Around South Florida with Elgin Jones 1-2-14

NO FISHING
Not only is Clayton P. Wynn, 36, of West Palm Beach in hot water, he has also been jailed. Wynn worked at Bill Buckland’s Fisherman’s Center in Riviera Beach, a place renowned for top quality  marine equipment. Police said Wynn took seven new reel and rods worth $2,570 to a pawn shop and sold them for $500. A pawn shop employee became suspicious because the boxes were labeled ‘Fisherman’s Center.’ Also, Wynn was wearing a t-shirt with the same name on it, which turned out to be his work shirt. Police said an investigation revealed Wynn was regularly pawning new fishing equipment at pawn shops. The investigation is continuing but he is already charged with larceny and multiple counts of fraud and dealing in stolen property.

TOO FAR
Scott Biederman, 43, of Boca Raton is facing battery, domestic violence and other charges after getting into a violent fight with his 18-year-old son, who lives with him. According to the police report, the two exchanged punches, with the son being knocked to the ground. Biederman also hit him with a ladder and threw a bottle that caused massive cuts to his stomach. The son was rushed to a hospital, where he underwent successful surgery. Biederman told police he was tired of his son sneaking out of the house and staying out all night drinking.

Broward County

GOVERNMENTAL FEUD
A long-running battle between the neighboring municipalities of Pembroke Pines and the town of Southwest Ranches has started anew. A proposed 2600-student Franklin Academy charter school is the subject of this latest confrontation. Pembroke Pines gave the go-ahead for the project despite Southwest Ranches residents’ concerns about traffic, noise and other issues. In 2012, Southwest Ranches erected gates across three streets that gave Pines residents direct access to Griffin Road. In 2012, Pembroke Pines successfully fought to kill a proposed immigration detention center in Southwest Ranches by refusing to provide water and sewer to the facility. Southwest Ranches filed a lawsuit against Pines, which is still pending. So the tale of the cities continues.

CVS LAYOFFS
CVS’s mail order prescription division, Caremark, is laying off 228 employees at its Miramar location. Caremark’s operations will be relocated to other states. The move will not impact any CVS pharmacy stores and is intended to streamline operations in the company’s online and mail order prescription business.

SHOTS FIRED
Jacobo Bernstein-Firum, 40, of Fort Lauderdale is behind bars after neighbors called police to report he was out on his balcony yelling and acting the fool. Police said when officers arrived he fired shots at them. SWAT was called out. Bernstein-Firum fell from the balcony to an asphalt driveway below, where he was injured.

Miami-Dade County

BEACH RAPIST
DNA has linked Blitz Santana Monestine, 29, to a brutal gang rape that occurred inside a South Beach lifeguard stand last May, police said. The victim said she had been drinking and was standing outside a bar when an unknown number of men began to insult her. That’s when one of the men came to her aid and they walked along the beach and went to a life guard stand. The other men then appeared and she was beaten, choked and gang-raped. Monestine, who has a long and violent criminal history, is in custody awaiting sentencing on federal weapons charges. 

RICHMOND HEIGHTS
Residents of Richmond Heights, which was founded in 1949 by Capt. Frank Crawford Martin for African-American World War II veterans, held a heritage discussion about the raw history of the area and blacks. It took place at Richmond Middle School where Principal Kristal Hickmon welcomed the event. Participants included Tuskegee Airman Eldridge Williams, Laura Ann Palmore, wife of Florida’s first black United States Postmaster Anthony Palmore, natives of the area and other residents. More of these types of symposiums need to take place because there are many things you will never hear about in history books.

PARKS CLOSED
County Commissioner Marc Sarnoff has confirmed that two more city of Miami parks will be closed because of toxin fears. Billy Rolle Domino Park in Coconut Grove and Southside Park near Brickell will be shut down while soil samples are gathered and tested. These are the latest Miami parks to be closed due to positive tests for contaminants. Douglas Park in Coral Gables, Blanche Park and Merrie Christmas Park in Coconut Grove are among them.

Monroe County

OFF TO TRIAL
Two Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies charged in an off-duty road rage incident are set for trial next week. The case was transferred out of Monroe County to Miami-Dade. Deputies Darnell Durham and Kyle Page are accused of harassing and threatening a couple with a gun while off-duty and riding motorcycles on the Overseas Highway. They are accused of kicking the side of the SUV the couple was riding in during a road-rage incident.
Florida Highway Patrol troopers wrote in their reports that several witnesses corroborated the couple’s allegations and the deputies were charged with brandishing the weapon, road rage and making false statements to the troopers. An internal affairs investigation resulted in their suspensions but did not sustain allegations they pulled a weapon, drove recklessly and gave false statements to the highway patrol. Sheriff Rick Ramsay has reassigned them pending the outcome of the criminal trials.

INVESTIGATOR SUSPENDED
Monroe County State Attorney’s investigator Franklin Cohens, 48, has been suspended following his drunk-driving arrest in Key West. Police said he backed into an SUV while driving his state attorney’s office vehicle at 8:30 p.m. When police arrived, they found his eyes were bloodshot and he showed obvious signs of intoxication, according to the police report. State Attorney Catherine Vogel said Cohens has been suspended pending the outcome of the case and their own investigation. She has asked Gov. Rick Scott to assign the case to another jurisdiction.