FORT MYERS -- A Punta Gorda man who died three hours after being released from the Lee County Jail died from respiratory failure as a result of pneumonia due to AIDS, an autopsy showed.

Robert Walter Grimenstein, 33, was released Sunday so he could be taken by ambulance to get medical treatment at Lee Memorial Hospital, said Maj. Mark Levens, a spokesman for the Lee County Sheriff's Office.

Grimenstein was pronounced dead at the hospital about three hours later, said hospital spokeswoman Karen Kreiger.

Grimenstein was arrested Nov. 11 after a cabdriver called Fort Myers police to report that a passenger couldn't pay a $60 fare. He was being held in jail on $2,500 bail on that charge, plus a $950 cash bond for a charge in Charlotte County, according to jail records.

Jail officials asked Lee County Judge Edward Volz to release Grimenstein on Sunday morning for medical treatment, said courts spokesman Ken Kellum.

Boy who shot children with BB gun on probation

DAYTONA BEACH -- An 11-year-old boy who injured two children when he fired a BB gun at a school bus stop has been sentenced to indefinite probation as part of a plea agreement.

Ryan Martz, a sixth-grader at Holly Hill Middle School, pleaded no contest to two counts of aggravated battery and one charge of criminal mischief Monday. Ryan was initially also charged with aggravated assault, shooting into an occupied vehicle and possession of a weapon by a minor.

The boy could be on probation until he is 19, depending on his progress, Circuit Judge Hubert Grimes said.

Ryan injured a girl and a boy, both 13, in the Oct. 27 shooting. Deputies said he had a brief conversation with a boy at the bus stop, went home and got a pump-action BB gun, returned to the bus stop and began firing. Witnesses said he also threatened another student on the bus and fired a shot that struck the window of the bus as it pulled away.

Krome worker who took bribe quits job in plea deal

MIAMI -- A judge sentenced a Krome Detention Center employee to two years' probation for taking a $1,000 bribe for helping provide a cell phone to a federal prisoner on work detail.

Willie Boyd Jr., 54, could have gotten up to two years in prison when sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Donald Graham. As part of his plea agreement, Boyd quit his job with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Prosecutors said Boyd, a fleet dispatcher at Krome, solicited an inmate while the detainee was on a work detail in November 1999 and offered to help him for money.

The inmate reported Boyd to authorities, and an undercover agent posing as the inmate's wife paid Boyd $1,000 and handed over a phone, which later was passed on to the prisoner, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward Stamm.

Judge rules restitution not required of FAMU bomber

TALLAHASSEE -- A federal judge has denied Florida A&M University's request for $973,000 in restitution from a man convicted of two racially motivated bombings on the campus last year.

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle found the university is not entitled to compensation for increased security costs and lost income from the withdrawal of 250 students that FAMU officials blamed on the bombings.

The bomber, Lawrence Lombardi, an unemployed white embalmer, is serving life in federal prison for setting off two pipe bombs. No one was injured, but the explosions were followed by racist telephone calls and the campus was gripped by fear until his arrest in October 1999.

Hinkle wrote that federal law does not provide restitution for lost revenue and expenses such as security in cases without injuries.

Agents seize Belgian, Ecstasy worth $966,000

MIAMI BEACH -- A Belgian citizen who tried to sell Ecstasy to undercover agents was arrested Wednesday and charged with trying to distribute nearly $1-million worth of the illegal drug, Justice Department officials said.

Michel Andre Devalck, 34, was arrested after he tried to sell 150,000 Ecstasy tablets to an undercover agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to a statement issued by the DEA. Devalck's 2001 Mercedes sports utility vehicle also was seized.

DEA agents later found 11,000 Ecstasy tablets at Devalck's Miami Beach apartment. The total seizure -- 161,000 tablets -- would be worth $966,000 on the wholesale market, selling for about $20 per tablet retail.

Devalck was facing charges of selling Ecstasy and possession of the drug with intent to distribute.

The Melbourne Police Department, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and U.S. Customs all joined the DEA in the undercover operation.

Back to State news

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

Special Links

Lucy Morgan

From the Times state desk