Our criminal defense lawyers at Whittel & Melton are very pleased to announce that, according to Governor Rick Scott, Florida is on a path to a 44-year crime low. The actual number of crimes across the Sunshine State is showing that crime rate is steadily on the decline. The Florida…
Police arrested a 19-year-old man for allegedly using a stuffed animal to masturbate inside a Walmart on Tuesday. According to Brooksville Police, the 19-year-old was caught on store cameras just before 3 p.m. acting suspiciously. Reports indicate that the teen took a stuffed toy horse off the shelf and walked…
A Flagler County man who was previously convicted of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child was sentenced to 30 years in prison. The 29-year-old man was previously convicted by a Flagler County jury on Aug. 20 after a two-day trial. At trial, the man’s defense centered around the fact…
A Clay County man plead guilty to receiving child pornography over the Internet Tuesday. Officials claim that through investigations, agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement found a host computer that held images of child porn using a peer-to-peer file sharing program. The agent downloaded files from the host…
A Lakeland middle school teacher was arrested at his Winter Haven home Tuesday for allegedly sexually assaulting a 14-year-old student. The 28-year-old man is a media teacher at Southwest Middle School in Lakeland. Police claim he forced himself on the girl while he supervised her community service at the school…
Federal authorities arrested a 67-year-old Manatee County man they allege used Craigslist to try to set arrange a sexual encounter with a 10-year-old girl. According to the Department of Justice, an FBI special agent found an advertisement in the “all personals” section of Craigslist referring to a single white male…
A 19-year-old man with a self-described meth problem was arrested Monday and charged with raping a 5-year-old girl. The child is apparently the daughter of a woman with whom he is acquainted. Investigators claim the man, who is described as a homeless man with ties to Citrus County, admitted to…
Deputies allege that a San Antonio man arranged to meet what he thought was a 13-year-old girl at a Brooksville hotel for sex. The 61-year-old man was arrested Wednesday on charges of attempted lewd and lascivious behavior, traveling to meet/seduce a minor and using a computer to solicit a minor.…
A Plant City youth group volunteer is facing child pornography charges. Polk deputies arrested the 28-year-old man at his Lakeland home. According to the sheriff’s office, members at the church came forward after they found explicit images on a shared computer and became concerned. Deputies claim the man works with…
The local chair of American Civil Liberties Union is calling for a federal review of Central Florida’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force. Ret. Army Col. Mike Pheneger, the chair of the Greater Tampa Chapter of the ACLU, said there are many problems with these “To Catch a Predator”-style undercover…