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Ex-church official arrested in thefts

By TIMES WIRES
Published December 22, 2006

MELBOURNE

A former church treasurer was arrested for allegedly stealing $1.2-million in offerings to buy trips to Hawaii, Las Vegas and Europe, investigators said.

Rudolph E. Heide, 76, who was treasurer at Calvary Chapel, a church of about 1,000 members on Merritt Island, is charged with one count of scheming to defraud, 113 counts of depositing with intent to defraud and one count of first-degree grand theft.

Heide, a professional accountant, was entrusted with the church books for years, church leader Logan Dalton told Florida Today. Church officials discovered the money missing during a February audit.

"Rudi found loopholes and exploited those," Dalton said.

Heide confessed when the church leaders confronted him. They offered him a chance to apologize and make restitution but ultimately decided to tell authorities, Dalton said.

NAPLES

Investors grabbing Ave Maria bonds

Investors have gobbled up $54-million in bonds whose proceeds will help build the new town of Ave Maria, according to the Naples Daily News.

More bond sales are planned to pay for construction of roads, utilities and other infrastructure. The town's governing body got permission from a judge in October to issue up to $821.1-million in bonds in the coming years.

The town is being developed around the new Ave Maria University, the first Catholic university to be built in the United States in four decades, partly bankrolled by Domino's Pizza founder Thomas Monaghan.

The college is set to open next year. The town is expected to attract 25,000 residents and is expected to offer housing ranging from modest to extravagant, including seven different communities for groups from seniors to young families.

MIAMI

Doctor convicted of prescription fraud

A physician was found guilty Thursday of defrauding Medicare of $1-million by prescribing expensive AIDS/HIV medications that were never delivered to patients. Instead, they were illegally resold.

A jury found Luis Jacinto Marti guilty of one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and Medicaid and 15 counts of health care fraud, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta.

Marti prescribed the medications, which were dispensed at a local pharmacy and billed to Florida's Medicaid program. There was no medical need for the drugs, according to evidence.

He faces up to five years in prison on the conspiracy charge and 10 years on each of the health care fraud charges.

Three co-defendants pleaded guilty before trial.

BONITA SPRINGS

Trial in double murder to stay in Lee County

A judge has ordered a man accused of killing a young couple to be tried in Lee County, over objections from the suspect's attorney who said he can't get a fair trial there.

Circuit Judge Thomas Reese on Wednesday denied a motion to move the trial of Fred D. Cooper Jr., 28, accused of killing Michelle and Steven Andrews in December 2005. Investigators have said Steven Andrews was having an affair with the mother of Cooper's daughter.

MIAMI

Alleged molester who faked death is caught

A man who authorities in Georgia say faked his death to avoid trial on child molestation charges has been arrested here.

Julian Dale Pipkins, 40, was living in a shelter and working as a laborer. He was arrested Wednesday and will be extradited to Fayette County, Ga.

Pipkins failed to show up for his Nov. 6 trial on charges he molested a 12-year-old girl. Police said he told his son to say he had drowned during a fishing trip near Galveston, Texas.

BOYNTON BEACH

Robbers are shooting victims for their pants

Authorities are seeking two gun-toting thugs with a penchant for stealing pants.

Three people were shot in separate incidents in October and November while walking on city streets in early morning hours. The robbers then took their pants, according to police.

One victim remains hospitalized, the Palm Beach Post reported Thursday.

In the first pants robbery Oct. 2, a car pulled up to a man on the street and a passenger shot him, according to a police report. As the man slumped to the ground, the suspect grabbed his trousers and said, "I like these pants."

The most recent attack occurred Nov. 12 when a car drove up to a man and a passenger pointed a gun at him, while a second passenger demanded his trousers. The victim was then shot several times, police said.

MIAMI

He can't be deported, so convict is released

A Haitian-American man stripped of U.S. citizenship after being convicted of federal drug trafficking charges was released to his family Thursday, after authorities failed to find a country where he could be deported.

"I'm feeling happy, I'm with my family," said Lionel Jean-Baptiste in a telephone interview.

Jean-Baptiste, 59, had been held at Krome Detention Center since June. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that foreigners who cannot be deported cannot be held indefinitely, and set a six-month detention maximum.

"He was released on an order of supervision while we continue pursuing his removal," said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez.

Jean-Baptiste became a U.S. citizen in April 1996. He served seven years in prison on a January 1997 conviction for conspiring to distribute crack cocaine.

The former restaurant owner is no longer a citizen of any nation. His native Haiti refused to take him because he gave up his citizenship in the Caribbean country to become an American; France also declined on the grounds he never lived there.

PENSACOLA

Drug ring participant gets reduced sentence

A prison sentence has been reduced for a wealthy retired executive convicted on cocaine charges for his role in the Operation Sandshaker drug ring.

Circuit Judge Nick Geeker resentenced Charles Lamar Switzer, 56, of Gulf Breeze, on Wednesday to 10 months in prison, already served, and fined him $2,500. The punishments were on the reduced charge of conspiracy to sell, manufacture or deliver cocaine.

Switzer originally was sentenced to three years, but the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee ruled last month that his numerous cocaine buys could not be added up to meet the threshold for trafficking.

Switzer was among 53 mostly middle-aged and middle class defendants charged with offenses ranging from drug possession to trafficking.

MIAMI

Alleged serial rapist convicted, faces life

A man accused of raping six women and girls at gunpoint, including a 7-year-old, faces a life sentence after he was convicted of one of the attacks.

Sedrick Teacorey Williams, 31, was found guilty Wednesday. He will be sentenced next month.

Police think Williams is the so-called North Dade rapist, who committed a string of rapes from December 2002 to November 2003, attacking victims between the ages of 7 and 37 at night in their own beds. Williams, who had a prior record, was arrested in 2005 based on DNA evidence.

ALLIGATOR HUNTERS' KILLS FOR SEASON TOP 5,800, SET RECORD

Alligator hunters killed more of the reptiles this season than in any other year in recorded Florida history, wildlife officials said.

Preliminary figures show hunters killed more than 5,800 alligators during the 11-week season ending Nov. 1. The number will rise as more kills are reported, said Steve Stiegler of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The previous season record, set last year, was about 3,400.

The increase was not unexpected. The state extended this year's season by six weeks and allowed hunters to buy more than one permit. Each permit allows two alligator kills.

There are up to 2-million alligators in the state, biologists say.

[Last modified December 22, 2006, 00:04:25]