Free Republic

LAKELAND -- A religious freedom group says Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd broke the law when he gave a sermon at a local church. The sermon was titled, “Wouldn’t the world be better if everyone behaved like a Christian?” It’s a question Sheriff Judd asked hundreds of people from the pulpit of First Baptist Church at the mall in Lakeland. It’s a question he’s now defending two months after the sermon he delivered in April. “I was invited to this church, as I am to many churches and secular events, and you know what, the message was clear,” Judd said....

A horrific child sex ring was busted in Florida and one of those arrested is a CAIR official in Orlando who ran a Muslim Youth organization. Watch below:

Sex with Children as Young as 10 The two-week joint sting, known as “Operation L and P,” netted 101 arrests in both Lake and Polk counties. The investigation concluded late last week. (Photo: Dave D’Marko, News 13) The UK child sex trafficking gangs we have come to America CAIR leader Ahmad Saleem, a Muslim youth coordinator, was also one of the men arrested. Investigators said the men all went to a home in Clermont with the hopes of having sex with a child. The car Saleem traveled in had a license plate that said, “Invest in children,” according to...

Orlando community activist Ahmad Saleem drove to a Clermont-area house intending to meet a 12-year-old girl he had been chatting with online for sex in a vehicle with a specialty "Invest in Children" license plate, authorities said Tuesday. But when the door opened, there were no children in sight. Instead, detectives quickly brought Saleem to the ground and arrested him. Saleem, founder of the Saleem Academy, an organization dedicated to empowering Muslim youths globally, was one of the 101 people arrested in an undercover cybercrime prostitution and child-sex sting by the Lake and Polk county sheriff's offices. Lake County Sheriff...

“We’ll give them a gun fight, one they’ll never forget,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told a gaggle of reporters, one of whom even taunted the courageous police chief with a politically correct question about the optics of a gun fight. Four black males were apprehended by law enforcement teams from Polk County, Florida, Auburndale, and Haines City after committing alleged atrocities “much too graphic to detail” on two adult mother-daughter victims in their own home! (1) One suspect burst out of a home’s closed garage door, and all four thugs apparently were ready to fire on police surrounding the...

The four men arrested after an armed pawn shop robbery in Auburndale and slaying of two Haines City women were denied bail by a judge Saturday morning. Michael Gordon, Devonere McCune, Jovan Lamb and Terrell Williams will remain in the Polk County Jail and are due back in the court Feb. 17. They made their first appearance in a Bartow courtroom. Gordon, 34, of Lakeland, faces two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Patricia Moran, 72, and her daughter, Deborah Royal, 51, at their home. Investigators said Gordon broke into the house and “viciously” killed the women before...

The Affordable Care Act is spelling the demise of free healthcare clinics across the country, The Wall Street Journal reports. Of clinics across 28 states, almost a dozen in the past two years have cited Obamacare as their reason for shutting their doors. Both The Good Samaritan Free Clinic in Rock Island, Illinois, and the Ninth Street Ministries Free Medical Clinic in Polk County, Arkansas, shut their doors this year saying their missions were complete. Now that most of their former clients have medical insurance, many through expanded Medicaid, they are no longer needed, they say. …

A Polk County family says bullying may force them to pull their 14-year-old daughter out of school. Haines City Police said it has launched an investigation into the bullying, and the FBI is also looking into the complaint.Fourteen-year-old Zarah Habibulla says the bullying started last December when she began wearing a headscarf to school as part of her Muslim faith. Zarah said she is now scared to go to school after students have taunted her saying, “terrorist, yo we got some terrorists here we gotta run,” and “…I’m going to shoot you. I’m going to bomb you. You better watch...

ORLANDO -- Two teenagers accused of cyberbullying a Polk County teen who committed suicide will not face charges. The lawyers of a 14-year-old girl and a 12-year-old girl accused of bullying Rebecca Sedwick before her suicide, announced Wednesday that their clients will no longer face aggravated stalking charges. Defense attorney Jose Baez has announced the State of Florida dropped charges against his 12-year-old client during a news conference. “We are very pleased that the State Attorney’s Office through hard work and through extreme professionalism has decided to do the right thing," said Baez, adding that he never believed there was...

LAKELAND, FL | A few years ago, Randy Lippy was fishing at Saddle Creek Park when a man approached. Lippy, 65, of Lakeland, said the man asked if he wanted to pay for sex. The proposition made him so uncomfortable, Lippy said, he stopped fishing at the park until just recently. Once favored as a fishing spot with walking trails and a public gun range, the park is almost as well known now for the number of arrests that take place there. So far this year, 20 people have been arrested by the Polk County Sheriff's Office for lewd behavior....

AUSTIN - When it comes to road improvement and maintenance, by most accounts, the South Plains and Panhandle are fortunate. Despite a $1.1 billion accounting error, the Texas Department of Transportation recently reported no projects in the region have been canceled or delayed while cities like Dallas, Houston and Laredo had at least a half dozen highway projects delayed. But the $1.1 billion-error, which occurred because TxDOT inadvertently counted some bond money twice and consequently allocated more funding than it had, is just the latest problem plaguing the beleaguered agency. For months, TxDOT executive director Amadeo Saenz and other transportation...

HOUSTON -- It did not take long Tuesday for the Texas Department of Transportation to find out what the Houstonians at a public hearing thought about the proposed 600-mile Trans-Texas Corridor, KPRC Local 2 reported. "George Washington, Sam Houston would vomit on you people," one attendee said. Chris Zora, who opposes the plan, attended the hearing at the Arabia Shrine Center in Southwest Houston. "I'd like to see a show of hands here of anybody that approves of this corridor," Zora said. "Is there anyone in this room who approves of this corridor? Raise your hands if you approve of...

BARTOW, Fla. -- A Central Florida teacher has been fired because he kept a handgun in his truck in the school parking lot. The Polk County school board voted unanimously Tuesday to fire 51-year-old Phillip Bradley. He taught truck mechanics at the Ridge Career Center in Winter Haven when the 9 mm handgun was found in his truck in the school lot last spring. A hearing officer had recommended just a 90-day suspension, but school board members said that would have set a bad example for students. Bradley said he was sorry for his students. He also said he felt...

Trucks hauling everything from cars to produce use Southeast Texas roads to deliver their goods, and when a proposed Interstate 69/Trans Texas Corridor is completed, local drivers could see even more of them, local transportation officials said. The proposed I-69 corridor stretches from Michigan down to Texas. Once in Texas, the corridor goes about 650 miles from Texarkana to Brownsville and Laredo and includes separate lanes for cars and semis and areas for trains and utilities. It doesn't cut through Beaumont, but local arteries like U.S. 69 and Interstate 10 would connect to it. Travelers and truckers just need to...

lakeland shoplifting was first break Gang stole $100 million from stores, sheriff says LAKELAND | A multiagency investigation that began with a single shoplifting incident about seven months ago has revealed an 18-person crime ring that may be responsible for the theft of up to $100 million worth of medicine and health and beauty goods from convenience and grocery stores statewide, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Thursday. The investigation started with two shoplifters at a Publix supermarket on Shepherd Road in Lakeland on June 26, Judd said at a news conference in Lakeland on Thursday afternoon. Rita Maddox and...

POLK CITY - Smoke and fog are causing a surreal scene in Polk County that's forced the closure of a stretch of Interstate 4, and contributed to a massive pile-up. All lanes of I-4 are closed between the Polk Parkway and U.S. 27. That's roughly from Polk City to the Osceola County line. The lingering smoke combined with the morning fog has brought visibility down to near zero, and deputies say at least 50 vehicles are involved in the massive wreck, and 20 of those are semi-trucks. Several vehicles caught fire, though most of the blazes seemed to be out...

The future of an interstate planned to run through Victoria appears murkier than ever. Harris County, a key point along the proposed Interstate 69 route, pulled out of the I-69 Alliance in mid-May. In an article in the May 15 Houston Chronicle, Bill Murphy and Rad Sallee wrote that Harris County pulled out of the I-69 Alliance after county commissioners decided too much was spent annually in membership costs. The county hopes that a bill in legislation right now is passed, because it would give them access to build a toll road as part of the Trans-Texas Corridor parallel to...

The state's ability to develop public-private partnerships - as envisioned with the Trans-Texas Corridor - is critical to complete long-sought transportation improvements and economic development from Laredo to north of Amarillo, according to the Ports-to-Plains Corridor Coalition. "Partnerships that pool federal, state, local and private sector resources will be needed to make Ports-to-Plains a reality and there are several opportunities for that to occur," said Michael Reeves, president of the Lubbock-based coalition. A new study prepared by Cambridge Systematics, Inc. for the Texas Department of Transportation concludes that enhancements to rail, electric transmission lines and highways would improve mobility, safety...

The anchor on Fox News was just interviewing the Polk County Sheriff. Suddenly, the Sherrif said there were "hundreds" of shots. Then he said he had to go.

LAKELAND, Fla. - A man suspected of shooting a Polk County sheriff's deputy to death was killed Friday, officials said. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said officials shot the man numerous times in thick brush, a day after Deputy Vernon Matthew Williams was shot in a burst of gunfire. The suspect refused to show his hands, Judd said. The suspect appeared to have the .45-caliber weapon that belonged to Williams, Judd said. He still did not know the man's name.