UPDATE to fatal traffic crash in Lake Wales this morning:
At 5:50 a.m. on Thursday, January 16, 2020, the PCSO Emergency Communications Center (ECC) received a 911 call regarding a two-vehicle crash in the southbound lanes of US Hwy 27, near Collany Lane, south of Warner University.
Preliminary information is as follows:
A 2001 tan Isuzu Trooper was being driven northbound on Hwy 27 by 24-year-old Taron Rolle of Bartow when, for unknown reasons, Taron lost control of the vehicle and it began rotating counter-clockwise, travelling through the grass median and into the southbound lanes.
The Isuzu was struck by a 2012 red Ford Escape being driven northbound by 77-year-old James Hildock of Daytona Beach. The Escape rolled several times and landed on its roof. The passenger in the Isuzu, Taron’s twin brother Tarell, was ejected after the collision when the Isuzu flipped onto the passenger side.
Hildock was declared deceased on-scene. The twins were both transported to LRHMC and will recover from their injuries.
Hildock and Taron were wearing their seatbelts; Tarell was not. Hildock’s family members told deputies he was heading to work in Sebring. Taron told deputies that he and his brother were heading to work and he does not know why he lost control of his vehicle.
The investigation is ongoing. A photo from the scene can be found in the link below. The roadway was closed for approximately 5 hours.
UPDATE TO TRAFFIC ADVISORY: The southbound lanes of US Hwy 27 just south of Warner University in Lake Wales (near Collany Lane) are open. The crash involved two cars, not three.
TRAFFIC ADVISORY: We are on the scene of a three-vehicle crash in the southbound lands of US Hwy 27 just South of Warner University in Lake Wales with one confirmed fatality. US Hwy 27 southbound is shut down in that area until further notice. Please use alternate routes.
Our Traffic Unit is en route. I do not have any additional information about the crash at this time. I will send anoth
Around 1:00 p.m. this afternoon, Wednesday, January 15, 2020, PCSO received a BOLO out of the city of Plant City that a white male and white female suspect, both with warrants, fled from the scene of an armed carjacking in a stolen silver Toyota Tacoma. The BOLO contained information that the suspects were armed and dangerous, and fled Plant City after running over a Plant City Police Officer. The female suspect had also been shot by a Plant City Police Officer while the truck she was in with her boyfriend was fleeing.
Further information was received that the suspects committed a second carjacking north of Plant City, in the unincorporated area, and were then in a blue Toyota truck.
At 1:40 p.m., a PCSO Deputy Sheriff who was in the Bailey Road area searching for the suspects, spotted the stolen blue truck and then encountered both suspects in another stolen vehicle, a black Volkswagen, within a trailer park on Bailey Place, just off of Bailey Road in the Willow Oak (Mulberry) area.
While attempting to place the female suspect under arrest – 36-year-old April Thompson (DOB 4/14/83) – the male suspect got out of the front passenger seat of the car, and went around to the other side to get into the driver’s seat. The male suspect ignored the deputy’s commands to stop, and attempted to flee with April in the backseat. While the Deputy was trying to stop the male suspect from driving away, he heard a female voice scream, “He’s got a gun!” several times, and observed the suspect – 31-year-old Aaron Phillips (DOB 5/20/88) – reach down towards the floorboard. Deputy Sheriff Andre Jackson, in fear for his life, shot the suspect, and the suspect is deceased.
April Thompson, who was in the backseat of the stolen vehicle, was also shot. She was taken to a local hospital to be treated for her two gunshot wounds (one to the leg by Plant City P.D. and one to the stomach by PCSO). She is in stable condition, and is being held on her multiple felony charges until she is taken to the Polk County Jail.
There is a handgun visible on the floorboard of the VW car that Phillips is in. The car will be taken to be processed by PCSO Crime Scene this evening.
Both of the suspects already had out-of-county warrants for their arrests before today’s crime spree began. Aaron Phillips has Hillsborough (PCPD) warrants for armed false imprisonment, kidnapping, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and grand theft. He just got out of state prison after having served 4 years and 10 months. April Thompson has a Polk County warrant for VOP (grand theft and burglary), and a Hillsborough warrant for VOP (dangerous drugs). She’s been in the Polk County Jail and her mugshot can be found on our website in the jail inquiry section.
Please refer any questions about the crime spree and officer-involved shooting in Plant City to PCPD, and the second carjacking that occurred in Cooper Road in unincorporated Hillsborough County to HCSO.
Tsk Tsk
Skipping out on paying for a mani/pedi? Shame shame shame!
These two females went to Lucky Nails (150 Plaza Rd SE) and proceeded to obtain the wonderful services from this popular business, to the tune of $235. The female in the black shirt said she would pay for the services, but OH MY, “I left my wallet in my car.”
Yeah right! They both walked outside and didn’t return. They got into a white smaller SUV and off they went.
Recognize them? Call Detective Cobb at 863-401-2256.
Callers wishing to remain anonymous can call Heartland Crime Stoppers at 1-800-226-TIPS (8477) Callers are guaranteed anonymity and could be eligible for a CASH reward!
Back to the Future’s McFly he’s not! But his Hover Shoes, Voyagers, Moto Kicks, Space Shoes or whatever you want to call them makes him our first futuristic thief!
Our Winter Haven McFly entered Walmart (355 Cypress Gardens Blvd) utilizing his fancy footwear and proceeds to travel all around with great ease hovering to and fro gathering items that included a television and a bouquet of flowers (wonder who the lucky girl is).
Do you think he stopped to pay? Well, as you see in the video, he glides right out without even an attempt to utilize any register. (At some point, don’t ya feel the need to squeal “WEEEEEEEEE”?)
We poke fun, but stealing IS a crime and we want to get this guy and his shoes in custody.
Somebody will recognize him. Call Detective Cobb at 863-401-2256. Callers wishing to remain anonymous should call Heartland Crime Stoppers at 1-800-226-TIPS (8477). Callers are guaranteed anonymity and could be eligible for a CASH reward.
Today we talk about how you can use Step 1 of the NIST Model to mitigate Cyber Security Risks in your Enviroment. The First step to to take an inventory of your enviroment so you can understand what you are trying to defend. Kip Kirchberg is an International Cyber Security Expert who has experiance building Cyber Security Teams and working with fortune 500 organizations. Experiance includes but is not limited to Building SIEM paltforms Endpoint Security 3rd Party Remote Access Industrial Control Systems NextGen Firewall’s Helping Organizations Identify Cyber security Risks Generationg Reports that lead to actionable data Build and maintain Incident Reponse Team Draft and Adopt Corperate Cyber Security Governance Internal and External Pen Testing plus much more….
Did you know that this year there’s going to be over 20 billion devices connected to a network? That’s right 20 billion devices and it should come to no surprise to anyone that with this many devices connected to networks that these become easy targets for cyber criminals. In fact, it’s estimated that cyber criminals are going to attack these devices and cost US businesses over 6 trillion dollars. So you’re probably asking yourself what can I do to protect my network what can I do to mitigate my cybersecurity threat landscape?
First you must understand that there is not a one-size-fits-all when it comes to cyber security. Every organization needs a custom tailored cybersecurity solution to fit their business needs. There are some basic frameworks you can use to help you on your journey to identify cyber security risk within your organization and develop a plan to mitigate those risks.
Today we’re going to talk about a particular framework called the NIST framework. There are five layers to the NIST framework.
You must Identify what assets are in your environment
You must Protect the assets in your environment
You must be able to Detect malicious activity
You must be able to affectively Respond to threats. This is where a trained and tested incident response team is valuable.
You must have the ability to Recover.
Today the NIST framework we’re going to we’re going to focus on step one. Step one is to identify what assets are actually living in your environment. Part two of step one is to understand what assets live in the business environment and for industrial control teams or production teams understand what assets belong in your production environment. Once there is a clear understanding of what zones each asset should be contained in then you can move forward and build some governance and rules of engagement around these devices.
Example: The business environment is maybe a little less sensitive to disruptions, however, the industrial control environment cannot afford any interruption as it runs machines operating in real time and any slight interruption could actually stop production and stop the shipping of goods. From a security standpoint this is the one thing we cannot do. To ensure you have developed, understood and agreed upon rules of engagement you can add these items into governance for all to review and follow.
Next you need to complete a cyber-risk assessment so that you understand what assets are in your environment and what their criticality is to the business. Are the assets high value assets like the core production machine or are they a low value asset like a workstation used just for checking email? From a manufacturing standpoint you must never impede or stop production as this is the core of the business that prints dollar bills and provides a livelihood to all its employees. While others can not live without email the reality is if email goes down for an hour or two there is no real interruption to revenue but rather a delay in communication. Once we categorize these devices and understand their value in the environment we can now identify their risks and quantify the value of the device should it be attacked and go offline.
Once we identify the risk associated with each asset you can develop a risk management strategy to patch or replace vulnerable devices. In some cases, there are devices that live in your environment that are 20-30 years old and simply cannot be replaced. These are typically the custom developed devices that give your organization a competitive advantage and upgrading them is simply not feasible from a financial standpoint. If you have these type of devices in your environment you will need to take the next steps and build castle walls around these devices to ensure that the devices are protected from
potential cybersecurity attacks.
To help you identify what’s in your environment you can use several software auditing tools. Some of these tools include but are not limited to Tripwire, Rapid7, Claroty, or Nessus. All these tools are good tools. The key is you must pick one, implement in your environment, strategize on generating actionable data, and take the necessary steps to move forward because doing something is better than doing nothing.
By capturing device inventory, you can identify what OS’s like Windows 7, Windows NT, Windows 10, server Oss, Unix, and Linux versions are living in your environment. Many of these tools will go a step further and also identify what industrial controls systems you have living in your environment such as Siemens, Honeywell, Rockwell, Cisco, and many others.
As part of the inventory collection these systems will report what hardware versions are running in your environment, what OS is running in the environment and sometimes what firmware. Again having this type of data about your environment will help you with your risk mitigation strategy to identify what devices cannot be patched or replaced and what devices can be patched or replaced in an industrial environment.
Again, It’s proven that some devices in an industrial environment have been there 20 to 30 plus years. Definitely not something that is easy to replace. Having this data helps you develop a strategy and build a plan to protect the asset.
Inventory and vulnerability management can be a very tough task. I’ve seen it time and time again in small, medium, large, and even enterprise businesses. They go and purchase their nice fancy tools, install them in their environment, and do a full scan to gather their inventory. Once they get a full report of the vulnerabilities in their environment they quickly become overwhelmed with information and suffer from paralysis by analysis. Simply because they don’t know what the next steps are.
This is where somebody like a third party can help. A 3rd party can help you analyze what are the assets
you have living in your environment, what are the vulnerabilities associated with each asset, and help you take the next steps to develop a strategy to address your vulnerabilities.
These steps can include plans to patch vulnerabilities, steps you can take to wall off particular assets, or help you determine if an asset cannot be patched or replaced and help you develop the best option to ensure the asset is protected from potential Cyber Security Attacks.
The key here is first identifying what do I have, what vulnerabilities are living in my environment, and then
building the strategy to mitigate your risks. At the end of the day you can’t protect or defend what you don’t know you have or don’t know that’s living in your environment.
If you or your organization has any questions on how to implement any of these processes or
procedures please feel free to reach out and I’ll be glad to sit down and discuss
Two arrested on drug charges in presence of young child
HAINES CITY, FL – Two Haines City men were arrested on multiple drug-related charges at their
home on Monday during the execution of a search warrant. The drugs were also being sold and
maintained in the presence of an elementary school-aged child.
Daryn Wiggins and Anthony Steward, both 31, were arrested at their home at 1114 Ave. C about 3:30
p.m. Wiggins made an attempt to flee his residence, leaving the child behind, but was quickly
apprehended. The child was escorted from the residence and placed into the custody of the mother.
Located at the residence was 975 grams of marijuana, 14.2 grams of ecstasy, 3.4 grams of Xanax, two
loaded handguns, ammunition, plastic bags, a heat sealer, multiple cellphones, a digital scale and more
than $4,600 in cash. The residence is located less than 400 feet from Haines City Headstart – a
prekindergarten school.
Wiggins and Steward were both transported to the Polk County Jail on charges of armed trafficking of
ecstasy of more than 10 grams, possession of marijuana of more than 20 grams, possession of drug
paraphernalia, possession with intent to sell Xanax within 1,000 feet of a school, possession of
marijuana with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a school and possession of a structure for trafficking.
Wiggins is also being charged with child neglect, resisting arrest without violence and possession of a
firearm by a felon.
Wiggins has been a registered felon since 2012 and has numerous past drug-related charges, seven prior
arrests in Polk County and one stint in a Florida state prison. Steward has two prior arrests in Polk
County.
“This was great work and collaboration from our officers and detectives,” Chief Jim Elensky said. “For
drugs to be sold near a school and in the presence of a child, who he tried to abandon when officers
arrived, is unconscionable. I’m not sure if more time behind bars is what our suspects need, but that’s
what they’re going to get. Hopefully, this brings peace of mind to our families and educators in the
area.”
Fort Meade FFA Alumni Prepares 500 BBQ Dinners For Annual Fundraiser
by James Coulter
The Fort Meade Future Farmers Of America (FFA) went hog wild barbecuing pork to raise money to give their students even more pork to raise as livestock.
More than 500 barbecue dinners were prepared during the 28th annual barbecue fundraiser hosted by the FFA Alumni at Fort Meade Middle-Senior High School on Saturday.
Both alumni and current students prepared the meals consisting of barbecue ribs, smoked chicken, coleslaw, baked beans, and dinner rolls at the school’s Agricultural Department, where the dinners were distributed to the public.
The money raised during the event will go towards purchasing hogs from the youth fair for the students to help raise, explained Chris Lucas, FFA Alumni President.
Lucas and the other alumni members arrived early on the school grounds to start the preparations. They began at 3:30 a.m. to fire up the smoker and chop the log, and began smoking the meat around 5 a.m.
While meal distribution began at 11:30 a.m., customers began arriving as early as 11:15 to wait in line to pick up their orders, Lucas said.
Not only does the event allow the children to raise money for their endeavors, but it also provides them with experience through community service hours to go towards their school projects, college applications, and scholarships, Lucas said.
“So far, everything is going as expected,” he said. “That is for the kids, but also incorporate the kids to show that this is for them and they can help.”
Tim Bearden, Vice President of the FFA Alumni, has been involved with the fundraiser for the past 10 years. The fundraiser itself has been a tradition since 1992, and is one of two major events (the other being the pancake auction in November) used to raise funds for FFA and 4H.
“That is what it is all about: raising the money and give this money back to the kids by buying their hogs and other stuff,” Bearden said. “It is a way to help the community.”
Most of the event managed to exceed expectations. There were no major problems or complaints, and despite some weather issues earlier that day, the fundraiser drew in a decent turnout, he said.
“I like that the community comes together and works together like this,” he said. “I think it is very important to keep things like this moving forward raising the animals. I think there is a falling away from that stuff, we are working to keep that heritage alive.”
Taiwan Blandin was booked into the Polk County Jail on Saturday, January 11, 2020, after having been extradited from Georgia.
******UPDATE ON POLK COUNTY HOMICIDE SUSPECT TAIWAN BLANDIN******
On Saturday, October 12, 2019, the Atlanta Police Department arrested 30-year-old Taiwan Blandin of Frostproof for Carjacking, Escape, Aggravated Assault, Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, Fleeing to Elude, and other charges, and he was booked into the Fulton County Jail.
According to preliminary information from Atlanta P.D., Blandin committed a carjacking around 2:30 a.m. at a convenience store. Atlanta Police officers spotted the stolen vehicle (a Honda) shortly after it was BOLO’ed in the area. When they attempted a traffic stop, Blandin fled, and was apprehended after he crashed the stolen car and attempted to flee on foot. He was also Tased while resisting arrest. There was a white female passenger in the car with him, and she was also arrested. I don’t have any information about her but she is not the carjacking victim, she is a co-defendant from Atlanta. From within the stolen car, Atlanta P.D. recovered gloves and a handgun. That evidence is being processed.
PCSO was notified of his arrest, and our homicide detectives responded to Fulton County to interview Blandin. He is not speaking to our detectives. He is being held in the Fulton County Jail and will be transported back to Polk at a later date.
Blandin’s Polk County warrants are for: first degree murder, first degree arson, armed kidnapping, sexual battery with a deadly weapon, armed burglary, grand theft of a motor vehicle, grand theft of a firearm, tampering with physical evidence. He also has warrants from Wauchula P.D.
“We are grateful that this violent, armed, and dangerous suspect is in custody and his crime spree has come to an end. The Atlanta Police Department did an awesome job. Based on the felonies he’s racked up, he likely won’t spend another day on the street. He’s behind bars where he belongs.” – Grady Judd, Sheriff
Auburndale Police Department Investigating Fatal Traffic Crash
At approximately 9:36 p.m. on Sunday, January 12, 2020, officers of the Auburndale Police Department were dispatched to a traffic crash involving a passenger vehicle and a pick-up truck at the intersection of U.S. Highway 92 West and Berkley Road, Auburndale.
Officers arrived to find that multiple people were injured as a result of the crash. Three injured adults and one toddler were taken to Lakeland Regional Health and one small child was flown to Tampa General Hospital for treatment of their injuries. One occupant in the sedan was pronounced deceased at the scene of the crash.
The preliminary investigation indicates that a 2005 Nissan Altima with five passengers was stopped facing west at the red traffic signal on US 92 at its intersection with Berkley Road. A 2006 Chevrolet HD3500 crew cab pick-up truck was traveling west on US 92 and struck the Nissan in the rear. The collision propelled the Nissan into the southbound lanes of Berkley Road, coming to rest just north of the intersection. The truck continued through the intersection in a northwest direction, traveled through a ditch on the north side of US 92, and then struck a tree, coming to rest.
The driver of the Nissan is identified as Louissaint Thermitus, 31, of Lakeland. A passenger in the right rear seat of his vehicle, Linda Jean Baptiste, 38, of Lakeland, died of her injuries. The driver of the pick-up truck is Salvador Manuel Juarez Trejo, 43, of Auburndale.
There were several witnesses to the crash who were interviewed at the scene. The traffic fatality investigation is continuing at this time. Anyone who witnessed the crash who has not already been interviewed by Auburndale Police is asked to call (863)965-5555 for Detective Alex Pena.
