Free Republic

Wait, is being rude a felony now? Apparently it is, at least in (of all places) Florida. The New York Post reported Saturday that “three men stormed a University of South Florida parking garage and harassed Muslim students during dawn prayer on Tuesday — an incident captured in videos that showed the group shouting slurs, waving bacon and crowding worshipers as they bowed.” For that “all three face a felony count of disturbing schools and religious assemblies under Florida’s hate-crime enhancement statute, along with misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and disrupting a school or lawful assembly.” Wait a minute. They...

A Florida driver was arrested after allegedly trying to hit members of an LGBTQ running club with his vehicle at a local park, according to the West Palm Beach Police Department. Ihab Mustafa El Mahmoud, 43, was arrested on Monday evening for "attempting to strike members of a local running club at a park, making multiple passes and driving recklessly before fleeing," police said. Police responded to the scene at approximately 8:20 p.m. on Monday, and upon arriving, "met with members of a local LGBTQIA+ running club" who reported an individual allegedly driving a Ford Bronco SUV and "intentionally" trying...

Miami police arrested a church van driver after they said he had an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl whom he would drive to services. They say she may not be his only victim.... Police said he also asked her to send nude pictures and detectives discovered that she sent him photos “exposing her breasts, stomach and buttocks.” Police said Ortiz “would always instruct her to delete their chats... The Honduran national also has an immigration hold, records show.

Three teenagers in Florida have been arrested for unleashing "a vicious attack" on a 64-year-old homeless man, with one of the teens telling cops that the victim "dissed" his "dead homies," according to court documents. Marcavion Lacey, 19, Robert Pope, 17, and Justin Curry, 13, are all charged with murder in connection with the Oct. 19 attack, which left New York native and former World Trade Center worker Roger Borkum fatally injured in a "pool" of his own blood, according to an arrest report filed by the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. Borkum had worked as a consultant on the 77th floor...

“Preserving our state’s natural beauty is deeply important to the millions who call the Sunshine State home, our visitors, and those whose livelihoods depend on tourism,” Moody wrote.

FRUITLAND, Fla. - A 24-hour manhunt triggered by a deadly stabbing at a Florida Dollar General store came to an end on Saturday with the arrest of a convicted sex offender. Dig deeper: According to the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, deputies went to the Dollar General store in Fruitland shortly after 3:45 p.m. on Friday after receiving a 911 call about an unresponsive woman with stab wounds. They performed CPR before she was taken to an area hospital, where she died. ... Dig deeper: According to PCSO, Beasley is a convicted registered sex offender with an extensive criminal history dating...

Two Chinese nationals and two U.S. citizens have been charged with a scheme to illegally export advanced Nvidia chips to China in violation of U.S. export controls, the Department of Justice said on Nov. 20.In a file photograph, the logo of Nvidia Corporation during the annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan, on May 30, 2017. Tyrone Siu/ReutersLi Cham, 38, a California resident, and Chen Jing, 45, who resides in Florida on an F-1 nonimmigrant student visa, are the two Chinese nationals accused of the illegal exporting scheme. The two U.S. citizens are Ho Hong Ning, 34, a Florida resident...

(The Epoch Times)—WASHINGTON—Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) said on Nov. 20 that he will file a resolution to expel Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) from Congress. The Department of Justice indicted Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, on Nov. 19 for allegedly stealing $5 million in FEMA funds. She and her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, 51, undertook a COVID-19 vaccination contract through their company in July 2021 when it received an overpayment of $5 million, according to the Justice Department. The two allegedly took the $5 million and put it in multiple accounts to cover up the source of the funds, according to the Justice Department. A...

The Brief A suspect who beat an elderly man and charged at Polk County deputies with a brick is dead after a deputy-involved shooting in Lakeland. The incident happened near Saturn Street. The suspect has spent over half his life in the Florida prison system, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office suspect accused of beating an elderly man with a brick and charging at Polk County deputies was shot and killed in a Lakeland community Wednesday afternoon. The Polk County Sheriff's Office said Kentae Govan, 41, was shot and killed by two deputies who fired six shots to subdue...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced on Thursday new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems, as President Donald Trump seeks to expand U.S. oil production. The oil industry has been seeking access to new offshore areas, including Southern California and off the coast of Florida, as a way to boost U.S. energy security and jobs. The federal government has not allowed drilling in federal waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which includes offshore Florida and part of offshore...

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A Volusia County woman is facing battery charges and possible deportation after deputies say she threw cold coffee on a woman, her 11-month-old son and their dog during a confrontation over a leash. The incident happened Friday morning on Quail Nest Lane, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office. Kelly Brisell told WESH 2 News she was walking with her son, Owen, and her 5-year-old Dalmatian, Ponce, when she encountered Nina Jaaskelainen outside a home. Brisell said Jaaskelainen became upset that her dog was not on a leash. “She started screaming at us,” Brisell said. “I...

MIAMI — U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida has been indicted on charges accusing her of stealing $5 million in federal disaster funds and using some of the money to aid her 2021 campaign, the Justice Department said Wednesday. The Democrat is accused of stealing Federal Emergency Management Agency overpayments that her family health care company had received through a federally funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract, federal prosecutors said. A portion of the money was then funneled to support her campaign through candidate contributions, prosecutors allege. "Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime," Attorney General...

The charges in the indictment against Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., carry a maximum of 53 years in prison, the Justice Department said. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., was indicted Wednesday on charges she stole and laundered $5 million in federal relief funds and used the money for her congressional campaign, the Justice Department said. In a news release citing the indictment, the Justice Department said that Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, and Edwin Cherfilus, 51, her brother, worked on a staffing contract funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Covid vaccinations tied to their family health care company in 2021 and that the...

In the pitch-black, storm-lashed hours before dawn on Independence Day, surging floodwaters ravaged Hunt and Kerr County in central Texas, including the summer camp filled with sleeping children. The catastrophic flooding killed 27 girls and counselors at Camp Mystic. The court filings accuse the camp of failing to move cabins out of flood-prone areas, responding poorly to the emergency, and putting profits ahead of the safety of the girls in their care.. Most of the cabins had been located in FEMA’s 100-year “Special Flood Hazard Area” up until 2013. That’s when the camp petitioned FEMA to remove most of the...

Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) was hit with a federal indictment Wednesday, accusing her of stealing $5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds to support her 2021 congressional campaign. Cherfilus-McCormick, who has been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee since December 2023, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami and faces up to 53 years in prison if convicted. Using disaster relief funds for self-enrichment is a particularly selfish, cynical crime,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “No one is above the law, least of all powerful people who rob taxpayers for personal gain....

DOJ charges Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL) with stealing $5 million in FEMA funds, laundering the proceeds, and then using the money to support her 2021 Congressional campaign. She faces up to 53 years in prison if convicted. According to the indictment, DOJ says: “Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, and her brother Edwin Cherfilus, 51, both of Miramar, worked through their family health-care company on a FEMA-funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract in 2021. In July 2021, the company received an overpayment of $5 million in FEMA funds.

A federal grand jury in Miami indicted Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-FL, and several co-defendants with stealing federal disaster funds, laundering the proceeds, and using the money to support her 2021 congressional campaign. Court records say that Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, and her brother Edwin Cherfilus, 51, both of Miramar, worked through their family health-care company on a FEMA-funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract in 2021. In July 2021, the company received an overpayment of $5 million in FEMA funds. The indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to steal that $5 million and routed it through multiple accounts to disguise its source. Prosecutors allege...

The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) reported that troopers have arrested 6,200 illegal migrants during its partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) this year.Florida Republican Gov. Ron De Santis had ordered the FHP to partner with ICE early this year, saying that state and local law enforcement agencies would be a “force multiplier” in deportations. “Interior enforcement atrophied under Biden so there will no doubt be a ramp up period,” DeSantis said in January, adding it is “all the more reason why states and localities need to assist the Trump administration with interior enforcement efforts.”The partnership “will be a...

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Madison Sheahan speaks during a press conference to discuss Operation Criminal Return at the South Florida office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Enforcement and Removal Operations on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025, in Miramar, Fla. State and federal authorities in Florida have arrested over 200 people convicted of sex crimes who were unlawfully in the United States — the latest collaboration between the Trump and DeSantis administrations on immigration enforcement. During a press conference at the Miramar office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday morning, officials announced “Operation Criminal Return,” also...

A Florida man convicted of kidnapping a 6-year-old girl from her bedroom and drowning her in a canal more than 40 years ago was put to death on Thursday night. Bryan Jennings, 66, was declared dead shortly after 6:20 p.m at the Florida State Prison. Jennings died by lethal injection, according to the Associated Press. Jenning's execution marks the 16th execution in Florida this year. He was sentenced to death in 1979 for the abduction, rape, and brutal killing of 6-year-old Rebecca "becky" Kunash in Brevard County. According to records, Jennings, a 20-year-old Marine at the time, was in Florida...