Police: Over 2,800 Child Porn Files On Escambia Man’s Computer
July 11, 2014
Child pornography charges were filed on an Escambia County man Thursday after an investigation determined he downloaded child pornography from the internet.
Ronald G. Pickering Jr., 25, of 9885 North Loop Road, was charged with 10 counts each of possession of obscene material and obscene communication. He was booked into the Escambia County Jail on a $50,000 bond.
Pensacola Police Detective Chris Wilkinson began the investigation June 17 after identifying Pickering’s computer as being used to download sexually explicit pictures and movies of children from the internet.
Agents with the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which includes agents with the Pensacola Police Department, Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Crestview Police Department, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and Department of Homeland Security initiated a search warrant at Pickering’s this morning.
Wilkinson determined at least 2,809 child pornography files were downloaded onto Pickering’s computer. Additional forensic examination will continue on Pickering’s computer, according to police.
Man Faces Up To 10 Years For Series Of Century Business Burglaries
July 11, 2014
A man charged with series of business burglaries in Century has entered a plea to the charges against him and now faces up to a decade in prison.
Jason Allen Bodiford, 35, entered a no contest plea to multiple charges, included burglary, larceny, criminal mischief property damage and illegal use of a credit card. Bodiford, who told officials he is homeless, remains in the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $43,750 as he awaits sentencing next month before Judge Ross Goodman. Bodiford faces a maximum of 10 years in state prison.
He reportedly admitted to investigators that he burglarized Century Marine, Rhonda’s Hair Salon, the Happy Star Chinese Restaurant and the Century Flower Shop. Business owners reported that Bodiford had visited their places of business prior to the burglaries asking for money.
He also allegedly burglarized a car on Hecker Road in Century and stole a credit card that was later used to purchase food at Burger King in Century.
Bodiford was originally arrested December 30 at a motel in Atmore and booked into the Escambia County Detention Center in Brewton on a failure to appear charge on traffic tickets in Alabama. He was extradited to Florida to face the burglary related charges.
200 New Jobs Announced
July 11, 2014
A new manufacturing facility will be built at the city-owned Port of Pensacola, creating up to 200 new jobs, according to an announcement Thursday by Pensacola Mayor Ashton Hayward.
Offshore Inland, a leader in topside and riding crew repair services, is joining forces with DeepFlex, the world’s only manufacturer of unbonded non-metallic pipe for deepwater applications, to establish a new manufacturing and qualification testing facility at the Port of Pensacola. The facility is expected to be fully operational second half of 2015, producing up to 62 miles of the specialized pipe per year.
A lease agreement approved by the city council in March and executed in May between the city and port customer Offshore Inland Marine & Oilfield Services (OIMO) paved the way for the project.
The OIMO/DeepFlex complex will be comprised of a heavily-renovated existing port warehouse plus new buildings and infrastructure built on up to 31⁄2 acres of undeveloped port land. It will be capable of producing DeepFlex’s complete flexible pipe product range.
The pipe produced at the facility will leave the port as cargo either by truck, rail, barge, cargo ship or direct load to subsea pipe-laying vessels docked at the port.
Florida Executes Child Killer
July 11, 2014
Eddie Wayne Davis, convicted in the 1994 murder of an 11-year-old Polk County girl, was put to death Thursday at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was pronounced dead at 6:43 p.m. by the Department of Corrections.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied a last minute appeal Thursday, three days after the Florida Supreme Court also rejected an appeal.
Davis, 45, argued, in part, that he suffered from a medical condition that could make the state’s lethal-injection process unconstitutional in his case. But the Florida Supreme Court rejected that argument.
Davis was convicted of kidnapping 11-year-old Kimberly Waters, sexually assaulting and strangling her and leaving her body in a dumpster.
Davis is the 19th person executed by Florida since Gov. Rick Scott took office, surpassing the 18 executions that occurred under former Gov. Lawton Chiles, who served two terms between 1991 and 1998. There were 21 executions during the two terms of former Gov. Jeb Bush, 11 in the first and 10 in the second. Five Death Row inmates were executed during former Gov. Charlie Crist’s single term.
by The News Service of Florida
Judge Strikes Down Congressional Map
July 11, 2014
In a highly anticipated ruling, a Leon County judge struck down a map of the state’s congressional districts drawn by the Legislature in 2012, potentially throwing the political future of the state into turmoil.
But the ruling, issued by Circuit Judge Terry Lewis, is virtually certain to be appealed and end up before the Florida Supreme Court, meaning that this year’s elections will likely proceed normally.
Legislative leaders were reviewing the ruling late Thursday, according to their offices. But a lawyer for voting-rights groups challenging the map said it was “very satisfying” to see Lewis’ opinion and said his side was ready for an appeal.
“We’re very optimistic that the Supreme Court will uphold the ruling,” attorney David King said.
The order, issued late Thursday, is the first to address the state’s congressional map under the anti-gerrymandering Fair Districts constitutional amendments, approved by voters in 2010. The Supreme Court already invalidated the Legislature’s first draft of a state Senate plan, which was then redrawn before the 2012 elections.
Lewis’ ruling specifically takes aim at the districts represented by Democratic Congresswoman Corrine Brown and Republican Congressman Daniel Webster. Brown’s district, which winds its way from Jacksonville to Orlando, has been criticized for years as one of the worst examples of gerrymandering in the nation.
It isn’t clear when lawmakers might have to redraw the districts, especially given the likelihood of an appeal. Lewis’ ruling doesn’t set a deadline, and candidates have already qualified for the 2014 elections under the boundaries approved by the Legislature.
But if the lines are redrawn after appeals play out, any changes to the Webster and Brown districts are likely to ripple through the rest of the map, given that all congressional districts have to have equal populations. Moving voters into or out of the two districts thrown out by Lewis would have a domino effect on surrounding seats.
According to Lewis, lawmakers and the staff members charged with the once-a-decade redistricting process tried to shield the map drawers from political influence, even as Republican political consultants tried to find a way to manipulate the process.
“That being said, the circumstantial evidence introduced at trial convinces me that the political operatives managed to find other avenues, other ways to infiltrate and influence the Legislature, to obtain the necessary cooperation and collaboration to ensure that their plan was realized, at least in part,” Lewis wrote. “They managed to taint the redistricting process and the resulting map with improper partisan intent. There is just too much circumstantial evidence of it, too many coincidences, for me to conclude otherwise.”
Lewis also found fault with explanations offered by the Legislature for some of the damning evidence at the trial. For example, one key email featured Kirk Pepper, an aide to then-House Speaker Dean Cannon, asking a political consultant whether some unstated issues with Webster’s Orlando-area district related to “performance or geography.”
The state had argued that Pepper was being sarcastic.
“Mr. Pepper testified that, though it may seem that they were discussing political performance, his reply to his friend was actually a signal reminding him that they should not discuss such things. Perhaps, but that is a very unusual and illogical interpretation,” Lewis wrote.
Much of the district-specific testimony at the trial focused on Brown’s seat, which was originally created in the 1990s to provide African-Americans with the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice. Legislative leaders and staff members argued at trial that increasing the district’s black voting-age population, or BVAP, to more than 50 percent would shield it from a challenge under the federal Voting Rights Act.
But voting-rights organizations opposed to the map, like the League of Women Voters, countered that the district was really meant to carve out enclaves of Democratic-leaning voters and make surrounding districts more friendly to the GOP. Lewis largely agreed.
“I also find that the decision to increase the district to majority BVAP, which was accomplished in large part by creating the finger-like appendage jutting into District 7 and Seminole County, was done with the intent of benefiting the Republican Party,” he wrote.
As for Webster’s district, Lewis rejected an argument from the state that lawmakers included an “appendage” of white voters in the plan as part of their efforts to create a Central Florida district where Latinos could influence the outcome of elections.
“There was no evidence to suggest that a Hispanic majority district could be created in Central Florida. Defendants cannot justify deviation from a … constitutional requirement because of a desire to create a Hispanic influence district,” Lewis wrote.
by The News Service of Florida
Vickrey Graduates From Military Working Dog Handler Course
July 11, 2014
Hunter Vickrey of Molino has graduated from the Military Working Dog Handler Course at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, TX. He will now report to his first duty station in Virginia at Fort Myer, which borders Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
When Vickrey graduated earlier this year from basic training/military police AIT school at Fort Leonard Wood, MO, he was one of just two of 150 soldiers in the group selected to receive a K-9 and K-9 training.
Wahoos Take Home Opener Against Montgomery’s Biscuits, 4-2
July 11, 2014
Daniel Corcino put what the reigning WWE Tag Team Champion Uso Brothers would call “the kibosh” on the Montgomery Biscuits Thursday night.
In front of a sellout crowd and twin brothers Jimmy and Jey, who graduated from Escambia High School, Corcino clamped down on the Biscuits in the, 4-2, Pensacola victory in the series opener.
Corcino allowed just one run on a solo home run to Alejandro Segovia in the second inning and struck out seven to up his record to 8-7. It was Corcino’s ninth start this season that he has pitched six innings or more and allowed one run or fewer.
He said that meeting the dominating Uso Brothers, who threw out the game’s ceremonial first pitch, pumped him up before the game. Corcino said he has loved wrestling since he was a little boy watching it on TV in the Dominican Republic.
“I love that sport. It’s one of my favorites,” Corcino said. “I met them and they asked, ‘Who’s going to teach me to pitch?’ I said, ‘I’ll teach you, if you teach me how to wrestle in the ring.’”
Corcino came into his 18th start of the season having struggled in his past five games. He was 1-3 with 19 strikeouts and 18 walks in 23.1 innings for a 9.26 ERA.
Corcino, who is the Cincinnati Reds’ No. 10 prospect according to MLB.com, said he considered those outings ancient history. Plus, the 23-year-old is now unbeaten, 4-0, against the Biscuits, including 3-0, this season.
“If you have a bad game you just forget about it,” said Corcino, who walked only one batter. “I threw the ball at the plate and said, ‘Let’s see what happens?’ My last few starts I’ve been a little wild.”
The difference Thursday was command of his fastballs in the 90s and getting ahead in the count on the hitters, said Wahoos manager Delino DeShields.
“When he pitches like that we have a chance to win games,” DeShields said. “When you look at his side work and his pitching in the bullpen before the game, everything’s working. It’s just being able to do it at 6:30 p.m. It was a great job by him tonight.”
The second game of the five-game series with Tampa Bay Rays Double-A affiliate the Montgomery Biscuits gets underway at 6:30 p.m. Friday. RHP Jon Moscot (4-8, 3.19) takes the mound for the Wahoos and is scheduled to be opposed by the Biscuits RHP Albert Suarez (1-0, 1.50).
by Tommy Thrall
Pictured: The Pensacola Blue Wahoos beat the Montgomery Biscuits 4-2 at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium,Thursday. Photos by Michael Spooneybarger/ Pensacola Blue Wahoos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Cantonment Veterinarian Arrested After DEA Investigation
July 10, 2014
A Cantonment veterinarian has been arrested on drug charges following an investigation by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and the DEA.
Michael Bishop Windley, age 67 of Highway 196 Molino, was arrested on state drug charges of four counts of possession, delivery, and manufacture of a controlled substance and four counts of fraud in obtaining prescriptions. Windley is a veterinarian at the Companion Animal Clinic at 470 South Highway 29 (the former Winn Dixie shopping center), according to Special Agent in Charge Mark. R Trouville of the DEA’s Miami Field Division.
According to the arrest warrant, the DEA received a call in August 2013 from a Winn Dixie pharmacist regarding the suspicious prescribing activities of Windley. During the investigation, DEA learned that Windley was fraudulently obtaining methadone by writing prescriptions in the name of his ex-wife’s dog and filling the prescriptions at various pharmacies in the Cantonment and Pensacola areas and then providing the drugs to his ex-daughter in law.
According to the DEA, Windley filled 30 prescriptions (for a total of 5,400 tablets) for methadone between December 11, 2012 and February 7, 2014. Two of the prescriptions for methadone were filled at two different pharmacies on the same date.
According to the DEA, Windley presented multiple controlled substance prescriptions for 180 methadone tablets each for a dog named Banner under the owner’s name Barbara Ard of the 4600 block of Highway 196 in Molino. Ard, according to the DEA, is Windley’s ex-wife.
During a DEA inspection of the Companion Animal Clinic, Windley first told an investigator that he had researched several medical journals and attended a conference where methadone was used as a pain medication with no side effects in animals. Windley, according to an arrest affidavit, also said he had six dogs, five of which were deceased, that were prescribed methadone. He was unable to produce the medical files of the dogs, telling investigators that the files had been destroyed. The veterinarian then said he wrote the prescriptions for all the dogs under one dog’s name, filled them at area pharmacies and then dispensed it out to the animals’ owners — a wrongful practice, according to the DEA.
Later, Windley voluntarily surrendered his DEA license, the report states, and admitted the pills were for his daughter in law.
The daughter-in-law, a Gulf Breeze resident, told investigators that she would clean Windley’s home and take care of his pets. He would leave a bottle of methadone on a table at his home. She told investigators that she was taking up to 20 methadone pills per day, and investigators witnessed her make a call to her primary physicians to make an appointment to receive help.
Windley was released from the Escambia County Jail on $50,000 bond.
Tax Collector Offices Collecting Food Drive Donations For Manna
July 10, 2014
A food drive is currently underway at Escambia County Tax Collector offices, including Molino, downtown and Marcus Pointe.
The employees of Janet Holley, Escambia County Tax Collector, are supporting Manna Food Pantries by sponsoring a food drive to help them restock their pantry from the April flood. Their goal is to collect 2,000 pounds of food to help Manna meet the needs of the hungry in our area.
Nonperishable food items can be dropped off at any of the three convenient tax collector locations Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. through August 6. Manna Food Pantries welcomes any food donations, but their most needed items are peanut butter, canned fruit, canned tuna and chicken, and canned dinners.
Escambia Count Tax Collector offices are located at:
- Molino – 6440 Hwy. 95-A North, Ste. A
- Marcus Pointe – 6451 North “W” Street
- Downtown – 213 Palafox Place
Credit Cards Stolen During Flomaton Funeral Used In Molino, Cantonment
July 10, 2014
Authorities are asking for the public’s help in identifying a man that stole credit and debit cards during a Flomaton funeral and then used the cards in Molino and Cantonment.
According to the Flomaton Police Department, the suspect burglarized an automobile sometime between 3:00 and 3:20 p.m. last Sunday during a funeral at the Little Escambia Baptist Church on Highway 113. The suspect took a purse out of the vehicle before fleeing into Florida.
The suspect then attempted to use the victim’s credit and debit cards in Flomaton, and at businesses along Highway 29 in Molino and Cantonment. Flomaton Police Chief Bryan Davis declined to identify the businesses, citing an ongoing investigation.
Flomaton Police have obtained surveillance footage of the suspect entering two different businesses. He was described as a black male about six feet tall, wearing khaki pants, an untucked red polo-style shirt, black sunglasses, a gold colored watch on his left wrist and a red hat with the letter “P” on it, possibly a Philadelphia Phillies baseball hat. No description of his vehicle is available.
Anyone with information on the crimes is asked to call the Flomaton Police Department at (251) 296-5811.
