JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Duval County jury has found 28-year-old Kenneth Vanes James Jr. guilty of First-Degree Murder and Tampering or Fabricating Physical Evidence, a capital felony, in the 2023 killing of Mikyh White, Florida State Attorney Melissa Nelson announced. With the verdict, James faces a mandatory life sentence inContinue Reading
CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. – A Citrus County jury has found Dwann Demetrius Ross Jr., 37, guilty of second-degree murder with a firearm in the fatal shooting of a local business owner outside a shopping plaza in Inverness. The verdict was returned Thursday, January 15, 2026, following a multi-day trial centeredContinue Reading
DAYTONA BEACH, FL – A Volusia County jury has convicted Jeffrey Cullen Summers, 52, on multiple counts related to the sexual solicitation of a child. The verdict, delivered on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, followed a two-day trial that detailed an undercover operation targeting online predators. Summers was found guilty of:Continue Reading
PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. – A Hastings man was sentenced this week to 10 years in state prison for driving under the influence and killing a tow truck driver who was working along a Palatka roadway, prosecutors said. Keith Douglas Guthrie entered a no contest plea last year to DUI causingContinue Reading
CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. – Three drug dealers arrested in separate undercover investigations by the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms, officials announced. Crystal R. Gilbert, 44, was sentenced on December 10, 2025, to seven years in the Florida Department of Corrections, followed byContinue Reading
VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A Volusia County judge sentenced 45-year-old Talia M. Nelson to 32 years in state prison after she entered no contest pleas to aggravated manslaughter of a child and aggravated child abuse in the death of her 14-year-old son, authorities said. The sentence was imposed during aContinue Reading
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – Hernando Cortez Thompson Jr., a 39-year-old Orlando man identified by prosecutors as the leader of the Bloods-affiliated “Sex Money Murder” gang in Florida, was convicted this week on all charges following a Polk County jury trial, state officials announced. The verdict, delivered after about an hourContinue Reading
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Devon Oliver, 18, of Gainesville, Florida, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of possession of a firearm with a removed serial number, officials announced. The indictment was announced by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida. Oliver appearedContinue Reading
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A federal grand jury has indicted Xin Liu, 40, of Apopka, Florida, on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, U.S. authorities announced. The indictment was revealed by John P. Heekin, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida. Liu appeared for arraignment before U.S. MagistrateContinue Reading
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – 24-year-old Eric Joel Valdez of Clay County has pleaded guilty to theft of a firearm from a federal firearms licensee (FFL), officials announced. Valdez faces up to 10 years in federal prison and restitution to the victim, with sentencing scheduled for March 18, 2026. Valdez, who isContinue Reading