Myspace.com and similar networking sites offer absolute freedom to users, who can exchange information and meet others who share their interests -- from books and movies to fetishes and drugs. Cell phones allow users to send each other photographs meant to inform, amuse and enrage, all consequence-free. Not so, actually. That's what two Charlotte County teenagers discovered Tuesday, when each was arrested for crimes allegedly arranged or executed through their use of technology. One was accused of unwittingly setting up a drug deal with an undercover Punta Gorda detective over Myspace. The other allegedly sent some retaliatory photographs to his ex-girlfriend's cell phone, and got charged with transmission of child pornography as a result. [continues 621 words]
Editor: I always hear so many negative things about police officers. I would like to say thank you to them. Especially Officer Beth Hartt of the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office. Why? Because Hart helped save my life. Officer Hartt arrested me in March of 2006, but I am very grateful to her. She arrested me on drug charges. Hartt was hard, tough, no one to play games with, and did her job by the book. And she lets you know that right up front, but she was also human. She didn't treat me like a jerk. If she had, I would have shut down and not listened to anything she said, got out of jail and gone right back to what I was doing. [continues 124 words]
If you don't think drug use in DeSoto County is on the increase you are just avoiding reality. In fact, methamphetamine, or meth, is very much on the rise here, and it is a dangerous, illicit drug. There is a group of community-minded people who are gearing up to work on educating as many residents as possible about the dangers of illicit drugs and alcohol use. The DeSoto County Drug Education Task Force met recently to discuss goals and to begin some preliminary planning for priorities they feel should be pursued. Their mission statement is simple and to the point: "The mission of the DeSoto County Drug Education Task Force is to increase community awareness of the effects of illicit drug use." [continues 299 words]
PUNTA GORDA -- Vernon Peeples Jr. apologized in court Monday for bringing shame to his family's name after being arrested twice on drug charges. Peeples, a former local Democratic Party chairman, pleaded no contest to charges of possession of cocaine, possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. Circuit Judge Michael McHugh accepted the plea agreement and sentenced Peeples to a suspended term of one year in prison. He will not serve any time in jail as long as he successfully completes six months of drug offender community control, or house arrest, and then two years of drug offender probation. [continues 217 words]
ARCADIA -- Methamphetamine. It is a drug that has become a serious problem in DeSoto County over the last decade. At a DeSoto Sun round table Tuesday, local law enforcement, health and education officials explored some of the aspects of the devastating drug. Arcadia City Marshal Charles Lee described the drug: "Methamphetamine - -- or 'meth' as it's called -- is a 'designer drug' made from ephedrine and pseudoephedrine and a lot of other store-bought items." Methamphetamine has effects similar to crack cocaine except that it's easier and cheaper to mass produce than most other drugs -- and it's highly addictive," Lee said. [continues 1718 words]
There is a silent epidemic threatening Floridians and, so far, the state has done little to stop it. Hepatitis C, a contagious, life-threatening condition, is becoming the number-one health problem in not only the U.S., but Florida and Charlotte County according to Dr. Mark Asperilla. With more than 4 million cases in the U.S. and 270,000 in Florida, the disease is spreading so fast the medical community cannot keep up with it. There were 203 reported cases in Charlotte County in 2005 and 348 in Sarasota County while only one was reported in DeSoto County. Those numbers have steadily risen since statewide tracking began. [continues 453 words]
When Charlotte County commissioners approved a $28 million expansion of the county jail it presented only a temporary solution to the problem of overcrowding. Only when the state and county rethink how they deal with less violent criminals will the problem really be solved. The current jail was built to house 528 inmates. Within a year of opening there were more than 300 being held and today that number reaches capacity more often than not. Capacity, however, might mean as few as 485 prisoners because there are so many that must be housed in a cell of their own. Those inmates, most of them mentally ill or exceptionally violent, take up space that could be allotted to others. [continues 337 words]
Years ago, the last week of October was named as Red Ribbon Drug Awareness Week. As the times have changed and the years have passed, the week has taken on a new meaning with several messages. Last week, the School District of DeSoto took part in many activities to encourage gun safety, driving precautions and drug awareness. Each school posted signs to show that they committed to being drug-free. The teachers had their students engage in activities with the same theme. Memorial Elementary held a door decorating contest. The 5th grade class of Shannon Rhea won 1st place, Lois Heine's 2nd grade class took second and Ms. Levine's 2nd grade class won third place. [continues 93 words]
Florida's Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal Tom Gallagher Monday declared methamphetamine labs a domestic terrorist threat to Florida's first responders and citizens. Gallagher's initiatives are intended to protect law enforcement officers, firefighters and emergency response personnel from the dangers they face when making arrests or investigating fires and explosions at illegal methamphetamine labs. "The criminals who make meth are the equivalent to the makers of any terrorist bomb anywhere in the world," Gallagher said. "These labs are a threat to the lives of first responders as they try to keep us safe and win the war on drugs. Methamphetamine addiction is a high-level threat to our communities, tearing apart families and destroying lives." [continues 533 words]
Henderson's 7-Year Term Called 'Unfair' Former Charlotte County sheriff's narcotics detective Wyatt Henderson may not have to spend seven years and three months in prison after all. A federal appeals court Monday ordered the trial court to resentence him for his December 2003 conviction in the pistol-whipping of a 17- year-old marijuana peddler. The decision brings a sordid era for the sheriff's narcotics unit closer to an end. Henderson was arrested in 2002 on federal police abuse charges amid a turf war in which he vied with other supervisors for control of the unit. [continues 1139 words]
Let's Talk About Good Kids Recently, we wrote about the alarming rate of drug use among Charlotte County teens. Today, we want to tell you about one teen who not only doesn't do drugs, but has the courage to alert school officials about someone who would sell drugs to his friends. And, we'll tell you about two other teens who pulled a victim from a crashed vehicle that went into a water-filled canal. Good kids, doing good things. [continues 382 words]
PUNTA GORDA-- Ryan Allender took a chance when a classmate at Port Charlotte High School offered him illegal prescription pills. He could have taken the pills and simply thrown them out, allowing the classmate to continue dealing drugs. Instead, Allender took the road that many 16-year-olds would not have the guts to do. He turned the dealer in. For his role in the halting of drug sale and use amongst juveniles, Allender won the "Do the Right Thing" award for February at Punta Gorda City Hall on Thursday. [continues 287 words]
When is good news bad news? The answer to that riddle would accurately describe the 2004 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey results for Charlotte County. Charlotte County no longer ranks as the worst in the state for teenage drug, tobacco and alcohol use, and that is good news. However, the numbers are still startling and much too high for anyone to accept. For two years, Charlotte County teenagers responded to the survey by saying they, and their peers, used drugs and alcohol more frequently than teens in any other Florida county. In 2004, the rate of substance abuse declined in almost every category, pushing Charlotte County down the list three notches - -- but ahead of 63 other counties in the rate of abuse. [continues 447 words]
MURDOCK -- Lenny Rifkin says his goal is not to step on any toes or conflict with any existing groups. He is going public in Charlotte County for one reason, and one reason only -- to help rid the area of drugs. "I don't want to duplicate," Rifkin said. "I don't want to overtake anyone. I'm here to enhance and make better what's here." Rifkin's Substance Abuse Education Council met for the first time with about 40 friends, colleagues and area business representatives at a breakfast in Murdock Friday morning. Started in 1993 by Rifkin in New York, the SAEC's goal is "to promote and fund substance abuse awareness for our youth through the first line of defense -- education," the mission statement states. [continues 473 words]
Sgt. Donna Ogden Doesn't Remember It Being This Way. When she started with the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office 18 years ago, 25 percent of middle school-age children were not drinking alcohol, and 11 percent of those students were definitely not binge drinking. Those figures, which are actually down from the last survey conducted, and others were released Tuesday as results of the 2004 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey. The survey was taken by 1,627 randomly selected Charlotte middle- and high-schoolers. [continues 455 words]
Immediately after the Charlotte County school district learned in 2002 that its students had the highest rate of drug use in Florida, the district finally decided it needed someone to fix the problem. The hiring of Amity Chandler is paying dividends now. According to results of the 2004 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey, less Charlotte middle- and high-schoolers are using illegal drugs and alcohol than in 2002, but the percentages are mostly still well above state averages. As for illicit drug use, Chandler, director of the Charlotte Alliance for a Safe & Drug Free Community, said Charlotte now ranks ahead of Gulf, Monroe and Wakulla counties. [continues 759 words]
A well-known local Democrat and the woman he lived with pleaded not guilty Monday to drug charges stemming from a Dec. 30 SWAT raid on their home. Vernon Peeples Jr., 45, and Elizabeth Picerno, 40, both of 110 Gilchrist St., Punta Gorda, face charges of possession of a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession with intent to sell or deliver. Both will be back in court for an April 25 docket sounding. On Dec. 30, around 7:30 p.m., SWAT raided the couple's Punta Gorda home. With the help of a K-9, deputies found a bag of marijuana in a closet and two suitcases filled with nine 1-pound bags of marijuana in the master bedroom. The total weight of marijuana found equaled nearly 11 pounds and had an approximate street value of $44,000, according to reports. [continues 125 words]
They are selling drugs in our schools. Who? Students, that's who. They sell in the bathrooms during break, behind the school during lunch and after school in the parking lots. It doesn't happen every hour or maybe not even every day, but it happens. It is a reality we cannot afford to accept. Amity Chandler, director of the Charlotte Alliance for a Safe and Drug Free Community, says the proliferation of drugs in Charlotte County has risen following Hurricane Charley. No one can point out why except for the obvious fact that people are depressed and many lives have been thrown into chaos. Families have been forced out of their homes, students are attending classes on unfamiliar campuses at odd hours of the day and many parents are out of work. [continues 426 words]
Charlotte County high school students could find themselves pulling onto the shoulder and handing over their driver licenses more often next year if the Charlotte County Commission approves a proposed $85,000 fund transfer Tuesday. The Sheriff's Office is requesting the transfer, hoping to use money raised from the drug abuse fund for increased roadway alcohol and drug testing at checkpoints following football games, dances and other popular school activities. Student education and a drug house "odyssey" -- which simulates a drug-related death from the crime scene to the emergency room and the courthouse -- are also new additions that could result from the funds. [continues 91 words]
Port Charlotte Mom Eses Child's Specimen To Pass Drug Test Charlene Turner didn't want to fail a drug test. So she used her 10-year-old child's urine to pass. "That's pathetic," said Circuit Judge Donald Pellecchia. Turner had been enrolled in a pretrial diversion program after being arrested in August 2003 on possession of cocaine and marijuana charges. The 35-year-old Port Charlotte woman had no prior offenses and qualified for the pretrial diversion program -- which would have kept her record clean. [continues 164 words]
