According to reports a crash occurred at 5:15am this morning at the intersection of Hwy 557 & Polk City Rd.
We have reports that the roadway is blocked and traffic is being rerouted.
This is a very bad accident. Roadway will be closed for hours. Please find alternative route.
We will update as more information is released.
Four teenaged
Orlando-area boys, all with serious criminal history, were arrested early
Thursday morning, January 28, 2021, while they were in the process of
committing car burglaries in the Four Corners area of Davenport.
The quick arrests were made possible due to a witness who saw the suspects in
action and reported it immediately and by the use of the Live911 system used by
PCSO deputies, which allowed them to hear the actual 911 call as it was happening.
Responding deputies were able to quickly respond to the scene at Woodsprings
Suites on Bella Cita Boulevard where the burglaries were witnessed. PCSO was
assisted by the Florida Highway Patrol and the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.
The 911 call was received by the Emergency Communications Center at 3:39 a.m.,
and the first deputies arrived in the area immediately and began setting up a
perimeter.
The suspects fled from the scene in a white Honda Civic. At one point, the
vehicle sped past a deputy who was on foot, bumping him as they passed. The
vehicle soon after crashed into a curb and the four suspects bailed out of the
car and ran away.
Two of the suspects were caught immediately. A third suspect was found hiding
in the bathroom on the Champion’s Gate golf course. A PCSO K-9 unit, working
with support from an OCSO Air Unit, was able to track the fourth suspect to a
heavily wooded retention pond, finding the suspect partially submerged in
water.
The Honda Civic used by the suspects had been reported stolen out of Orlando
three hours prior to the car burglaries in Polk County.
“I can’t tell you how many times we have had people, usually juveniles,
coming down here from the Orlando area to burglarize and steal from the good
people of Polk County. And it usually doesn’t end well for the suspects either.
At some point, they have to realize that it’s not working out for them to come
down to Polk to commit their crimes.” Grady Judd,
Sheriff
The suspects arrested were:
Johnny
Dixon, 16. Dixon’s prior criminal history consists of 10 felonies and
8 misdemeanors, with charges to include: multiple conveyance burglaries,
burglary of a dwelling, grand thefts, dealing in stolen property, possession of
marijuana in excess of 20 grams, criminal mischief, petit thefts, resisting,
and trespassing. He also has numerous probation violations and failures to
appear.
Anthony Bridgett, 16. Bridgett had
an outstanding warrant issued for him on January 25th for Robbery-Carjacking.
His prior criminal history consists of 4 felonies and 2 misdemeanors, with
charges to include: robbery-carjacking, burglary, giving false ID to a LEO,
tampering with an electronic monitoring device, drug possession, resisting, and
numerous violations of probation.
Joshua
Legrand, 17. Joshua Legrand has a prior criminal history consisting of 1
felony and 3 misdemeanors, with charges to include: grand theft of a motor
vehicle, possession of marijuana, trespassing, and possession of drug
paraphernalia.
Jacob
Legrand, 16. Jacob Legrand’s prior criminal history consists of 2 felonies and
4 misdemeanors, with charges to include, marijuana possession with intent to
sell, resisting, and trespassing
Dixon
was charged with: Aggravated Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer (F1),
Fleeing to Elude (F2), Aggravated Assault on a LEO – 2 counts (F2), Burglary of
Conveyance – 3 counts (F3), Resisting with Violence (F3), Resisting without
Violence (M1), and Petit Theft (M2).
The other three were charged with Burglary of Conveyance – 3 counts (F3), and
Petit Theft – 3 counts (M2),
On Wednesday, January 27, 2021, around 10:20 a.m., a witness surveying orange groves in the area of Belleview Drive and 11th Street in Lake Wales observed a single vehicle that had crashed and come to a stop well off the roadway. The witness contacted PCSO and traffic deputies arrived to initiate the investigation.
According to the preliminary evidence, it appears the driver of the 2004 green Subaru Forrester, 19-year-old Isela Flores of Frostproof, was heading to work at the Walmart in Lake Wales during the early morning hours when for unknown reasons she failed to negotiate the curve on Belleview, approximately 1,200 feet east of 11th Street South. The Subaru was heading eastbound and went straight through the curve, off of the roadway onto the north shoulder, sideswiped a tree, went airborne, down an embankment, and landed on the railroad tracks. The Subaru rolled over and entrapped Flores. The car was unable to be seen by anyone driving on the road, due to its position down the embankment and being hidden by trees. She was extricated by first responders when they arrived on-scene, with very critical injuries.
According to her family, Flores left home around 5:00 a.m. to go to work at Walmart in Lake Wales. It is unknown at what time the crash occurred, and deputies are fairly certain she was rendered unconscious and unable to call for help. Heavy fog was reported in the area early that morning, and it was dark at 5:00 a.m. There are no streetlights on that stretch of the roadway. The investigation is ongoing. Flores is in the Trauma Intensive Care Unit at LRHMC with very critical injuries.
PCFR Captain Anthony Damiano turned himself in at the Polk County Jail booking facility in Bartow this afternoon. He is being booked in at this time.
He has been charged with official misconduct (F3), and petit theft (M2).
And just to clear up some confusion from earlier release- three DOSES of the vaccine were stolen; these were three filled syringes. Vials were not stolen.
Click here for original release.
Winter Haven Police Department
Please help ID this guy!
On 1/20/2021 around 10:30 a.m., the man in the photos entered the Chevron Station located at 2100 1st St North in Winter Haven.
Our victim had accidentally left his wallet at the counter and this subject picked it up, hiding it with the paper bag he is holding.
If you know who he is, please call Det. Maldonado at 863-291-5676.
2021: A New Year With New Possibilities
by Kevin Kieft, President/CEO of the Lake Wales Area Chamber of Commerce and EDC
A new year is finally upon us, and with it comes new possibilities, both for our country and our little city here in Lake Wales.
The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine will hopefully curb the tide of this deadly virus and help return a sense of normalcy to our daily lives—and with it, help set our economy back on track.
And, of course, our country has a new presidential administration. I won’t get too political, as I know the topic is highly divisive, but I am always excited for new opportunities and to see what new ideas will come about through such change.
As for Lake Wales, we here at the Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Council have big plans for the coming year. Here are just a few:
Big Events. Several major Chamber events have been re-scheduled. Our golf outing typically scheduled for the fall will be moved to the spring, either late April or early May. Likewise, our Awards Gala that is normally scheduled for the spring will be moved to the fall or late winter close to Christmas.
Ribbon Cuttings. We are still trying to plan different ribbon cuttings and after-hour events; however, we are trying to figure out how to do all of that safely. We recently hosted our first ribbon cutting of the year for RV Resort at Canopy Oaks earlier this month. Nearly 100 people gathered outdoors for the successful event, and we are excited to host many more soon.
Lake Wales Connected. Both Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency and Main Street Lake Wales are doing a fantastic job of moving forward the downtown area’s renovations near Park Avenue. If all goes well, expect to see newly-paved sidewalks and streetscaping to facilitate pedestrian traffic, outdoor dining, and public events.
Industrial and Commercial Property. One of our main focuses is property development for industrial uses or large commercial uses. Many of our industrial buildings are filled up, so our main priority has been scoping out properties with potential for industrial manufacturing and logistics, ensuring they have the proper zoning and utilities, and preparing them for use. This way, we can submit those properties when we have a project from the state or Central Florida Development Council. Like anything, if you don’t have the product, then you don’t have much to sell, and so we need the product.
Residential Property. Like any municipality, we want to draw in more residents because more residents mean more business and more revenue for the local economy. Not only are we are pushing for more development of residential properties within the city limits, but more retail branches with eateries and shops to offer a more immense span of options for people. Ultimately, we want to see what people’s spending power can do with more rooftops in a five-to-ten-mile radius.
Remote Work Opportunities. With people working remotely and choosing to move where they live rather than where they work, we are pushing for downtown development for amenity development to attract people who are willing to relocate here and they still work for a company across the state or country. We hope to reach out with quality-of-life issues that will help make Lake Wales stand out.
COVID Info. We hope to have our Chamber serve as a community portal for information, both for residents seeking the latest CDC information concerning COVID-19 vaccinations and businesses seeking loans and assistance. Hopefully, by serving as a clearinghouse for said information, we can help bring our community back to normal.
Winter Haven Fire Department
Yesterday, Director of Public Safety Charles Bird presented Captain Casey Dasher with his 20 Years of Service plaque. Captain Dasher started with the department on November 6, 2000. He was hired as a firefighter/EMT and became paramedic in 2003. He has always been a great asset to the department. Thanks to his dedication and hard work, he was promoted to lieutenant in 2012. In 2016, he was promoted to training captain and has been in charge of fire training in our department.
Join us in celebrating his dedication to the Winter Haven Fire Department and this great milestone in his career.
Two suspects with histories of shoplifting and theft, one of whom is on probation, were caught in the act of stealing hundreds of dollars’ worth of cologne from a CVS in north Lakeland on Sunday, January 24, 2021.
According to their affidavits, 60-year-old Darryl Barnes and his accomplice, 60-year-old Horace Martin, both of Lakeland, went into the store located at 6105 US Hwy 98 north that evening, and talked with the clerk at the counter where the cologne is housed.
Loss prevention personnel watched on video surveillance as Barnes asked the clerk to assist him in the aisle where razors are sold. After the clerk left the counter, Martin went behind the register and helped himself to several boxes of men’s fragrances, and then later the two suspects went to the back of the store and removed the security tags and wrappers off of them.
Loss prevention contacted PCSO before the pair could leave the store, and they were arrested without incident. The total value of the fragrances stolen is $485.00. Martin had a glass pipe with cocaine residue in his pocket.
“These suspects ironically stole several bottles of a fragrance called ‘Guilty’ – how fitting. Maybe they should instead focus on purchasing a new fragrance called ‘Reformed’ and give up their practice of stealing.” – Grady Judd, Sheriff
Darryl Barnes’ criminal history includes previous arrests for grand theft, forgery, and petit theft, and he’s currently on felony probation for petit theft 3rd or subsequent offense. His probation includes a 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. curfew. These thefts occurred at 10:56 p.m., in violation of his probation and his curfew. He told detectives he receives $797.00 per month in disability benefits. He’s been to state prison seven times.
Barnes is being charged with:
Horace Martin has a criminal history including robbery, sale of cocaine, grand theft, DWLSR, and petit theft, and has been to state prison nine times. He told detectives he receives $200.00 per month in EBT benefits.
Martin is being charged with:
A Polk County Fire Rescue paramedic, who is also a training officer, has been arrested during an investigation into the theft of three doses of the Coronavirus vaccine, meant to be administered to other PCFR first responders.
According to his affidavit, paramedic 31-year-old Joshua Colon, forged the vaccine screening and consent forms for missing vaccines that were supposed to be given to firefighters. Colon told detectives he was directed to do so by his supervisor.
Colon resigned on Friday, January 22, 2021, and was arrested on Monday, January 25, 2021. The investigation is ongoing.
The following is an excerpt from Colon’s affidavit, and it is self-explanatory:
Polk County Fire Rescue has been directed to administer COVID-19 vaccines by Moderna to first responders. Each first responder needs to complete and sign a Florida Health COVID-19 Vaccine Screening and Consent Form, which would be collected by the medical personnel administering the vaccine. Each vaccine recipient would also be added to a log, which contains the time the dose was given, the observation time, and any adverse reaction observed.
On January 6, 2021, Polk County Fire Rescue Paramedic & Training Officer Josh Colon received three vials containing 10 vaccines each, and was directed to administer those to first responders who responded to Station 38 in Davenport to obtain the vaccine.
At the completion of the day, Paramedic Colon was asked to report the total number of doses administered. Paramedic Colon reported he administered 28 vaccines and two were waste (disposed due to possible time of exposure prior to administering, which is normal). Paramedic Colon later retracted himself and advised he administered 27 vaccines and three were waste.
Days later, and after being requested the Florida Health COVID-19 Vaccine Screening and Consent Forms several times, Paramedic Colon only provided 21 completed forms and the log; however, the log contained 23 vaccine recipients, therefore two Florida Health COVID-19 Vaccine Screening and Consent Forms were missing.
The completed forms were compared to the log and two forms were noticed as missing, and one was noticed as missing a date of birth. When asked, Paramedic Colon advised he would obtain the information to complete the form. Paramedic Colon advised the names of three different people (two existing firefighters, and one name that was not attached to any PCFR person).
During the investigation, the two firefighters were contacted, both of whom stated they had not yet received the vaccine. The third name was not a person who existed.
On January 25, 2021, deputies met with Colon. During the interview with Colon, he advised the three Florida Health COVID-19 Vaccine Screening and Consent Forms in question and the log were not completed on the day of the incident, and that he created those forms himself and signed them. He also advised he added the names to the log – two of the names were of existing firefighters, and one name was completely made up by him. He admitted they were fictitious.
Colon told deputies that on the day of the incident, his supervisor joked with him in reference to getting some vaccines for the supervisor’s mother. Colon said he was told by the supervisor to report those vaccines as waste. According to Colon, he refused to provide those vaccines to the supervisor, at which time the supervisor said he would tell those higher up in the chain of command that Colon was selling vaccines outside of work.
Colon said that he was ordered to go on his lunch break later that day by the supervisor. The vaccines were left in a refrigerator with a label tab. When Colon returned to the station, he said he noticed the label tab was tampered with and three (3) vaccines were missing. Colon advised he did not question his supervisor in reference to the missing vaccines, however, he immediately became suspicious. Colon did not report this incident to anyone within Polk County Fire Rescue.
Colon told deputies that when he was later asked for the documents for accountability purposes, he completed the forms to show each vaccine was accounted for and that he created fictitious email addresses and phone numbers, and a fictitious name.
Colon was taken into custody on Monday, January 25, 2021, and charged with:
· 4 counts forgery (F3) $1,000 bond each
· 4 counts uttering forged instrument (F3) $1,000 bond each
· 4 counts falsifying medical records (M2) $250 bond each
· 1 count official misconduct (F3) $1,000 bond each
· 1 count criminal use of personal ID (F3) $1,000 bond each
· 2 counts creating fictional personal ID (F3) $1,000 bond each
He was released after posting bond. The investigation is ongoing, including what role the supervisor has in the theft of the vaccines and the creation of fraudulent and forged medical records.
On Monday, January 25, 2021, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrested an 18-year-old from Orlando for his role in a July 2020 Davenport open house party that ended with four 16-year-olds being injured and another 16-year-old being criminally charged for DUI and hit-and-run.
Mateo Pinzon Penagos, a current student of Lake Nona High School, was arrested in Orlando on charges of Burglary with Damages over $1000 Dollars (F1), Criminal Use of Personal Identification (F3), and Allowing Minors Alcohol at an Open House Party (M2).
The open house party occurred on Wednesday, July 22, 2020, in the Cypress Point gated community in Davenport.
Deputies responded to the neighborhood following noise complaints. As they arrived, teens from the party quickly began to disperse.
One of the teens, 16-year-old Ryan Colom of Winter Garden, began driving away in a Kia Stinger. His car struck four other 16-year-olds who were standing in a driveway. One of the victims was dragged under Colom’s car for about 450-feet, and she suffered permanent serious injury. Colom fled from the scene and was captured by deputies about eight miles away.
Colom was charged with DUI, DUI with Property Damage (2 counts), DUI with Bodily Injury (3 Counts), DUI with Serious Bodily Injury, Leaving the Scene of a Crash with Serious Bodily Injury, Leaving the Scene of a Crash with Bodily Injury (3 counts), Leaving the Scene of a Crash with Property Damage (2 Counts).
Additionally, damages in excess of two-thousand dollars were caused to the vacation home by party-goers.
Detectives then turned their attention toward finding the person who hosted the illegal open house party.
The home had been rented via the online website VRBO. Rental records showed that a Corpus Christi, Texas man was listed as the renter, but the investigation determined his personal information had been stolen, and the rental was secured using his illegally obtained information.
Detectives were able to track communications back to Penagos’ residence in Orlando.
The detectives were also able to locate witnesses who saw Penagos with the stolen personal identification and had first-hand knowledge that he was responsible for arranging the open house party.
“At the very least, open house parties are loud and disruptive to neighborhoods, and leave litter and damages behind. Many times, they get totally out of hand with large fights and shootings. In this particular case, four kids were injured, one of them severely. There were numerous victims in this case and our detectives worked carefully for six months to find the person responsible for creating what turned out to be a horrific evening.”- Grady Judd, Sheriff
Mateo Pinzon Penagos was booked into the Orange County Jail.
Ryan Colom’s criminal trial is still pending.
Three of the four injured teens suffered non-life-threatening injuries. The fourth injured teen was seriously injured but is expected to survive. She will likely have more surgeries in her future.
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