended to pay rent to landlords for low-income tenants. The authorities say Robinson, 43, had the payments direct-deposited into her own bank account, instead of those of the landlords, and then used federal money to pay the landlords what they were owed.
Miami-Dade County
FIGHTING GUARDS
Miami-Dade Corrections Director Timothy Ryan is out but, like his tenure there, his last day on the job was filled with controversy. Two detention deputies got into a fight in front of inmates. A third deputy, who was not part of the brawl, suffered injuries. It happened at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami.
CEO QUITS
University of Miami Hospital chief executive Dan Snyder has resigned after less than two years on the job. Officials said he decided to “pursue other interests.” David Zambrana, chief operating officer, was named interim CEO. There won’t be any shortage of candidates seeking this lofty position.
EDUCATION PROTEST
United Teachers of Dade President Fedrick Ingram was joined by state Sens. Oscar Braynon II and Dwight Bullard and Miami-Dade School Board Members Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, Perla Tabares Hantman and Martin Karp in a protest over Gov. Rick Scott’s education policies. Several hundred teachers and residents also participated in a protest march along Biscayne Boulevard in downtown Miami.
EX-DIRECTOR CONVICTED
A former Miami-Dade County public works supervisor, George Brown, 50, was convicted of taking bribes. Brown, of Hollywood, oversaw street lights and other public works projects. He admitted accepting thousands of dollars worth of appliances from a vendor in exchange for making sure the county purchased equipment and supplies from the vendor for federally funded projects.
Monroe County
WEIRD BEHAVIOR
Elizabeth Quintana, 43, is charged with auto theft, trespassing on school grounds and disorderly conduct. She was seen dancing in the street and beating on her car which had run out of gas on U.S. 1 in front of Coral Shores High. She threatened students with a rock and was speaking incoherently. A check revealed the car was stolen and she was arrested.
CONFESSION TOSSED
Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Luis Garcia ruled as inadmissible statements and a confession made by Denise Bozarth in the bludgeoning death of her husband Edward. The judge cited the Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent’s failure to allow her to speak to an attorney, as she requested several times. Bozarth, 40, is charged with trying unsuccessfully to hire a former boyfriend to kill her husband. She is also charged with his murder. He was beaten on the head and his body was stuffed in a bag and placed in the hull of a boat they lived on. The authorities allege she told several people about her plan to kill her husband and collect a $650,000 inheritance he received from a relative.
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