Orthopedic surgeon jailed in theft of expensive wine at The Villages’ Costco
An orthopedic surgeon who practices in The Villages was arrested after allegedly stealing two expensive bottles of wine hidden inside a gun bag box at the local Costco. Timothy John Van De Leur, 56, of Ocala, was arrested on the evening of Friday at Costco at Buffalo Ridge Plaza. Van De Leur is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon specializing in hip and knee replacements and revisions. He practices with a group that has several local offices, including a location in the Center for Advance Care
Three tons of hidden cocaine sent through Florida port, feds say
Drug traffickers smuggled an estimated three tons of cocaine through Jacksonville’s port from Puerto Rico hidden inside concrete slabs and pavers, according to federal court records and prosecutors’ statements to a judge. Charges against two defendants in that case, as well as another case involving cocaine hidden in a shipment of kitchen cabinets, highlight the criminal potential inherent in Jacksonville’s active shipping industry. “This is a major drug-trafficking case,” Assistant U.S. Attorne
Tampa Bay Radar Lights Up as Millions of Birds Cross Florida Skies Overnight
What looked like light rain sweeping across the Tampa Bay area early Monday morning was actually something else entirely: millions of birds in flight. Max Defender 8 radar picked up the signal during peak fall migration, and meteorologists determined the reflectivity values were showing migrating birds rather than precipitation. According...
Sarasota Jewelry Store Owner’s Tip Leads To Two Arrests In $361,000 Elderly Fraud Scheme
Reinier Reinoso and Suyeng Daniels-Lopez (SCSO) SARASOTA, Fla. — A local jewelry store owner’s suspicion...
Florida’s Dexter’s Law Creates Public Animal Abuse Registry
There’s a growing shift in how animal welfare gets handled, from reacting after harm happens to actually trying to prevent it from happening again. Florida’s new “Dexter’s Law” creates a public, searchable registry of people convicted of serious animal abuse, named after Dexter, a shelter dog adopted from Pinellas County who was found decapitated just days later. Shelters and adoption centers can now check this list before placing any animal, cats included, ensuring someone with a documented his
Florida renters who paid eviction attorney fees to Progress Residential are set to get...
Florida renters who paid eviction attorney fees to Progress Residential are set to receive 75 percent of those fees back under a class action settlement, and there is no claim form to file. The deal resolves Johnsten v. Progress Residential, case 2024-CA-001692 in the Circuit Court of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit in Seminole County, Florida. […]
‘Too Young to Live in My Own Home’: 28-Year-Old Battles 55+ Community Trying to...
She moved in to take care of her dying father. She stayed because it became her home. Now, Bethany Michel says, the community she has lived in for years wants her gone — and it wants her neighbors to foot the bill for kicking her…
Coyote steals golf ball off green at Sanibel Island Golf Club
LEE COUNTY, Fla. — A coyote stole a golf ball off the green at Hole 9 of the Sanibel Island Golf Club on Saturday afternoon, leaving players amused and employees reflecting on the mischievous behavior of the course’s wildlife. A video captured the moment the coyote swiped the...
Dramatic moment Florida deputy dives into shark-infested waters to save wheelchair-bound grandfather
Bill Von Herbulis, 72, was rescued from the ocean after falling into the water at a marina in New Smyrna Beach, Florida on September 27.
Hurricane Isaias came ashore ‘smack in the middle of Destin,’ but damage varied widely,...
The eyewall of Hurricane Isaias came ashore in the middle of Destin as a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph, Okaloosa Public Safety Director Patrick Maddox said Sunday. “We did get hit by a Category 2, 105 mile-an-hour max-sustained storm, smack in the middle of Destin,”...
