FREE MOVIE TICKETS
The South Florida Times will host an advanced screening of Death at a Funeral, a movie starring Danny Glover, Martin Lawrence, Loretta Devine, Chris Rock and several others. Free Tickets to this preview are available to the first 100 new registered users of our website: SFLTimes.com. If you are not a registered user, it is free and you will then begin to receive gifts and other specials like these free tickets. Go to SFLTimes.com and register, and then call our office at 954-356-9360 to receive two tickets per person, to see Death at a Funeral. The screening takes place 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 14 at the AMC Sunset Place 24 Theater, which is located at 5701 Sunset Drive, Miami. 1-888-262-4386.
Miami-Dade County
COFFEE CAPER ARRESTS
The Starbucks coffee store in the University of Miami main campus library in Coral Gables was robbed on Thursday, April 1. The culprits came in through a back door that was left unlocked. On Saturday, April 3, store employee Genequa Robinson, 21, and suspect Sebastian C. Brooks, 21, were arrested and charged in the caper. Police allege that Robinson intentionally left the door unlocked so that Brooks and another masked suspect could burst inside with guns drawn to carry out the robbery. Both are charged with armed robbery and burglary, and the third suspect remains on the loose.
VOCATIONAL CONCERNS
Ronald Sirmons, 44, attended Miami-Dade County School’s Lindsey Hopkins Technical Education Center from 2008 through 2009. He was enrolled in the school’s culinary arts program. Sirmons, along with several other students, are asking questions about the whereabouts of $4,000 in grants that each of them were supposed to receive. All allege they have not received any funds, and the school has ignored repeated requests for documentation, which shows exactly what has happened to those funds. We will have to get to the bottom of this. Stay tuned.
MAN MISSING
Javaughn Johnson, 28, of Miami, has been missing since Jan. 16, and police are seeking the public’s help in trying to locate him. Johnson was last heard from on that date after he made a stop at a Checkers restaurant at Northwest 27th Avenue and 183rd Street in Miami Gardens. At 3 a.m., he called his girlfriend, but the phone abruptly went dead. He was driving his blue 2004 Infiniti G35 with Florida license plate number 147 JVX. The vehicle is also missing. Anyone with information on the victim or his vehicle is asked to contact Miami-Dade Police Homicide Det. R. Hoadley at 305-471-2400, or Miami Dade Crime Stoppers, anonymously, at 305- 471-8477.
Broward County
ANTI-CRIME MARCH
Anthony Davis, pastor of the Church of Brotherly Love in Deerfield Beach, has organized a “March Against Youth Violence.” It will take place on Saturday, April 10, starting at 5 p.m. March participants will gather at the Centro Cristiano facilities, 297 SW 10th St., Deerfield Beach. For additional information contact Pastor Anthony Davis at 954-425-0309.
CANINE ATTACK ARREST
Lavon McNeal, 24, was arrested and charged with obstruction of justice after he allegedly let his three pit bulls loose on police officers who entered his yard as they chased Victor Rozier, a 25-year-old drug suspect. The incident happened on Friday, April 6 at McNeal’s home in the 1500 block of Northwest Fifth Avenue in Pompano Beach. A Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy was bitten by one dog, and that dog was shot and injured by another officer.
COMMISSIONER QUITTING POLITICS
Broward County District 8 Commissioner Diana Wasserman-Rubin raised over $158,000 in her re-election bid. On Friday, April 6, she abruptly announced that she is withdrawing from the race due to a medical condition. Wasserman-Rubin is allegedly under criminal investigation over votes she cast that resulted in increased pay for her husband, grant writer Richard Rubin. Several candidates had already filed for the seat, and now others are expected to enter the race. Barbara Sharief, a black woman who ran a robust campaign against Wassserman-Rubin in 2006, and who was elected to the Miramar City Commission in 2009, would be a front-runner, but she has not expressed an interest in the seat.
OFFICER DISCRIMINATION
Theresa Williams, a 34-year-old Lauderhill police officer who filed civil rights complaints against her supervisors, has been fired. A Broward County Human Rights Division investigation concluded that she was the victim of workplace retaliation after she filed the sexual harassment complaint. The investigation did not find that she endured sexual harassment, but that she was passed over for a promotion as a result of filing the complaints. Williams was terminated on March 1 after allegedly leaving her personal weapon in an office at city hall, and after someone broke into her patrol car and stole an assault rifle. She alleges other, male officers, have received less discipline over similar or more serious incidents. Her union is appealing her termination, and her attorney is preparing a lawsuit, as well as an amendment to her retaliation charge.
HUSBAND CHARGED IN WIFE’S DEATH
Munawar Toha, the 63-year-old husband of Surya Sari-Prihatin Toha, 41, a woman who had been missing for several weeks, is sitting in jail, charged with her murder. The arrest came Tuesday, April 6, a day after Munawar cried before reporters about his missing wife. A man believed to be Munawar was seen on surveillance video pushing a car into a lake. The car, with Surya’s body inside, was removed from the lake Tuesday morning. Munawar Toha went to the Coral Springs Police Department with his attorney later that morning, where he was arrested. Book’em, Dano!
Palm Beach County
FACING CLOSURE
The Joseph Littles-Nguzo Saba Charter School, the state’s only Afro-centric charter school, could face closure. Officials with the Palm Beach County School District will decide if they should strip the West Palm Beach school of its funding. Joseph Littles enrolls students who have had discipline or academic issues at other schools. It has had a D grade over the past several years. The school has operated for more than 11 years. School founder Amefika Geuka blames systematic denial of support and inadequate funding from the school district for the problems.
EJones@SFLTimes.com
No Comment