Century Correctional Sgt. Sentenced To Federal Prison For Child Porn
August 19, 2010
A former Century Correctional Institution sergeant has been sentenced to federal prison for possession of child pornography.
Paul Edward Black, 43, was sentenced to 40 months in federal prison after being found guilty on one count of possession of child pornography. He was also ordered to receive mental health and sexual offender treatment while in custody.
Black has until noon on September 7 to surrender to federal authorities. The court recommended that he be allowed to serve his sentence as close to Century as possible and further recommended the Federal Prison Camp at Saufley Field in Pensacola once he completes a sexual offender program.
Once his prison sentence is complete, Black will remained under supervised release for a period of eight years. He will also be required to participate in a sexual offender treatment program. He will be required to register as sex offender. His future computer use will be subject to monitoring, and his house, computer and other property will be subject to search.
Black was arrested while at work at the Century prison in June, 2009. He entered a guilty plea in July, 2009, but sentencing was delayed until this month while Black underwent court ordered evaluations.
Deputies seized a laptop computer, desktop computer and 56 CD’s from Black’s residence while he was at work at the Century Correctional Institution. When sheriff’s investigators later interviewed Black at CCI, he admitted to searching the Internet for child pornography, according to federal court documents, and admitted to specific search terms that he used such as “teen”, “lolita”, “PTHC” and “Bambina”.
“A forensic review of his electronic media located images and videos of child pornography on his laptop and desktop,” federal court documents signed by Black state. “A review of the compact disks (CD’s) revealed the same.”
According to Florida Department of Corrections Spokesperson Gretl Plessinger, Black was first employed at the Century Correctional Institution on March 21, 1991. He was later terminated.
Black faced a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a lifetime supervised release.
Drug Dogs To Be Used Daily In Escambia Schools
August 19, 2010
The Escambia County School Board has approved the daily use of drug dogs in the county’s schools.
Each day, at least one middle or high school in the county will be randomly visited by a canine officer and his dog. Only one person at the district office, Manager of Protection Services Steven Sharp, will know which school will be visited in advance. The canine officer will report to the principal’s office upon his or her arrival and will be accompanied during the search by an administrator.
The district will spend $36,000 from its general fund over the course of a year for the program. Two dozen off-duty canine officers from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and the Pensacola Police Department will be utilized for the searches.
Students will not be searched, and they will be removed from any classroom that is searched. Searches will also include hallways, lockers, parking lots and other common locations.
The plan was passed by the school board 4-0, with Linda Moultrie, an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office employee, abstaining.
Jay Hospital Foundation Awards Scholarships
August 19, 2010
The Jay Hospital Employee Foundation recently awarded two college-bound students a $1,000 scholarship each.
The 2010 recipients were Destiny White from Flomaton High School, and Kaitlin Hunter from Baker High School. White is pursuing a nursing degree and Hunter’s goal is a degree in physical therapy.
The foundation offers scholarships each year to students in high schools located in the Jay Hospital service area. Grades, class rank, ACT scores and volunteer hours are considered in the selection process. To ensure fairness, students’ names are not included on the selection roster, according to the group.
The Jay Hospital Employee Foundation also provides assistance to employees in need, contributes to disaster recovery, and supports local charitable organizations including the American Cancer Society.
Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Former Ala. Cop Busted For On-Duty Pharmacy Burglary With His Brother
August 19, 2010
A former Alabama cop has been arrested for allegedly helping his brother burglarize a pharmacy while he was on duty. The brother was arrested earlier this year at a Pensacola motel.
Matthew Kirk, 36, of Brewton was arrested Tuesday after being indicted by an Escambia County (Ala.) Grand Jury. The former East Brewton Police Department lieutenant (pictured left) is charged with two counts of third degree burglary, one count of second degree theft of property and one ethics violation.
Authorities believe Kirk aided his brother in the burglary of a Fred’s pharmacy in East Brewton on March 23. Kirk was the only police officer on duty in the small Alabama town at the time the burglary occurred.
The police officer’s brother, Jason Daniel Kirk, 30, of Flomaton, was arrested in April in Escambia County, Fla., with just under a half pound of illegal pills.
Members of the Escambia County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit executed a search warrant at Kirk’s room at the Value Place Extended Stay hotel on Scenic Highway in Pensacola. During the search of the room, deputies found a lock box that contained quantities of Xanax, oxycodone, methadone, morphine and hydrocodone, according to the arrest report. One bag of hydrocodone weighed in excess of 200 grams (0.44 pounds), the report stated.
The room also contained sales and inventory figures for the illicit narcotics, and the key to the safe was located on Kirk’s person, deputies said. Kirk (pictured left) admitted to ownership of the narcotics, according to the Sheriff’s Office report.
Investigators said at the time that they believed the pills were from the East Brewton pharmacy burglary. Jason Kirk later told authorities that his brother Matthew Kirk was his accomplice.
Matthew Kirk resigned from the East Brewton Police Department in April. He was booked into the Escambia County (Ala.) Detention Center on $100,000 bond.
Jason Kirk remains in the Escambia County (Fla) Jail on $307,500 bond. He has entered a not guilty plea on all charges and is set for trial in September. At the time of his arrest, Jason Kirk was also charged with negotiating a $57.45 worthless check at the Southern Pit Stop, Inc. in Century. He pleaded guilty to writing the bad check and was sentenced to 60 days in jail.
Meek And McCollum Lead Gubernatorial Poll
August 19, 2010
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum and Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Kendrick Meek, two longtime Florida politicians, could be on their way to surviving tougher-than-expected primaries with opponents who have spent millions of dollars burnishing their own, outsider images, a poll released Wednesday shows.
The Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday showed both men surging to leads over their largely self-financed opponents. McCollum led former Columbia Healthcare/HCA CEO Rick Scott by a 44 percent to 35 percent margin, after having trailed Scott by nine points just three weeks ago. Meek, who trailed real estate mogul Jeff Greene by 10 points at the end of July, is now leading by 35 percent to 28 percent.
Quinnipiac’s findings were the latest in a series of public polls showing momentum shifting back to establishment-backed candidates as the Aug. 24 primary closes in. It shows that despite the national trend, being an outsider may not be enough to get either upstart candidate over the finish line next week, Quinnipiac University Polling Institute assistant director Peter Brown said.
“Essentially, the establishment still lives in Florida politics,” he said.
McCollum and Meek have both leaned heavily on endorsements from popular members of their parties in the final weeks of the primaries, with the attorney general campaigning with former Gov. Jeb Bush and Meek stumping with former President Bill Clinton. That has played a big role in their turnarounds, Brown said.
“What’s happened is that the party elders on both sides have weighed in and they obviously have clout with members of their own parties,” he said.
McCollum and Meek have also begun countering the ubiquitous television commercials from Scott and Greene, who have each spent millions of their own money since entering the race, with tough ads of their own. Brown said McCollum and Meek’s attempts to raise doubts about Scott and Greene’s past appears to have worked.
“McCollum has been able to convince voters that not just that he’s the better candidate, but that experience matters,” Brown said. “Meek has been very good at pounding home two messages: number one, the guy used to be a Republican – he ran for office as one. That’s not very helpful in a Democratic primary. Number two, he became a billionaire betting that you would default on your mortgage. Those are very salient messages.”
In the face of McCollum’s advertising, Scott’s unfavorability ratings climbed from 26 percent in a July 29 Quinnipiac survey to 33 percent this week. Meek’s tough-edged advertising against Greene helped drive his opponent’s negative rating from 18 percent to 36 percent among voters.
Also looming as a problem for Scott with the primary less than a week away are signs that not as many voters say they want a first-time candidate as governor as Quinnipiac’s earlier survey showed. Then, 54 percent opted for an outsider. Now, 42 percent do. A similar trouble spot for Greene is that twice as many voters who say they support him acknowledge they might change their mind compared with Meek backers. While 52 percent of Greene voters say they could switch – only 26 percent of Meek supporters said they could be persuaded to turn.
The Quinnipiac poll was conducted from Aug. 11-16. Among Republicans, 807 likely primary voters were surveyed with the findings containing a margin-of-error of plus-or-minus 3.5 percentage points. Among Democrats, 814 likely primary voters were contacted – with the poll’s error margin 3.4 percentage points.
While McCollum and Meek may be benefitting from momentum swinging their way, Brown said the race remains volatile. Early voting in Florida began Aug. 9, so a portion of the primary tally is already in – and will be unaffected by any last advertising blitz.
Pushing back against signs his lead was withering, the Scott campaign, which has spent close to $40 million on TV advertising, said a separate Sunshine State News poll released Wednesday that showed him still holding a narrow edge on McCollum. The campaign suggested polls like the Quinnipiac survey were undersampling the amount of Tea Party voters who may turn out next week, though spokeswoman Jen Baker acknowledged “the race is tightening.”
“Just like the GOP establishment in states like Kentucky and Colorado underestimated the power of the conservative outsider, much of the Florida establishment is also underestimating voter turnout,” she said in a statement.
McCollum spokeswoman Kristy Campbell disagreed, saying the poll and a recent Mason-Dixon survey showing McCollum ahead mirrored the campaign’s own numbers.
“The polling we’re seeing now…reflects our internal polling and what we’re hearing in ground from Floridians who have early voted or who are getting ready to vote on Aug. 24,” she told the News Service. “We’re seeing a surge in momentum for Bill McCollum’s candidacy because he has laid out a positive agenda for our state…”
On the Democratic side, Meek called the poll “an encouraging sign for my campaign,” saying in a statement “all across the state, Floridians are standing up in support of the Real Democrat in this race.”
Greene’s campaign downplayed Wednesday’s findings.
“We’ve seen polls come out almost on a daily basis,” said Greene spokesman Luiz Vizcaino. “Some have us up, some have us in a statistical tie and some have us trailing the other candidate. What it does show is that it is a very tight race…that every vote is going to count and…it’s about getting our voters to the polls.”
By Keith Laing
The News Service Florida
Plans Changed For Dedication Of Century’s Anthony Pleasant Sports Complex
August 19, 2010
Plans now call for the Town of Century to dedicate the Anthony Pleasant Sports Complex next spring rather than this fall.
Pleasant was hired this year as the defensive line coach for the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, making him unavailable during the football season.
The 22 acre park was named after Century native Anthony Pleasant (pictured), a former pro football player selected in the third round of the 1990 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns. During his 14 year NFL career, Pleasant played for the Browns, the Baltimore Ravens, the Atlanta Falcons, the New York Jets, the San Francisco 49ers and the New England Patriots. He played a total of 202 NFL games and racked up 58 sacks and two interceptions and a defensive end.
Pictured top: Action between the Century Blackcats and the Flomaton Hurricanes last fall at the Anthony Pleasant Sports Complex. NorthEscambia.com file photo, click to enlarge.
Caught On Tape: Reward Offered In Copper Theft Case (With Video)
August 19, 2010
A $1,000 reward is being offered for the arrest and conviction of a man caught on tape stealing copper from two Atmore businesses.
Surveillance video (see bottom of page) shows the thefts Sunday at both Alto Products Corp. and Audio Plus in Atmore. At both businesses, the thief made his getaway with copper wiring. The white male is believed to be in his mid-20’s to early 30’s. He fled in a white Oldsmobile Alero or a similar vehicle.
“I want to see this guy off the streets,” said James Helton, owner of Audio Plus.
Audio Plus and Alto Products have teamed up to offer a $1,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the copper thief. Anyone with information about either theft is asked to call the Atmore Police Department at (251) 368-9141.
Pictured: Surveillance video from a copper theft at Audio Plus in Atmore. Submitted for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
New Assistant Principal Named For Northview High
August 18, 2010
Northview High School has a new assistant principal, and she is looking forward to leading the Chiefs into a successful school year.
“The welcome has been very warm so far, and I’m excited about the school year,” Assistant Principal Deborah D. Ray said.
Ray’s experience includes schools in Texas and Virginia — her husband serves in the Air Force. Her education includes work at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas at San Antonio. She holds a Masters of Educational Administration from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Her husband has about four years remaining before retirement from the Air Force, and she said that means she is done with the moving process.
She currently lives in the Pensacola area, but is considering a move to the North Escambia area in the future.
Her activities include reading and spending time outdoors. But her true passion, she said, is education.
Ray says she loves to get involved with and interact with the kids. She said at a recent cheerleader practice, she told the girls that she would even consider “getting thrown up the air”.
“I like to get to know them on their level,” she said.
Ray replaces Michael Sherrill who transferred to an assistant principal position at Pine Forest High School.
Pictured: New Northview High School Assistant Principal Deborah D. Ray. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
Molino Woman Arrested For Walmart Hit And Run
August 18, 2010
A Molino woman was arrested following a hit and run crash at a Pensacola Walmart.
Elizabeth Ann Santos, 39, of Molino was booked into the Escambia County Jail on charges of leaving the scene of a traffic crash with injuries. She was also ticketed for violation of right of way and careless driving. Santos was released from jail on a $1,000 bond.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Santos pulled out of the Highway 29 Walmart parking lot onto Hood Drive into the path of a 2005 Chevrolet van driven by Angela D. Culbertson, 36, of Cantonment. After the Monday morning collision, Santos left the scene in her 1998 Ford, according to the FHP.
Culbertson followed, attempting to gt a tag number. Santos continued down Detroit Boulevard and lost control while attempting to turn on Bowman Avenue. Santos left the roadway and collided with several small trees.
Both Culbertson and Santos received minor injuries.
Pictured: Elizabeth Ann Santos.
Ernest Ward Football Season Begins Next Week
August 18, 2010
Football season begins next week for the Ernest Ward Middle School Eagles — the only middle school football team in Escambia County, Fla.
The Eagles will travel for their first two games — to Excel on August 24 and Perdido on September 2. The first home game for EWMS will be September 7 against Excel
Here is the 2010 schedule for the Ernest Ward Middle School Eagles:
- August 24 – Away – Excel
- September 2 — Away — Perdido
- September 7 — Home — Excel
- September 14 — OPEN
- September 21 — Away — Uriah
- September 28 — Away — Escambia Academy
- October 5 — Home — Uriah
- October 12 — OPEN
- October 19 — Home — Escambia Academy
All games begin at 6 p.m.