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Lakeland teacher arrested by Polk County Sheriff’s Office for inappropriate sexual conduct with two students

Carl Fish
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Lakeland teacher arrested by Polk County Sheriff’s Office for inappropriate sexual conduct with two students

Polk County Sheriff’s Office Press Release

A teacher from Crossroads Christian School in Lakeland (615 Old Polk City Road) was arrested by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, after an investigation determined that he had inappropriate sexual conduct with two students at the school.

39-year old Derek Stribling of Lakeland was arrested at his home on Thursday, April 7, 2022 at about 10:52 PM. He refused to speak to detectives about the investigation and was transported to the PCSO Sheriff’s Processing Center where he was charged with Lewd/Lascivious Molestation of a Minor (F2), Lewd/Lascivious Conduct (F2), Offenses against Students by an Authority Figure (F2), and Transmit Material Harmful to a Minor (F3).

“For a 39-year old married deviant to do this to two teens is horrible as it is, but when you add in that he’s a teacher doing this to his students—it infuriates me. Most teachers do everything they can to protect their students, but this guy was the complete opposite. He preyed on them for his own sick desires, and he should never be allowed to be near children again.” – Grady Judd, Sheriff

Detectives from the PCSO Special Victims Unit began investigating Thursday morning after becoming aware that Stribling had sent explicit text messages to two of his female students. One of the students is over 18-years old, and the other was 14-years old at the time.

The adult student informed detectives that Stribling asked her for her phone number back on February 14, 2022, so he could check up on her after she had an argument with her father. Stribling told the victim that she had a “D” in his class, and she could get extra credit to help her grades. He initiated a sexual conversation via text and on the FaceTime app. During the video chat, Stribling showed his penis to the victim while he was masturbating. On another occasion, Stribling tried unsuccessfully to get the victim to meet him in a hotel parking lot for oral sex, but she refused.

The other student reported an incident which she said occurred in 2020 while Stribling was her basketball coach. She said that he had asked her to meet him in the gymnasium’s equipment closet. The victim said that Stribling began kissing her while rubbing her breast and buttocks over her clothing. She also reported that he began communicating with her via the Snapchat app and text messaging, and he called her twice via video chat in which he showed himself masturbating. She also claimed that he tried multiple times to get her to meet him to engage in oral sex, but she refused.

Both victims provided details of Stribling’s anatomy.

The detectives were told that Stribling serves as a teacher, dean, and basketball coach at the school. Any inquiries regarding his employment status at the school should be directed to them.

Donna Dunson rescinds resignation to stay on as Principal only to be denied by board

Staff Reporter
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Donna Dunson rescinds resignation to stay on as Principal only to be denied by board

By Kip Kirchberg

Recently on social media Donna Dunson announced that she spoke with Dr. Wayne Rodolfich, Lake Wales Charter Schools new superintendent, and he asked Donna if she would consider staying onboard as Principal for another school year. Donna quickly accepted the offer from Dr. Wayne Rodolfich and released a statement to students that was shared on social media explaining that she would be back for one more year.

Donna Dunson’s statement to students

Comments on social media flooded in showing support for Donna’s return. Many parents even expressed that they were excited for the following school year knowing she would be at the helm as principle.

Snippet of positive feedback about Donna’s return

Donna’s return from retirement was short lived. A statement from Donna Dunson was posted on social media that acting Superintendent Alricky Smith and board Chair Danny Gill had declined her offer to rescind her resignation.

Donna’s statement that her resignation would not be rescinded

Donna gave her best wishes in an email that was posted to social media stating she hopes the system will return to its original core values to create an environment where both teachers and students can flourish.

Based on comments left on social media it appears that the parental community is split between two groups. One group is made up of an outside political group looking to influence the schools curriculum, staff, and board. The other group is made up of parents who have children in the school or are a member of the Charter School system.

While on the surface it appears to be very clear that lines have been drawn in the sand, I for one know the Lake Wales Community is better than this. Both sides need to come together and determine some common ground that will allow them to move forward together and once again unify the community.

Boys & Girls Club Hosted Opioid Awareness Health Fair 

Allison
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Boys & Girls Club Hosted Opioid Awareness Health Fair 

Boys & Girls Club Hosted Opioid Awareness Health Fair

by James Coulter

More than 49,000 people died from overdosing on opioids, which are currently the main driver of all drug overdose deaths. The Girls and Boys Club of Polk County wished to raise awareness of this ever-present danger in the hopes that one less person would become another statistic.

In partnership with InnerAct Alliance, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Polk County hosted an Opioid Awareness Health Fair on Thursday evening. Nearly a hundred students and their parents received information from vendors about opioids and drug prevention, as well as participated in other activities including free food, bike raffles, and bounce houses.

Sgt. Frank Vargas, who participates in the Drug Outreach Program for the Florida Army National Guard, spoke alongside Paul Maxwell, a Drug Intelligence Officer, to spread awareness of synthetic opioids through a presentation. They mentioned how many drugs are disguised as candy and other food items, encouraging adults to remain vigilant about what their children eat. They also explained how to dispose of their medications safely to prevent other people, including children, from consuming them.

“There is a lot of candy that looks like candy…but some of those candies can be harmful to kids, and parents need to be aware of what their kids are taking and be engaged,” Sgt. Vargas said.

“We want to get the awareness out there to parents so they understand these pills look like regular medicine, but they are not, they are counterfeit, and one pill can kill if they take it,” Maxwell said. As for the presentation, he commented: “It was a small turnout, it was a little smaller, but if we can reach out to one person, it is worth it for us.”

Stephanie Shultz of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) crime division unit likewise participated to educate the public on the ongoing opioid epidemic. She was one of the many vendors who attended to disperse information about her organization as well as provide free pamphlets and gift items to help spread awareness.

“We want people to know that whatever your situation is, if it is in your family or you know someone who has a drug addiction, that you seek help,” she said. “This is a great event. We are proud to see the kids, to be here and interact with the community, [and] to reinforce the message that we are here to serve the community.”

James Shiver, a volunteer from InnerAct, attended as a vendor representing his organization, which partnered with the Boys and Girls Club to host the event. As both organizations focus on improving their community through drug prevention and mental health awareness, they hosted the event that afternoon to further both their causes.

“I am so glad to see so many children are excited to see the table and parents to go into the presentation, and I am excited to see so many people out and about in the community,” he said. “I hope they take away that students are still growing and changing, and [how] it is really important to get the info [out] before they face the challenge of substance abuse and bullying.”

Chief of Law Enforcement exits after 34 years with Polk County Sheriff’s Office to serve as the next CEO of Peace River Center

Jody
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Chief of Law Enforcement exits after 34 years with Polk County Sheriff’s Office to serve as the next CEO of Peace River Center

After 34-years with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Larry Williams, Jr., the Chief of the Department of Law Enforcement is leaving the agency to accept the Chief Executive Officer position at the Peace River Center. After entering into the Florida Retirement System’s Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP), Williams was preparing to officially retire based on his years of service, but then came an opportunity with the Peace River Center.

Following a national executive search that began in December of 2021 to replace the retiring CEO Bill Gardam, the PRC’s Board of Directors unanimously chose Larry Williams.

“Larry Williams is a dear friend of mine, and I hate to see him go, but this is a great opportunity for him, and a solid choice by the PRC’s Board of Directors. After a long, successful career with us, he entered into the DROP, but a person with his background doesn’t just stop. He still has so much to offer.” – Grady Judd, Sheriff

“I am looking forward to working with the professionals at PRC to deliver the highest quality and most impactful services to individuals in our diverse communities. Improving the lives and emotional wellbeing of our fellow citizens helps build a better quality of life for all of us.” –Larry Williams, Chief, PCSO Department of Law Enforcement

Williams began his career with the PCSO back in 1988 as a part time deputy sheriff, and finishes as the agency’s Chief of the Department of Law Enforcement and a member of Sheriff Grady Judd’s Executive Staff.

Williams has an Associate of Arts degree from Polk Community College, a Bachelor of Arts degree from Warner Southern University, and a Master’s degree from Troy University. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy Class 260, the Southern Police Institute 114th Administrative Officers Course, the Police Executive Research Forum’s Senior Management Institute for Police (SMIP), and the Florida State University’s Certified Public Manager Program.

Williams will officially begin as CEO at Peace River Center on May 2, 2022.

Peace River Center (PRC) is a 501(C)(3) not-for-profit organization striving to impact the lives of our clients and the community we serve by engaging, restoring, and empowering individuals to reach their fullest potential by offering a broad range of mental health, victim services and substance use disorder services throughout Polk, Highlands and Hardee counties.

Peace River Center’s mission is to engage, restore, and empower individuals in our community to reach their fullest potential. The vision of Peace River Center is to be a Center of Excellence for building emotional wellness.

—From the Peace River Center website. For more information go to peacerivercenter.org.

Tech Tuesday: Protecting Your Digital Assets

Staff Reporter
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Tech Tuesday: Protecting Your Digital Assets

By Kip Kirchberg

When you think of a “hacker” you probably envision some kind of hoodie-wearing teenager with black fingernail polish, a laptop plastered with techie stickers and an array of empty energy drink cans surrounding them.

If you’re like me, you probably also picture a movie like the Matrix or Swordfish, great movies.

User Names and Passwords are the most common way to prove we are who we say we are when it comes to using websites, social media accounts, email, and even the computer itself.

Passwords also give us and others access into mobile phones, bank applications, work log-ins, and confidential files. For many online systems, a password is the only thing keeping a hacker from stealing our personal data.

In all reality hacking is not rocket science. The truth is you can prevent a lot of common cyber attacks by using unique passwords for each site. If you are looking for a way to improve your cybersecurity, password security is where you should start.

Leveraging a password manager like Last Pass will help you generate very unique and complicated passwords for every site you visit. The best part is you don’t have to remember your logins because Last Pass does it for you. Save a password once, and it’s instantly available on a single device type for Free. With Premium, LastPass goes everywhere you do, across all your devices.

Link to Protecting Digital Assets Slide Here

Kip Kirchberg is an International Cyber Security Expert who has experience building Cyber Security Teams and working with Multiple Fortune 500 organizations. Experience includes but is not limited to Building SIEM platforms, Endpoint Security, 3rd Party Remote Access, Industrial Control System’s NextGen Firewall’s, Helping Organizations Identify Cyber Security Risks, Generating Reports that lead to actionable data, Build and maintain Incident Response Team’s, Draft and Adopt Corporate Cyber Security Governance, Internal and External Pen Testing, plus much more….

If you are looking for a better solution to protect your endpoints, have a need for remote management, need visibility into pc performance, or would like to capture pc software inventory I can help find a solution for you.

Please reach out and request your free Cyber Security Consultation. I will be glad to discuss options, schedule a Demo, and help you find a solution that will work best for your environment.

You can reach me at 863-734-8060 or at [email protected]

April Showers Did Not Rain Out Bartow Spring Fling

Staff Reporter
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April Showers Did Not Rain Out Bartow Spring Fling

April Showers Did Not Rain Out Bartow Spring Fling

by James Coulter

April showers bring may flowers, and even the threat of April showers could not deter vendors and attendees from attending the Spring Fling Hop & Shop in Downtown Bartow on Saturday.

Several vendors set up booths along Central Avenue in Downtown Bartow to sell everything from homegrown honey to handcrafted wreaths. Despite the forecast calling for severe thunderstorms, many people decided to attend the event, explained Linda Holcomb, Main Street Bartow Executive Director.

“It has been okay considering the threat of the weather conditions,” she said. “Some show up. Some cancelled last minute. And then, of course, the crowds are not as big as they usually have been. It is usually bigger earlier…We had a ton of families down here. Vendors have been selling stuff, so they are happy.”

With Easter right around the corner, attendees could get into the holiday spirit by taking pictures with the Easter Bunny and purchasing other holiday goodies like Easter baskets, eggs, candy, and orchids.

Many residents went above and beyond to get into the Easter spirit. Trish Pfifer, who is currently running for Seat 3 on the Bartow City Commission, dressed up in bunny ears and took a stroll with her two pet dogs.

She was glad that the rain did not come, despite the weather forecast for that day and gray clouds forming and looming above. Otherwise, she loved the beautiful weather, which was most ideal for a stroll downtown.

“It is a beautiful day down on the main street area,” she said. “It brings people to our city which is great we want them to see what to offer with our downtown hospitality so it is a great event.”

Melissa Woodward has been selling coasters and other artwork with characters based on popular movies, games, and shows. She especially loves making items based on anime like Naruto and Demon Slayer.

She has been making and selling her items at events like this for five years and counting. She owes her success to the loyal customers who support her and her work.

“[I love the] people who come out an enjoy my items,” she said. As for the event that day, she thought it was, “pretty decent despite all of the rain moving in.”

For more information about upcoming events, visit Main Street Bartow’s Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/MainStreetBartow/

Junior Leauge of Greater Lakeland Raises Racket for Raise A Racket

Jody
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Junior Leauge of Greater Lakeland Raises Racket for Raise A Racket

Junior Leauge of Greater Lakeland Raises Racket for Raise A Racket

by James Coulter

The only thing the Junior League of Greater Lakeland loves more than their local community is being able to “love” to love their local community through tennis. They showed their love last Friday night during their Raise A Racket Party.

Hosted at the Junior League of Greater Lakeland Building, the Raise A Racket Party is their casual, tennis-themed party where attendees could eat appetizers, bid on silent auctions for various prizes, and even make donations to their backpack wall by filling bags with school supplies for local children.

The annual fundraiser is hosted to help raise funds for community needs, especially literacy and food insecurity. Proceeds go towards causes such as their literacy initiative, which helps donates books to children ages 1 to 5, and their clothing initiative, which donates clothes to be distributed at a clothes closet at Tennerock High School.

More than 125 tickets were pre-sold before that evening’s event, and even more were sold as attendees arrived at the door, explained Maggie Briggs, Junior League President-Elect. The turnout that evening felt like a good prelude to the turnout to the ProAm Tournament the following day at the Lakeland Country Club, to which this party served as a warm-up.

“I think what I love most is seeing the community turn out and really support what it is we are trying to do here, which is helping meet critical needs in the community,” she said. “So our overarching theme is meeting the critical needs of our community through the heads, hearts, and homes of Polk County children…Our goal is to fill the entire wall with those backpacks to be able to get out to the students. We are excited to be a part of the community and to have a very successful event.”

The Junior League of Lakeland, according to its website, is “an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving the community through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.”

Carolyn Woodger, Junior Leauge Committee Chair, has been an active member for three years and a traditional member for one. As a committee chair, who has been around for that long she has been able to see the fruit of their labor come to fruition through fundraisers such as this.

This year has especially been tough as the ongoing COVID crisis has been slowly winding down. They hosted this year’s event with indoor and outdoor elements to ensure that attendees felt comfortable attending despite these uncertain times, she said.

“[I love] Just getting the opportunity to see people and smiles on faces, [and] just getting to see how happy they are when they come through the door,” she said. “Our expectation for tonight is that everyone has a great time and that we can raise money to meet the critical needs of our community.”

Lake Wales Charter School Calls Special Meeting For Monday April 4th

Carl Fish
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Lake Wales Charter School Calls Special Meeting For Monday April 4th

Lake Wales, Florida – The Lake Wales Charter School Board has called a special meeting to discuss :

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL EQUITY LAB
Request Board approval of the Implementation of the National Equity Lab. – Here is a link to National Equity Lab: https://edequitylab.org



GENERAL COUNSEL CONTRACT
Request approval of the terms of the General Counsel Contract. – It was pointed out by board members at the March 28th meeting that a contract for services wasn’t available for review.


LWCS BYLAW CHANGES
Request Approval of the changes to the Bylaws. – Bylaws are the legally binding rules that outline how the board of a nonprofit will operate. While they are unique to each organization, nonprofit bylaws generally have a similar structure and use.

Board of Trustees “Special” Meeting Monday, April 4, 2022 – Time: 5:00pm – Place Lake Wales High School (Auditorium)

Public Notice

Staff Reporter
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Public Notice

Notice is hereby given that the undersigned pursuant to the fictitious name statutes 865.09 Florida statues will register with the division of corporations of the state of Florida upon receipt of proof of publication of this notice the fictitious name to wit Good Directions General Market under which we are or intend to do business as in Polk County Florida that parties interested in said business enterprises are as follows Names or officers Amber Innis and Christopher Innis.

Polk County Fire Rescue On Scene Of Accident Involving Pediatric Trauma Alert In Highland Park Manor Area Of Lake Wales

Carl Fish
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Polk County Fire Rescue On Scene Of Accident Involving Pediatric Trauma Alert In Highland Park Manor Area Of Lake Wales

Lake Wales, Florida – The Polk County Fire Rescue & Polk County Sheriff’s Office is currently on scene what is being described as a traffic collision in Lake Wales. The incident is taking place at Betsy Lane & Friedlander Rd. in the Highland Park Manor.

The original call came in at 6:19pm. According to initial information the incident involved a child/pediatric patient (4 yrs old we believe). At the time a helicopter medical transport was being requested.

Update: According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office a child was hit by a car. As a precaution they were transported via helicopter, but it doesn’t appear injuries are life threatening. We will update if more information is released.

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