Trial Delayed For Accused Bratt Child Molester
November 5, 2009
Trial has been delayed for a Bratt man accused of molesting a four-year girl in 2000.
Perry Leonard Gibbs, 53, of 5451 Still Road Lot 5 in Bratt, was arrested in June and charged with molesting a child under the age of 12. He was due in court Wednesday for an for docket day and his jury trial was set to begin Monday. But Wednesday, his next court appearance was rescheduled for early January by Judge Nikolas Geeker.
He is now scheduled for a jury trial in early November.
Gibbs remains in the Escambia County Jail on $25,000 bond. If he makes bond, Gibbs was ordered to have no direct or indirect contact with the victim and to wear a GPS monitor.
A female told investigators under oath that Gibbs molested her in 2000 when she was four and five years old, according to Sgt. Ted Roy with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department. The victim told investigators that the molestation occurred in the Walnut Hill area.
The female made the allegations in May of this year, according to Roy.
The felony molestation charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
FFA Smoke Turkey/Boston Butt Sale Underway
November 5, 2009
The annual Northview High School FFA Alumni Smoked Turkey and Boston Butt Sale is now underway, just in time for Thanksgiving.
In the annual fund raiser, you can choose either a seven to nine pound smoked Boston butt or a 10-12 pound smoked turkey for $25 each
Boston butts will be available for pickup on Monday, November 23, the the smoked turkeys will be available for pickup on Tuesday, November 24.
Proceeds from the sale will go to benefit the Northview High School FFA Scholarship Fund. The sale is sponsored by Archie’s Catering Smokehouse in Molino.
For a printable order form that you can mail to the school with your payment, click here. Orders must be placed by Tuesday, November 10.
For more information, call (850) 327-6681 extension 248.
New Century Ordinance Allows Council To Set Their Salaries, Pay For Insurance
November 5, 2009
The Town of Century is considering an ordinance that lets the town council set their salaries and allows them reimburse council members for their individual health insurance policies.
The council chose to no longer offer health insurance directly to council members after discovering that it would cost about $60,000 per year to insure the two council members that opted for the town’s insurance plan.
Instead, the council decided to reimburse council members for their individual health plans. An ordinance to be considered by the council on November 16 allows the council to do just that.
The ordinance also allows the council to legal leeway to set its own salaries now and in the future.
Season Ender: Lady Chiefs Fall To Blountstown In Regional Quarterfinal
November 5, 2009
The Northview High School Lady Chiefs’ volleyball season came to an end on the road Wednesday night in the regional quarterfinals with a straight three set loss to Blountstown.
In the District 1-1A regional quarterfinals, Blountstown defeated the Chiefs, 18-25, 15-25, 22-25.
It was just the third time in Northview’s history that a volleyball team had advanced beyond the district level. The Lady Chiefs made the first round of the quarterfinals in 2007 and back in 1997.
Junior Shawna Montgomery had four kills and an ace for the Chiefs. Senior Caitlin Hall had seven total assists and one block against Blountstown. Angela Rodriguez, a senior, added six kills and two aces, and junior Shaniqua Jones had two kills and two blocks.
The Chiefs ended their season at 9-19, 5-5 in district play.
Take Pride In Jay Day
November 5, 2009
Jay area residents will have the opportunity to beautify the town on November 14 during the first Take Pride in Jay Day.
Volunteer will install plants, pressure wash sidewalks, clean the town’s cemetery and do other outdoor maintenance tasks. Free work gloves will be provided. The opportunity to serve begins at 7:30 a.m. at the Jay City Park pavilion. By noon, participants will return to the park for a lunch and entertainment.
For more information, call (850) 554-2941.
Four Year Old Dies Two Weeks After Cantonment Crash
November 4, 2009
A four year old child has died from injuries he received in a two vehicle accident two weeks ago in Cantonment.
Nathan Harold Guy died recently after being hospitalized since the October 17 crash at the intersection of Kingsfield Road and County Road 97. He had been in Sacred Heart Hospital since the accident.
A Navarre resident was killed in the crash in Cantonment, and three other people were injured.
According to the Highway Patrol, a 1999 Saturn driven by Theresa M. Guy, 26, of Navarre, failed to stop at a stop sign at the intersection of Kingsfield Road and County Road 97. The Saturn was struck by a 2003 Dodge 2500 pickup driven by Samuel Seeley, 63, of Cantonment. Seeley and his passenger, Beverly Seeley, 61, of Cantonment, were transported to West Florida Hospital in critical condition. The Seeleys and Theresa Guy have since been released from the hospital.
Guy’s passenger, Glen D. Ashby (pictured left), 39, of Navarre, was pronounced dead at the scene. The four year old was also a passenger in the vehicle.
The force of the impact forced both vehicle to leave the road and overturn, coming to rest on the shoulder of County Road 97.
The case is still under investigation and charges are pending the complete of a traffic homicide investigation, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Pictured above: A Navarre man died in this accident October 17 in Cantonment. A five year old boy, Nathan Guy, died about two weeks later at Sacred Heart Hospital Pictured inset: Glen Ashby, 39, was killed in the crash. Family members said he loved to fish. Pictured below: Map shows crash location. Click to enlarge.
Top photo courtesy WEAR.
Cheerleader Home Invasion Victim: ‘I Was Scared”
November 4, 2009
“I was scared.” That’s how the Northview High School cheerleader attacked while she was home alone Tuesday morning describes what happened.
The 16-year victim sent a text message to her mother, Angela McMahan, at 8:13 a.m. “I guess im paranoid about hearing weird noises,” she wrote of being home alone after her friend was attacked Friday night. She had hurt her shoulder Monday afternoon in cheerleading practice, and had decided to stay home from school Tuesday.
Moments later, her fears became reality.
“I was in the bedroom, and I just heard something,” the victim told NorthEscambia.com. She grabbed a container of pepper spray and headed toward the family’s kitchen. Her mother had purchased her the pepper spray on Saturday, the day after a 13-year old middle school cheerleader was attacked in a home invasion about a mile away.
“He was in the kitchen,” she said of the suspect, who she described as being a tall, thin white male dressed in black pants. He had entered the home through a window in a nearby laundry room.
She threw drinking glasses at the intruder, breaking them as they slammed into the kitchen. The suspect grabbed a a broken glass, cutting the victim several times on her arms, legs and face. The wounds were not severe.
“I was in the floor; I tried to ball up kind of,” she said. “And he came after me.”
She fired the pepper spray.
“It missed him the first time,” she said. “It was a straight stream the first time that went to the corner of the kitchen. The next time, it was like a mist, and he like fell back and held his eyes.”
She ran out of the house, and down Nancy Lane to the nearby Highland Baptist Church. Along the way, McMahan said her daughter called her. Her Blackberry showed calls at 8:20, 8:24 and 8:25 a.m.
“I don’t think I have ever ran that fast,” the victim said.
“I told her to just keep running toward the church, that somebody would be there,” McMahan said.
Staff members were meeting at Highland. Some comforted the victim, one called 911 and some went toward the house hoping to capture the suspect. Escambia County Sheriff’s Office deputies dispatched to the church at 8:27 a.m. They were on scene within minutes, along with Escambia County EMS.
The victim’s wounds were minor; she was not transported to the hospital.
“I couldn’t get to her quick enough,” McMahan said. “I was saying I can’t believe this is happening again. It just happened.”
Pictured above: The attacker in Tuesday morning’s home invasion in Molino entered this Nancy Lane home through this utility room window. Pictured top inset: The cell phone message the victim sent her mother minutes before the attack. Pictured middle inset: The victim received minor cuts to her arms, face and legs from a broken kitchen glass she threw at the suspect. Pictured bottom inset: The victim sends a text message t oa friend to let them know she is OK a few hours after the attack. Pictured below: The victim ran to Highland Baptist Church after the attack. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Are The Two Cheerleader Home Invasion Attacks Related?
November 4, 2009
Authorities are not yet saying that the attacks on two teen cheerleaders in Molino over a four day period are related, but the connections seem obvious.
A 13-year old Ernest Ward Middle School cheerleader was attacked by a knife-wielding intruder while she was home alone Friday night at her home in the 7000 block of Highway 95A. About a mile away, a 16-year old Northview High School cheerleader was the victim of another home invasion Tuesday morning, while she too was home alone.
The 13-year old’s mother said that only family knew that her daughter would be home alone while the rest of the family attended a football game Friday night at Northview High School.
The 16-year told NorthEscambia.com and investigators that only her parents and one other person knew that she would be staying home from school Tuesday morning following a cheerleading practice injury on Monday.
“I didn’t tell anybody that I was staying home except for my mom and the guy that I ride to school with,” the high school cheerleader said. “I sent him a text message this morning.”
That person is the brother of the 13-year old victim. Both girls ride to school with him each morning.
“I just think it was a random coincidence,” the 16-year old victim said. But the 13-year old’s mother feels differently.
“I just do not think it was a random home invasion,” Brenda Garrett-McCall said. “They are two cheerleaders, two young girls, close to the same age. They live close together. They are together a lot of the time. (The older victim) is at our house three or four days a week.”
Garrett-McCall said she believes the two cheerleaders were the target of the home invasions, not robbery.
“They could have knocked her out and stolen anything,” she said of the incident Friday night at her home. “He knew her name. He told her, ‘Lana, I’ll be back to finish the job.’”
“I feel in my heart that it was random,” Angela McMahan, the mother of Tuesday’s 16-year old victim, said. “I want it to have been random.”
“I just think it was all a random coincidence,” Tuesday’s high school age victim said. “It is just scary.”
Pictured top: The victim of Friday night’s home invasion together with Tuesday’s victim. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge. Pictured bottom: The suspect in Friday night’s home invasion entered through this dining room window.
Sheriff’s Report Details Friday Night’s Home Invasion
November 4, 2009
An Escambia County Sheriff’s Department report released Tuesday details what happened during a Friday night home invasion and attack on a 13-year old cheerleader.
The victim told Escambia County deputies that she was at home alone in the 7000 block of Molino Road while her parents were at a Northview High School football game. She said she did not attend the game because it was the first day she was able to walk without crutches following knee surgery.
She stated that she was sitting on her bed watching television when she heard a “crumbling” noise. Moments later, an unknown male wearing black pants, a black long sleeve shirt and a black mask with no holes around the eyes entered her room. She described him as being about six feet, four inches tall and speaking with a deep voice. He pushed her onto her bed, where she fell onto her stomach. He held her hands over head .
The victim told deputies that that male had a long serrated edged kitchen knife that he used to cut her hands. The victim then kicked her attacker, sending him stumbling backwards about three feet. She was able to get up form the bed, grab a shirt to wrap her bleeding hands and escape out of her window.
“The male called her by her name and said he would come back and finish the job,” Deputy Jason Mann wrote in his report. The suspect gave chase for a short distance, eventually running away across Highway 95A. The victim continued to a neighbor’s house in the 100 block of Highway 97.
The neighbor told deputies that the victim was”tapping” at her door about 6 p.m. Friday.
Deputy Mann’s report stated that the neighbor “stated that when she opened the door (the victim) was standing with her hands wrapped in a shirt…(she) looked red in the face as if she had been crying or she was about to start crying…(she) started to talk real fast stating ’someone broke in and cut my hands’.”
At the victim’s residence, Deputy Mann stated in his report that he observed a window by the front door open about one to two inches, with the window blind damaged.
“As I made my way through the front door nothing appeared our of place,” he said. He found the knife in the bedroom between the bed and a wall. “As I looked around the bedroom nothing looked to be out of place or disturbed.”
The victim’s mother told deputies that she had left her daughter alone in the locked home about 4:25 Friday afternoon. She said nothing in the house was missing or out of place.
A neighbor told deputies that between 3:30 and 4:00 Friday afternoon, someone rang his doorbell, but by the time he answered, they were gone. He described one as being a white male between six feet and six foot four inches tall. He could provide no other description.
Deputy Mann said he spoke to an 18-year old male Northview student that “stays at the (victim’s) residence sometimes”. He said that on Thursday afternoon, “two males knocked on the door and when he answered they asked if he had any games or anything they could get from him”. He described the first suspect as a short, chubby Hispanic male with short dark hair and the second suspect as a tall, thin white male with blond hair and a tatoo on his right leg.
The crime scene technician that processed the scene stated that “the presumed point of entry was an unlocked dining room window next to the front door and the knife in question had been identified as having come from the kitchen counter next to the microwave oven”.
“The molding at the bottom of the window was slightly pulled out, but no tool marks were observed,” Wayne Wright, crime scene technician, wrote in his report. He noted that the interior of the residence was clean and orderly, with nothing appearing to be out of place. His reported stated that the knife found in the bedroom appeared to have come from a knife block in the home’s kitchen.
The victim told Wright that the suspect was wearing gloves at the time of the attack. He said that very few fingerprints were located. Various evidence was collected from the scene, including a DNA sample from the knife.
The report indicates that the first deputy arrived on the scene within one minute after the 911 call from the neighbor’s home.
Pictured top: The hands of Friday night’s 13-year old home invasion victim remained bandaged Tuesday after her attacker cut her with a knife. Pictured inset: The attacker entered the Highway 95A home through this dining room window. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Molino Remains On High Alert After Attacks
November 4, 2009
The Molino community remains on high alert this morning following two home invasion attacks on young female cheerleaders.
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Department has few leads — the attacker from a Friday night incident and one Tuesday morning was described in a similar fashion. Both victims described him as wearing a black ski mask, a long sleeve black shirt, and black pants. He was described as being a tall, perhaps a few inches over six feet, thin white male.
In Tuesday’s attack, neighbors reported seeing a primer gray or possibly gold colored older model car leaving the area . But neither victim saw a vehicle.
The two crimes occurred less than a mile apart, and both victims knew each other well.
ECSO Sgt. Kevin Vickery said the department is continuing to investigate both crimes, and he said they are on the lookout for any suspicious activity in the area. He encouraged anyone that notices anything out of the ordinary to call the sheriff’s department.
“I think the whole community is on alert,” Angela McMahan, the mother of the 16-year old victim, said.
“We are looking out for each other,” Highland Baptist Church Pastor Brian Calhoun said. “We are being very vigilant.”
“The only way we’ll feel safe is when this guy is caught. Either by an angry dad hunting this man or by police,” Brenda Garrett-Mcall, the mother of the 13-year old victim, said.
Pictured above: The Escambia County Sheriff’s Department and Escambia County EMS respond to a home invasion victim Tuesday morning at Highland Baptist Church. Pictured below: An Escambia County deputy pulls away from the scene of Tuesday’s home invasion. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
