Florida news

By Times Wires
Published January 25, 2008

Tallahassee

Appeal denied but execution still on hold

Child rapist and killer Mark Dean Schwab lost an appeal to the state's highest court Thursday, but his execution remains on hold until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the lethal injection method used by Florida and other states. The Florida Supreme Court unanimously rejected arguments that the three-drug combination is cruel or unusual punishment because the Corrections Department execution team botched two of five training sessions using recently adopted procedures.

Tallahassee

FAMU employee accused of theft

An administrative assistant at Florida A&M University has been arrested and accused of stealing $55,344, the university reported Thursday. Teria Coverson is charged with grand theft. Her arrest follows an October investigation into the cash management practices at the FAMU Pharmacy Clinics in Tallahassee, officials said.

Pensacola

Ex-Scout leader gets 10 years

A former Girl Scout leader was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Thursday for stealing her troop's Social Security numbers and using them in a tax-fraud scheme. U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers sentenced Holly M. Barnes, 33, in the scheme that netted $87,000 in illegal refunds. Barnes pleaded guilty Oct. 31 to 19 counts of filing fictitious tax claims and 15 counts of identity theft. She filed false tax returns that included Social Security numbers of 15 scouts and her own four children.

Tallahassee

College veteran is chancellor

Former Broward Community College president Will Holcombe became Florida's community colleges chancellor Thursday after holding the job on an interim basis since October. Holcombe was president of the Fort Lauderdale school from 1987 through 2004.

Lake Alfred

Train rolls over man on tracks

A man lying on the railroad tracks was run over by a freight train Wednesday in Polk County. The Sheriff's Office says 48-year-old Lester Petty was killed in Lake Alfred. The conductor of the CSX train saw Petty on the tracks and blew the horn several times, but he was unable to stop in time. Petty lived at a nearby mobile home park.

West Palm Beach

Suit: Billionaire abused teenager

A teenage girl filed a $50-million lawsuit against a well-known New York billionaire on Thursday, saying he sexually abused her when she was 14. Jeffrey Epstein's attorney, Gerald Lefcourt, said the allegations are false. The girl, now 17 and identified only as Jane Doe, claims Epstein invited her to his Palm Beach mansion in 2005 to perform a massage for $300. She claims he demanded she remove her clothes, then sexually assaulted her, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in West Palm Beach. Epstein is charged with one felony count of solicitation of prostitution. He could get five years in prison if convicted. A hearing in that case is set for March.

Times wires

[Last modified January 24, 2008, 22:18:55]