Free Republic

A Florida man called cops to come and test his meth after fearing he had been duped into buying bath salts - only for officers to charge him for possession when they found it was authentic. The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office got a call on Friday at around 7pm from Thomas Eugene Colucci in Mariner Boulevard, Spring Hill, who told deputies he had recently purchased methamphetamine from a man he met in a bar. Colucci told officers over the phone he was an experienced drug user, saying he 'knew what it should feel like' - having tried some and thinking...

In Florida’s public school system, school personnel can use handcuffs, zip-ties, straightjackets or other devices on students who are acting out or misbehaving in a way that poses a threat to themselves or others. But legislation filed in the 2022 legislative session would prohibit school personnel from using those methods — potentially sparing students, especially those with disabilities, from a traumatic experience. Only school resource officers, school safety officers, school guardians, or school security guards would still be able to use these restraints on students in grades 6 through 12 — but not younger children. “The younger the child, the...

An audit of the Seminole County Tax Collector’s Office shows millions of dollars in questionable purchases under former Tax Collector Joel Greenberg. Greenberg is facing numerous federal charges including sex trafficking and stalking a political opponent. And according to the auditors, in total they found close to $4 million in questionable purchases. READ: Child sex trafficking, ‘sugar daddy’ relationships: Former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg faces new allegations in indictment “Auditors observed transactions and expenditures that could be considered misuse of taxpayer dollars,” the audit said. Auditors noted $1.4 million in legal fees, $615,000 for an in-house attorney, lobbying...

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. - A decade-old allegation accusing a local teacher is being re-investigated after the teacher was arrested for similar charges. Matthew Graziotti, who works at the Warner Christian Academy in South Daytona, was arrested on Monday for producing and distributing child porn. Graziotti had been accused of misconduct with minor children in 2004, according to Edgewater police, but no evidence was discovered at that time. With this new arrest, the past allegation is being re-investigated, police told Local 6.

FULL TITLE: The moment two brazen women were caught red-handed trying to steal a beach canopy - then ATTACKED the bemused owner as he politely asked them to stop Two women casually, though clumsily, trying to steal another beachgoer's canopy on a Florida beach were caught red-handed on July 4 by the owner. The bumbling thieves may find it difficult to commit any more thefts since video the canopy's owner took of the bizarre confrontation has gone viral. As Americans celebrated their freedom on the holiday, the two middle-aged women, dressed in swimwear, took their liberty a little too far...

KISSIMMEE, FL, April 4, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Planned Parenthood is spending $2 million to open a new 10,000 square foot abortion facility in Kissimmee – the largest yet in Central Florida – and local residents are begging city officials to stop them. “We do not want a death factory in our back yard,” one resident said at a Tuesday city commission meeting, which attracted hundreds of citizens to protest the facility’s planned May opening. Another begged, “Do not let one of our attractions be baby-killing.” But Kissimmee Mayor Jim Swan told residents that local zoning laws leave the city with...

Terry Lynn Kimbell's run for the border landed him in jail early Wednesday. Police said Kimball, 50, called 911 late Tuesday after employees at the Taco Bell at 13709 Walsingham Road would not sell him tacos while he was standing in the drive-thru lane. He told the dispatcher he was hungry and upset employees at the fast-food restaurant wouldn't sell him the food, police said. Kimball remained on the phone until officers arrived, police said. He told them he was on the phone with a dispatcher and that he did not have an emergency "except that he was not sold...

Conservative activists across the cyber world are rallying behind a Palm Beach State College student whose Young Americans for Freedom organization was booted out of a campus club event last week. The group's Florida chapter posted a video on its website showing a police officer asking PBSC student Christina Beattie to remove her table at a campus rush event, where student clubs recruit new members. Beattie and the organization's Florida president, Daniel Diaz, were displaying literature critical of President Obama's healthcare legislation, stimulus program and the nation's "unsustainable welfare state." While the group said its first amendment rights were violated...

Broward Sheriff's Office deputies arrested a 76-year-old man Thursday who they say was going door-to-door in a Lauderdale Lakes neighborhood offering free breast exams. Two women accepted the exams, BSO officials said. At about 9 a.m., BSO investigators say, Philip Winikoff drove to an apartment complex near the 3200 block of Northwest 40th Street. Carrying a black ''doctor's'' bag, he walked up to the building and told a 36-year-old woman that he was in the neighborhood offering free breast exams.