TALLAHASSEE -- State Sen. Mandy Dawson is facing a felony charge of altering a prescription to obtain a larger quantity of a painkiller, police said Thursday.

Police said the Fort Lauderdale Democrat is charged with obtaining and attempting to obtain a controlled substance by fraud, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Conviction would result in automatic removal from the Senate, where Dawson has served since 1998. Dawson, 46, who is opposed by nonpartisan candidate Fred Segal in the Nov. 5 election, did not return calls Thursday to her legislative office.

Police said Dawson presented a prescription for 160 tablets of Lorcet-10 to a Tallahassee pharmacy last week, but said she only wanted 100.

After she left, the druggist checked with the Fort Lauderdale doctor who wrote the prescription and was told it was only for 60 tablets, police said.

Dawson called the pharmacy Sunday and said she wanted to get the 60 tablets remaining on the prescription and was detained by police when she appeared to pick them up, the police report said.

Death sentence upheld in torture murders

TALLAHASSEE -- The state Supreme Court upheld the death sentence Thursday of a man who tortured and dismembered a wealthy South Florida couple.

Noel Doorbal belonged to a gang that stalked Miami's social elite, kidnapped and then tortured them for extortion.

The court unanimously rejected the appeal of Doorbal, who received two death sentences for the 1995 murders of Frank Griga, 33, and Kirsztina Furton, 23.

Daniel Lugo is also on death row for the murders.

Griga, who made a $10-million fortune in 900 sex numbers, was killed with a blow to the head during a struggle at a Miami Lakes apartment. Furton died of an overdose of animal tranquilizer as Doorbal and Lugo tried to force her to divulge the security code to Griga's home.

Their bodies were dismembered, burned, then sealed in 55-gallon drums and buckets left at roadsides.

Charges reduced in case of discarded dead baby

BARTOW -- Prosecutors dropped manslaughter charges against a Wahneta woman who gave birth to a premature baby boy in her bathroom Sept. 17, then left the dead baby in a citrus grove.

Instead, authorities charged Brandy Lizalde, 25, with tampering with evidence, a third-degree felony that could bring her five years in prison.

Assistant State Attorney Chip Thullbery said Thursday that prosecutors "had no evidence to disprove that the child died of natural causes." There also was a question whether the child, born four months prematurely, "would have or could have lived."

Authorities said Lizalde wrapped the child in a towel and put him in a plastic bag, then a cardboard box. She went to a nearby grove, put twigs on the box, doused it with lighter fluid, lit it and let it burn for several seconds before putting out the flames and leaving, investigators said.

Teen in DCF care is found with child pornographer

DELTONA -- Authorities in Utah found a runaway teenage girl Thursday when they arrested a suspected child pornographer she was traveling with, officials said.

Charles Lala, 53, was arrested in Emery County, Utah, where he was found with Chelsea Pechulis, who was apparently unharmed, said Gary Davidson, a spokesman for the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

The 15-year-old Deltona girl had been reported missing from the custody of the Department of Children and Families.

Pechulis fled Florida with Lala, who faces 15 arrest warrants for use of a child in a sexual performance, investigators said. The warrants involved crimes against another underage girl, not Pechulis, said Davidson.

Utah authorities received a complaint that Lala was selling guns at a truck stop, Davidson told the Daytona Beach News-Journal. When police arrived, they discovered the warrants out for Lala.

Investigators found several weapons in Lala's vehicle. Davidson said any weapons charges will be determined by Utah or federal officials.

Pechulis had last been seen Aug. 30 in the Melbourne home where she was placed by the agency, according to DCF.

Davidson said he was prohibited from saying whether Pechulis and Lala had a sexual relationship.

-- Ledger and wire reports

Back to State news

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright

Special Links

Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk