Seminole County News
Seminole Headlines
-
Seminole Commissioner Lee Constantine visits Europe to study water issues
Seminole County Commissioner Lee Constantine stood on a beach in the Netherlands facing the North Sea last week and watched as people walked along the sand. It was only three years ago that the beach near Amsterdam was under sea water because of unrelenting beach erosion. But thanks to a massive...
-
Teen shot in head after drive-by in Sanford
Bullets riddling their Sanford home just before midnight Sunday woke up a family on Little Fox Avenue. Ashoni Merrill rolled out of bed onto the floor as the gunshots continued, according to a Sanford police report that details the drive-by shooting that injured a 16-year-old boy as he lay in bed....
-
Seminole County man chases huge bear out of his garage
A large bear wandered Monday into an open garage in a Seminole County neighborhood and opened a refrigerator, the startled homeowner said. While working from home, Brad Tamm spotted the uninvited furry guest through a door and rapped on the glass, shouting, “Get out of here! Get!” Unfazed at first,...
-
Man who tried to sell deputy's stolen gun to undercover agent convicted of firearms, drug charges
A Sanford man was found guilty this week on drug and gun charges and faces a minimum of 15 years in prison when he is sentenced in January. Among the items prosecutors say Christopher Gerard Dickerson, 38, and an accomplice sold to an undercover agent were a .45-caliber Glock handgun and a bulletproof...
-
Sanford leaders to celebrate the Goldsboro streetscape project Saturday
Sanford city leaders on Saturday will celebrate the completion of one of the largest streetscape improvement projects in the Goldsboro community in recent history. The $2.5-million project kicked off a year ago and added wider sidewalks, street pavers, decorative lights, benches along a nearly...
-
Sanford elementary school wins grant for teacher bonuses, more staff, new programs
A Seminole County elementary school was one of 11 in Florida to win a state grant this month that it will use to pay teacher bonuses, hire extra instructors and boost offerings at its D-rated campus. The “schools of hope” grant won by Idyllwilde Elementary School in Sanford was offered for the...
-
Longwood candidates blast political mailer about gambling as 'dirty politics'
A political mailer sent to thousands of Longwood homes claims that three City Commission candidates support bringing “Las Vegas style” casino gambling into the Seminole County community. But the candidates targeted in the flier — Abby Shoemaker, Richard Drummond and Matt Morgan — blasted the mailer...
-
Man accused of killing 87-year-old Seminole County man dead of apparent suicide, jail officials say
A man accused of killing an 87-year-old Seminole County man died after an apparent suicide attempt in the Orange County Jail, Orange County spokeswoman Carrie Proudfit said. Jail officials found Edward Israel Marrero, 23, unresponsive Thursday in his cell. Marrero was taken to Orlando Regional...
-
Accused killer of 87-year-old man abducted him outside restaurant, investigators say
Wallace Dean Worman, an 87-year-old widower, was picking up dinner Sunday at Boston’s Fish House near Winter Park when a stranger forced him into his own car and drove him to a bank, where the man used Worman’s debit card to withdraw money. A little more than an hour later, Worman was shot and...
-
Health officials urge caution as backyard chickens spark surge in illnesses
Some urban chicken farmers treat their birds like pets, snuggling with them and letting them roam the house. It’s not a good idea, said Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan, who keeps chickens. “You don’t need to be hugging and kissing chickens,” she said. “They’re livestock.” Health officials...
-
87-year-old Seminole County man was shot, deputies say
An 87-year-old Seminole County man found dead Monday morning was shot in the head, according to a preliminary autopsy. Wallace Dean Worman’s friends found him dead in his home on Norwich Circle, near Casselberry. He had “obvious signs of trauma,” Seminole County Sheriff’s spokesman Bob Kealing...
-
Traffic, growth top issues in Oviedo elections
During the past two decades, Oviedo’s population has skyrocketed by more than 50 percent to nearly 40,000 residents today. That explosive growth — made up mostly of young families — shows no signs of abating. How Oviedo manages that surge — including the influx of traffic — in the coming years...
-
Second suspect arrested in deadly stabbing of Seminole High School student
More than a month after a Seminole High School student was killed, a second suspect has been arrested — this time a teen friend of the victim, Sanford police said. A 16-year-old friend of Kaleb Rabun is charged with murder during a specific felony in Kaleb’s death. Kaleb, also 16, and the friend...
-
Lake County supports proposal for another Wekiva Parkway interchange
Lake County commissioners threw their support Tuesday behind efforts for another interchange on the $1.6 billion Wekiva Parkway despite opposition from conservationists and other Central Florida elected officials. “We’re trying to protect the Mount Plymouth community from becoming a superhighway,”...
-
Suspect in death of 87-year-old man in Seminole stole his car, court records say
On Oct. 10, an Orlando police detective wrote in an arrest report that Edward Israel Marrero should stay in jail because he would likely steal again if released. Marrero was released and, authorities say, did steal once more. But this time the theft took a deadly turn, officials allege. Marrero...
-
Suspect identified in killing of 87-year-old man near Casselberry
Every morning, friends of Wallace Dean Worman dutifully called the 87-year-old veteran to check up on him. When he didn’t answer the phone Monday, they knew there was something wrong. Worman’s friends went to his home on Norwich Circle, near Casselberry, and found him dead with “obvious signs of...
-
At least 2 suspects still sought after cellphone heist, Sanford police say
Sanford police are asking for the public’s help finding two or three more suspects involved in a cellphone heist. Darius Anderson, 19, and Noah Jones, 22, were part of a group that snatched 11 cellphones Friday from a Verizon Wireless store at 1615 Rinehart Road, according to Sanford police. The...
-
Anti-gay Westboro Baptist pickets at Valencia College, 3 churches near Orlando
A handful of protesters from the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church showed up Monday morning at Valencia College’s west campus and on Sunday morning at several churches in Seminole County, law officers said. There were no scuffles and no arrests. The group stayed at the college for about half an hour,...
-
19-year-old stabs man at house party in Longwood, deputies say
A 19-year-old man was arrested early Sunday morning for allegedly stabbing a 21-year-old and tampering with evidence, according to a report from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office. About 1:55 a.m., deputies responded to a call on Pickering Court in unincorporated Longwood where they found a 21-year-old...
-
Man suffers non life-threatening gunshot wound to chest in Seminole County, deputies say
A 20-year-old was shot in the chest in Seminole County on Thursday night, deputies say. The shooting happened around 7:45 p.m. at a home on Moton Avenue and McKay Street, according to deputies. The victim is expected to survive, deputies said. Suspect information was not available. Anyone with...
Other News
-
Man came to Orlando airport intending to shoot wife, police say
A Palm Bay man came armed to Orlando International Airport Tuesday intending to shoot his wife, Orlando Police said. William Schultz, 49, was arrested at the airport when an Orlando Police officer who recognized him after seeing a tip from the Atlanta Police Department, records show. He faces charges...
-
Accused killer Bob Ward gets GPS in effort to attend daughter's wedding
Just hours after a judge denied James “Bob” Ward’s request to leave Orange County to attend the wedding of his youngest daughter in Georgia, Ward got equipped with an electronic monitoring device in an attempt to persuade the judge to change her order. In a legal filing late Tuesday, Ward’s lawyers...
-
Florida man calls girlfriend's disemboweled corpse 'blow-up doll': report
A Florida man was charged with abusing a dead body after police found his girlfriend's disemboweled corpse in his closet and he told them it was a blow-up doll "made of flesh." Jerome Wright, 32, has suffered from schizophrenia since he was 15, his mother, Della Wright, told ABC-News Channel 10...
-
Charges dropped against mother-daughter pair accused of kidnapping 5-year-old
Charges against a mother and daughter accused of kidnapping a 5-year-old boy this summer in Minneola have been dropped due to lack of evidence, a prosecutor said this week. Jennifer Cook, 35, and her mother, Kathleen Cook, 56, were arrested in July and accused of forcibly abducting Jennifer Cook’s...
-
Pregnant woman not wearing motorcycle helmet killed in Palm Bay crash, police say
A pregnant woman was killed Monday in a motorcycle crash in Palm Bay, according to police. Morgan Premoo, 33, was riding a motorcycle driven by her husband, Anderson Premoo, 41. They were traveling “at a high rate of speed” on Riviera Drive near Cromey Road when a silver Volkswagen ran a stop sign,...
-
Former congresswoman Corinne Brown asks for delay in fraud sentencing
JACKSONVILLE — Former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown is asking a federal judge to delay her sentencing hearing on fraud and other charges, the second time in recent weeks she has made the request. The Florida Times-Union reports that the 70-year-old Brown's attorney filed the request on Tuesday in federal...
-
Sentencing phase of Luis Toledo trial begins Wednesday
The same St. Augustine jury that convicted Luis Toledo of murder is expected to begin hearing evidence Wednesday on whether he should be sentenced to death for killing his wife's two children. But first the court must resolve the issue of Toledo insisting he does not want his attorneys to argue...
-
Crash on I-4 west that blocked one lane cleared
A crash on Interstate 4 west near Kaley Avenue had the left lane blocked Wednesday morning, but it has been cleared, according to the Florida Department of Transportation’s fl511.com website. Traffic had been backed up until Ivanhoe Boulevard. sruiz@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5008
-
1 killed, 1 injured in Orlando shooting Tuesday night, OPD says
One woman was killed and another one was injured in a shooting by Vista Lago Drive, Orlando Police said Tuesday night. What started out reported as a vehicle crash about 10:19 p.m. Tuesday in the 5000 block of Vista Lago Drive and Lobelia Drive, where gunshots were heard, escalated into a fatal...
-
Gunshots fired into the air in Kissimmee, authorities say
Gunshots were fired into the air Tuesday night in Old Town in Kissimmee, Osceola County authorities said. According to Osceola Sheriff’s Office spokesman Capt. Jacob Ruiz, there were no gunshot victims. He said the individuals involved are in the custody of Osceola deputies. The incident is still...