City of Winter Haven recycling delay
Recycling collection for today and tomorrow will be delayed by one day.
May 1st recycling will be collected on May 2nd.
May 2nd recycling will be collected on May 3rd.
If your recycling can is blue, the City of Winter Haven provides your recycling services. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
LAKELAND, FL (May 1, 2025) – On May 1, 2025, Nicholas Lue was charged with Second Degree Murder in the death of Jesse Banks. Banks was killed while Lue was attempting to perpetrate the murder of another individual.
*****ORIGINAL RELEASE*****
LAKELAND, FL (April 25, 2025) – On April 24, 2025, at 9:31 p.m. the Lakeland Police Department responded to reports of a shooting at the Cali Rose 15 Kitchen (formerly known as Rush Hour Bar & Grill), located at 1323 Ariana Street. Upon arriving, officers learned two persons, Jesse Banks (age 28 of Lakeland) and Nicholas Lue (age 26 of West Palm Beach), had sustained gunshot wounds. Both persons were transported to Lakeland Regional Health (LRH) for treatment. Despite the best efforts of medical professionals, Banks was pronounced deceased. Lue, who is expected to recover, was stabilized and remains hospitalized.
Based on the initial witness statements and evidence collected thus far, detectives have learned Banks and Lue initiated an argument with Tre D ‘Shon Huntly (age 24 of Lakeland) just outside the front door of the business. The altercation then turned physical when Banks struck Huntly on the head with his fist. A male who was just inside the front door of the business, opened the door in defense of Huntly. Banks and Lue then turned their aggression towards the male, produced a handgun and pointed it at him. Huntly then produced a handgun and shot several times at Banks and Lue. Huntly cooperated with detectives at the scene. During the initial investigation, Banks was also found to be in possession of a handgun.
Preliminarily it appears Tre D’Shon Huntly was acting in defense and no charges have been filed at this time. The investigation is active and ongoing and anyone with information is encouraged to contact Detective Neal Robertson at 863-834-6971 or [email protected].
Congratulations to Mrs. Mizelle and The BDTV Crew at Winter Haven High School!
Winter Haven High School’s BDTV crew, led by the dedicated Mrs. Mizelle, delivered an outstanding performance at the 2025 Video Awards on April 29.
The team took home 7 out of 10 “BEST” awards, showcasing their talent and creativity across multiple categories. They earned BEST in:
-Daily News Show
-Commercial
-Music Video
-Solo Announcer
-Announcing Team
-Documentary
-Book Trailer
Most impressively, Winter Haven High was awarded BEST in Show for the seventh consecutive year—a truly remarkable achievement. This ongoing success reflects the hard work, passion, and innovation of both the students and their mentor. Congratulations to Mrs. Mizelle and every member of the BDTV team for setting such a high standard in student broadcasting. Your excellence continues to inspire!
FL (May 1, 2025) – On May 1, 2025, at 4:52 a.m. the Lakeland Police Department responded to reports of a shooting at the Fast Stop convenience store, 820 E. Memorial Blvd. Upon arriving, officers located the suspect, Ricardo Zelidon (age 59 of Lakeland), behind his vehicle with his hands up. They also located Jessie Woullard (age 45 of Lakeland) inside his vehicle with gunshot wounds. Woullard was transported to Lakeland Regional Health for treatment and despite the best efforts of medical professionals, he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased.
Based on the initial witness statements and evidence collected thus far, detectives have learned Zelidon was at the Fast Stop for several minutes prior to Woullard’s arrival. When Woullard pulled into a parking space, Zelidon pulled behind his vehicle, blocking him from leaving. Woullard attempted to back out but was unable. Zelidon then got out of his vehicle carrying a firearm and wearing a ballistic vest. He approached Woullard’s vehicle and had a short argument with him before Zelidon opened Woullard’s driver’s side door and shot him two times.
After the shots were fired, Zelidon retreated to his vehicle and awaited police arrival. Investigators learned Zelidon paid Woullard to work at his residence a few weeks ago and believed Woullard stole a firearm during that time. Zelidon has been arrested for First Degree Murder.
The active investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is encouraged to contact Detective Biko Duhaney at 863-834-5918 or [email protected].
by James Coulter
Do you have a child or person in your family with autism? Do you suspect your child may have autism? Do you want to learn more about autism in general?
The Winter Haven Hospital Foundation will be hosting a free educational series to educate the community about Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and how Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) can help families and caregivers better manage it. The series is being funded with donations provided by Rockin’ on the Chain, a local organization that raises funds for ASD and developmental disabilities.
Through this three-day series, hosted over three weeks, attendees will be able to better understand ASD and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. They will also learn the basics of ABA and how its methods can be applied to help families and caregivers improve their experience with healthcare services.
“Attendees will learn to use ABA to teach skills to children and adults with ASD to communicate levels of pain and discomfort, preferences for medical procedures, and approaches to build tolerance for medical procedures in general,” a press release explained. “Attendees will practice problem-solving using ABA to manage aggression, self-injury and non-compliance with medical procedures during physical exams and increased comfort during vaccine administration.”
The series is hosted by the Winter Haven Hospital Foundation, a local not-for-profit organization that seeks to “to provide patients with state-of-the-art medical care, cutting-edge technology and equipment, and the best educated and trained personnel.”
This education series is part of the foundation’s overall efforts to help improve access to mental health and primary care services in the community. Their strategy has included partnering with two universities to help bring mental health and primary care professionals to the community.
John Straughn, founder of the “Rockin’ on the Chain” organization stated he’s proud to partner with the Winter Haven Hospital Foundation. “I think the Foundation does a good job of improving our community’s quality of life,” Straughn said.
“Our philosophy in terms of improving access to any particular health service is that…if you want to improve access to primary care services, your focus should be on improving access to physicians, primarily primary care physicians; and if you want to improve access to mental health services, you should be working on improving access to mental health professionals,” said Joel Thomas, President and CEO of Winter Haven Hospital Foundation.
The Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech) is one of the two universities the Foundation has formed a partnership with to help with their endeavors. Specifically, they have collaborated with the university’s Scott Center for Autism Treatment and Research, which aims to “provide gold standard diagnosis and treatment services for children with autism spectrum disorder.”
Florida Tech’s College of Psychology faculty recommended the community education series, which was created not only to educate the public about ASD and ABA but also to provide an opportunity to bring some of the university professors to the Winter Haven community to further improve access to mental health services.
“We know that there is a significant relationship between mental healthcare and physical health,” said Dr. Nathan Falk, program director of the Florida State University College of Medicine Family Medicine Residency Program in Winter Haven. “We want to try and take care of the whole person. And so, to do that, not only do primary care physicians need to know a lot about mental healthcare, but we also want our physicians to know the impact that mental health has on physical health and other conditions…So, as part of this partnership with Florida Tech, our medical residents see patients alongside Florida Tech doctorate-level clinical psychology interns and provide care in an interdisciplinary manner.”
Through partnerships with Florida Tech and the Florida State University and other regional colleges and universities, the Foundation has been able to achieve its goals. They have been able to incorporate more physical and mental health professionals in the community. Through their upcoming educational series, they hope to further their goals and benefit everyone, both professionals and residents alike.
“We are excited to continue our partnership with Florida Tech and utilize it to expand into the community and continue the benefits that we have been proud to offer here in Winter Haven. This helps us continue to educate and expand services to our community,” Dr. Falk said.
The free autism spectrum community education series will be hosted on May 29, June 5, and June 12 from 5 PM to 7 PM. The series will be hosted at the Winter Haven Family Health Center, located at 1201 1st Street South, Suite 100A, Winter Haven, FL 33880.
To register for the series, call 863-297-1781. For more information, visit: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/autismspectrumcommunityeventseries/event/autismspectrumcommunityeventseries/
On April 30, 2025 around 3:45 p.m. Winter Haven Police Department responded to a disturbance by 805 Havendale Blvd NW in Winter Haven, the Walgreens parking lot. There was an apparent driving incident involving a gun displayed against the victim and a young child.
The driver with the alleged gun was identified as Alexander Estrada of Winter Haven DOB 5/5/2000.
It should be noted that this is an unedited report of facts by the Winter Haven Police Department. These facts are up for question and everyone is entitled to question the validity of facts by law enforcement in a court of law. Winter Haven Daily does not rewrite these facts as some meanings or interpretations could be in error and change context. We hope readers appreciate being able to read the information and come to your own conclusion.
“On April 30, 2025, at approximately 1550 hours, the victim,REDACTED, was traveling north on 10th St NW from Havendale Blvd. She was traveling behind another vehicle that was being driven by the defendant. She and the defendant came to the next intersection and both vehicles turned east and then both turned south onto 9th St NW.
When they got to the area of this road behind the Mid Florida Credit Union, which is located at 2075 8th St NW, the defendant suddenly stopped his vehicle in the middle of the road.
Per the victim, the defendant was traveling over the speed hump and stopped on it. While doing this, he pulled a little over towards the center of the road, opened his door, left it open and stepped out. The vehicle and defendant were now obstructing her from moving forward. She immediately noticed the defendant was holding a black handgun. She saw the defendant’s mouth moving but her windows were up and she could not hear what he was saying.
Based upon the unusual actions of the defendant, him suddenly stopping his vehicle in the middle of the road and blocking the victim’s forward movement, along with him producing a firearm, she had an immediate and well-founded fear for her safety and life and that of her passenger, her great niece who is six years old.
The actions of the defendant caused the victim to put her vehicle in reverse and immediately back up to get away from the defendant. This action was in an effort to keep her and the child safe from harm.
The defendant then fled the scene but information was obtained that allowed officers to locate him at his home, one block away from the incident location.
Upon contact, the defendant gave a sworn statement to the officers where alleged the victim was following him to closely and it pissed him off so he got out of his car with his gun in his hand and he asked the victim what her problem was. The female then drove off.
The defendant is being charged with one count of Aggravated Assault with a deadly weapon without Intent to Kill F.S.S. 784.021(1)(a).
The defendant was transported to Polk County Processing Center.”
FATAL CRASH INVOLVING MOTORCYCLE
LAKELAND, FL (April 30, 2025) – On Saturday, April 26, 2025, at approximately 11:20 p.m., officers responded to a crash involving a motorcycle in the 4100 block of South Florida Avenue. Based on witness statements and evidence gathered at the scene, prior to the crash, a grey Ford was exiting Bowlero, 4111 South Florida Avenue, in an eastbound direction toward the median. As the Ford entered the roadway, an unknown vehicle, which was in front of the Ford, made a sudden U-turn in front of the Ford, causing the Ford to stop briefly in the roadway. At the same time, a blue Yamaha motorcycle was traveling in the inside southbound lane and collided with the Ford’s rear driver side door and fender.
The Lakeland Police Department Patrol Units, Polk County Fire Rescue, and the Lakeland Fire Department arrived on the scene and began life-saving measures. The motorcycle driver was transported to Lakeland Regional Health with life threatening injuries.
Members of the Traffic Homicide Unit responded to the scene and took over the investigation. The roadway was shut down for approximately four hours while the scene was processed.
On April 28, 2025, the driver of the motorcycle succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased. The investigation is still ongoing and anyone with information is encouraged to contactOfficer Camilo Almeida at [email protected].
The motorcycle operator (deceased) was identified as:
Neel Patel
Age 28
Lakeland, FL
The Ford operator was identified as:
Travis Maxwell
Age 21
Lakeland, FL
UPDATE:
Nathaniel Gale, Polk County Fire Rescue Public Information Officer confirmed one patient was transported (non trauma).
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April 30, 2025 – A vehicle crash was reported just after 3:45 p.m. at Havendale Blvd near 17th St NW. in Winter Haven.
At the time of publication, traffic is still slow in the area. Please drive with caution.
We are waiting on additional details to come in regarding injuries and will update.
A Lake Alfred man formerly employed by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (he resigned upon his arrest) was arrested by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Wednesday morning, April 30, 2025, after it was discovered that he had inappropriately touched a juvenile.
24-year old Adrian Felix had been employed as a detention deputy with the PCSO since January 21, 2025. Upon his arrest, Felix resigned. Had he not resigned, his employment with the PCSO would have been terminated.
“Adrian Felix’s actions were deeply unacceptable and egregious. As a former detention deputy, he was responsible for supervising inmates—he was on the outside looking in. Now he’s on the inside looking out.”– Grady Judd, Sheriff
The investigation began Tuesday evening after Felix contacted a PCSO deputy who he knew, and confessed to her that he had touched a juvenile inappropriately, and he wished to turn himself in.
When a PCSO special victims detective spoke with Felix, he refused to answer any questions about the matter.
According to a female witness, the victim texted her on Tuesday, April 29th at around 4:30 pm, informing her that Felix had been “weird” toward her Sunday evening, April 27th, while she was at the couple’s home.
The victim reported that Felix had touched her thighs, buttocks, and breasts over her clothing, and rubbed her back under her shirt.
The witness confronted him about the allegations. He initially denied it, but then confessed to her, and said that he would turn himself in to the Sheriff’s Office. According to the investigation, another witness was also told by the victim about the molestation.
Adrian Felix was arrested and taken to the Polk County Jail; he was charged with two counts of Lewd Molestation (Suspect over 18/Victim between 12-16), F2.
The investigation is ongoing.
September 14th, 1977 – April 19th, 2025
In honor of Mark, if possible, please wear a motorcycle or semi-truck shirt!!!
Visitation will be May 3, 2025 from 1:00 -2:00 p.m. with a Celebration of Life to follow at 2:00.
Location: Oak Ridge Funeral Care
2425 Havendale Blvd NW in Winter Haven
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