Palm Beach
HIT & RUN – Jeffrey Camenzili, 24, of Coral Springs is suspected by police of being the driver in a hit-and-run accident in which Mario Sgroia, 53, of Boca Raton was struck by a car while riding his electric bicycle in the 6300 block of West Glades Road.
The vehicle suspected to be involved was found parked at a home in a nearby neighborhood. The investigation is continuing and police are asking anyone with information to call Palm Beach County Crime Stoppers at 800-458-8477.
STRANGE BEHAVIOR
Joseph Michael Wonesh of Boca Raton was arrested at Boca Raton Middle School after school employees reported he was speeding around the parking lot and behaving strangely. When officers arrived, he continued driving around the parking lot, waving his arms and laughing, according to the police report. When he finally did stop, he became confrontational and struggled with officers. He was taken into custody and is facing multiple charges.
CANCER TREATMENT
Gov. Rick Scott announced a deal in which Cancer Treatment Centers of America, which operates five hospitals around the country, will relocate its headquarters to Boca Raton from Chicago. The company is expected to create hundreds of jobs at its new headquarters and medical facility.
INMATE LABOR
Some Palm Beach County municipalities are using prison labor to pick up trash and perform other tasks and labor unions are objecting, claiming the practice takes jobs away from law-abiding citizens and driving wages down. Officials say it saves taxpayers money and provides the inmate job-training but the unions counter that the inmates are convicted felons and ineligible to get hired doing the same work once they are released because of their arrest records.
Broward County
350-YEAR PRESCRIPTION
Dr. Thomas Rodenberg pleaded guilty to 14 charges, including racketeering, trafficking in the painkiller Oxycodone, conspiracy and illegal delivery of controlled substances. Rodenberg, 54, faces up to 350 years in prison. He was one of 11 people arrested in a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigation in 2012. Authorities said he operated a pain clinic in Pompano Beach and agents posing as patients for three years obtained prescriptions for drugs.
DISGUSTING ALLEGATIONS
Sheldon Javon Brown, 21, of West Palm Beach has been arrested and is accused of molesting a 4-year-old baby on several occasions in 2009. Police said the assaults took place in Plantation and the child told her mother about them in 2013 but the family was afraid the child would be placed in foster care if they reported it. Police began investigating after receiving an anonymous tip and family members cooperated in the investigation.
Miami-Dade County
WIRELESS BATTLE
T-Moblie purchased MetroPCS and the company ended all contracts and is offering to pay the early termination fees of AT&T and Verizon customers who make the switch to T-Mobile. AT&T released a new owner price structure for family plans costing $160 per month for four lines with unlimited talk, text and 10 gigabytes of data. Expect Verizon to counter soon with new plans, which should mean lower costs for cellphone consumers.
NAPPING DISPATCHERS
Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine is vowing to have an outside firm audit the city’s police department’s Public Safety Communications Unit. The announcement followed a WPLG Channel-10 report that two 911 operators were sleeping on the job. The report included photographs of the two 911 supervisors asleep while on-duty.
MARIJUANA WORKSHOPS
Legalizing medical marijuana will be on the ballot in November, when voters will decide the issue. With polls showing the measure passing with ease, a number of companies are now in Florida holding workshops on the issue and the industry. Expect a number of marijuana shops to open once the referendum is approved.
NATIONAL CHAMPS!
The Booker T. Washington High School football team and its star quarterback Treon Harris have been voted national champions. The team, which won the state championship for the second year in a row with its perfect season, is now atop the national MaxPreps poll. Way to go!
Monroe County
DCF SCANDAL
Former Child Protection Investigator Katrina Dillon, 47, was asked to resign and later arrested. She is accused of falsifying reimbursement forms, using a work credit card to fill up her personal vehicle with $30 worth of gas and making personal calls on her work cellphone. Her attorneys are saying she had a clean work record and the charges are in retaliation for her critical testimony about the Department of Children and Families’ handling of the Nubia Barahona case. Nubia, 10 at the time, was tortured and killed by her adoptive parent in 2011, despite repeated warning signs that she was in danger. Dillon was critical of her DCF supervisor for not doing more to protect the child.
MAJOR ARRESTS
Juan Soca Sr., 63; Juan Soca Jr. , 42; and Jose Soca, 38 all of Stock Island and alleged members of a reputed drug family, are in federal custody. Authorities raided their family compound and seized 18 pounds of cocaine, 2,100 bars of Xanax, 500 Oxycodone pills, seven grams of crack cocaine and more than $75,000 in cash, according to the police report. Also seized were more than 500 undersized lobster tails. Sheriff Rick Ramsay said warrants were executed on the family’s Stock Island compound before but this may be the biggest haul to date.
RAPE SUSPECT
Marcus Elias Hammer, 41, of Key Largo, who was wanted in the alleged rape of a teenager over a two-year period, has been arrested. He is accused of assaulting the girl at knifepoint. The child reported the assaults to a school resource officer and an investigation began. Several witnesses were interviewed, leading to an arrest warrant being issued for him on eight counts of armed sexual battery, possession of material depicting a sexual performance by a child and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Hammer was traced to West Virginia, where his mother lives and U.S. Marshals took him into custody there. He will be returned to Florida to face trial.
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