Free Republic

DELAND, Fla. - A Florida Dollar General employee has been arrested for allegedly pouring bleach into his co-worker's drink after an argument. Jerome Ellis, a DeLand Dollar General employee was arrested on charges of poisoning food or water and tampering with evidence after video surveillance showed Ellis pouring bleach into his co-worker's can of Pepsi on Monday, an arrest affidavit states. Ellis and the victim reportedly got into an argument the day before, and the victim told police he believed Ellis was holding a grudge against him, deputies said. The man told deputies he placed a Pepsi he was drinking...

A Michigan diocese is reeling after reports that a number of its active priests may be sex abusers. Father Robert DeLand, judicial vicar and a judge on the marriage tribunal in Saginaw, was arrested Monday after a months-long undercover investigation revealed he was grooming young men for sexual abuse. One victim, a 17-year-old male, cooperated with police in the covert operation, which resulted in the arrest for sexual assault. DeLand is being charged with attempted second-degree criminal sexual conduct and gross indecency. In another case in Tittabawassee Township involving a 21-year-old male victim, the priest is being charged with one count of second-degree criminal...

DeLAND, Fla. - A Volusia County gun shop has offered a free gun to George Zimmerman, the former neighborhood watch leader acquitted in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. In a letter to Zimmerman's attorney, former Local 6 legal analyst Mark O'Mara, Pompano Pats in DeLand said it's offering a free firearm to Zimmerman after hearing media reports that he could not obtain his Kel-Tec PF-9 from authorities. "Upon receiving your confirmation that he is well within his legal rights to concealed carry, our company would like to offer Mr. Zimmerman a free firearm. We currently have the same model...

ELTONA, Fla. -- A 12-year-old boy fought off a 7-foot alligator that clamped down on his head and dragged him underwater. Malcolm Locke was swimming in Lake Diana Wednesday when he noticed an alligator swimming toward him.The boy tried to swim back to shore but the alligator attacked his head and pulled him underwater, said Joy Hill, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission.Locke said the alligator clamped down and wrapped its tail around the boy's stomach before pulling him down."I thought I was going to get swallowed up," Locke told WKMG-TV in Orlando.Locke fought the alligator...