Florida Criminal Defense Attorney Blog

Local TV station10 Connects is reporting via its website that a Florida DUI arrest has been made in the case of a Clearwater sheriff’s employee who was involved in a drunk driving crash. Diane Ferron was involved in a car accident on the property of the jail where she is employed Wednesday and has been charged as a result.

According to the story, Ferron was leaving the jail in her own vehicle just after 11:00 a.m. She apparently lost control of her vehicle and ended up in the lot of the Largo watershed treatment facility. In the process she crashed through an exterior perimeter fence. Deputies who responded said Ferron seemed impaired. They concluded she was not under the influence of alcohol but may have broken DUI laws by driving under the influence of drugs. According to reports Ferron admitted she was driving while on prescription medication. She failed field sobriety tests.

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A Florida man who owned a chain of pain clinics in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Jacksonville Orlando and Lakeland has pled guilty to federal drug charges revolving around the illegal distribution of prescription painkillers. Troy Wubbena operated pain clinics all over Florida with Dr. Jeffery Friedlander. The doctor has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute drugs including oxycodone. Wubbena is expected to plead guilty to the same charges next week according to the Tampa Tribune.

The clinics that Wubbena owned and operated with Friedlander were part of a significant operation illegally distributing painkillers and drugs according to authorities. The clinics have been shut down and according to the story thousands of pain killers were illegally sold to addicts and even high school students. Wubbena kept track of sales and directed them for the pain clinics. He kept records on note cards.

The main drug the clinic dealt with was oxycodone. The operation was based on blank prescription forms that were signed by Dr. Friedlander and then filled out by clinic employees and Wubbena. The 44-year-old has apparently admitted to using the pre-signed forms. They were filled out in the names of patients, filled at pharmacies and then sold. Wubbena allegedly admitted to acquiring more than 15,000 oxycodone pills using this method in a span of over two-years.

Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies were involved in the operation to shut down the pain clinic as they went undercover. The charges for illegally distributing prescription drugs aren’t the only ones the pair will face. There are also Medicare fraud charges that they defendants will face. Firedlander is expected to be sentenced in August. Wubbena is facing up to 20 years in prison on his charges when he is sentenced.

Malcolm Getsee has been charged with aggravated battery and reckless driving for allegedly attempting to run over his girlfriend following an argument. The 29-year-old Sebring man was booked into Hernando County jail with no bond. The reckless driving charge was reportedly a misdemeanor offense.

The incident that led to the arrest began Thursday morning. Getsee and his live-in girlfriend had reportedly been arguing for a few weeks. Getsee came home Thursday and was told to leave. He left the house, got into his truck and tried to enter the backyard through a fence. His girlfriend stood in front of the truck to stop the man from entering but Getsee allegedly continued to drive forward. At that point a witness left to call the police and when that person returned the woman was getting up claiming Getsee hit her.

Pedro Rafael Perez was arrested and charged with aggravated battery in Pasco County following an incident where he struck a man with a glass. Perez was taken to Pasco County jail and held on $10,000 bail. Records show he has an arrest warrant in Pinellas County for a violation of probation on a misdemeanor charge.

According to TampaBay.com and police reports, the victim of the alleged battery was at Perez’s home when an argument started. Perez felt that Jerry Campbell had disrespected his family. A witness then reported that Perez struck Campbell in the face with a glass causing deep cuts. Campbell received staples for his cuts at Morton Plant North Bay Hospital.

The fourth DUI conviction for Seville, Florida’s Raymond T. Youngblood will put the 62-year-old behind prison bars for 12 years. Raymond T. Youngblood was driving drunk when he hit an Orange County firefighter who was riding his motorcycle. Youngblood was driving in the wrong lance of U.S. 17 when he killed Michael E. Priester.

Youngblood was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a DeLand judge for the second-degree felony. The accident took place February 21 and Priester died at the scene of the collision. According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal the courtroom was full of firefighters waiting to hear the sentence handed down to Youngblood.

Federal indictments have been handed down against 12 Tampa Bay men for stealing more than $1 million in cars, prescription drugs, lawn care equipment and construction equipment. The charges were levied in federal court as the accused men sold the prescription pills and other items across state lines in Alabama.

According to the Pasco County sheriff, the drugs the men are accused of stealing include methadone, morphine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, amphetamine and Viagara. The prescription drugs and painkillers were allegedly stolen from various pharmacies. The case against the 12 Tampa suspects began when the Pasco County sheriff himself pulled over two trucks for speeding coming out of the woods with lawn equipment in tow.

A Largo man was arrested by Pinellas County Sheriffs on charges of violation of probation, domestic aggravated assault, fleeing and being a felon in possession of a gun among other charges. Charlie McDuffy has served time for manslaughter and allegedly violated his probation stemming from that conviction when he shot at his father following an altercation.

McDuffy is on probation until January 2011 stemming from an incident in which he and a friend were charged with murder after beating and breaking the neck of Charles Carroll. McDuffy was only 14 at the time. He was found guilty of manslaughter and spent three years in prison. The incident with his father occurred back in February but he was arrested this week after a deputy located his car at the Rainbow Village housing complex.

A Sebring man decided not to press charges against his roommate after he cut him with a knife but after the same man beat him in his sleep he decided to have the roommate arrested. TBO.com is reporting that Osman Martinez-Ventura was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, a misdemeanor count of loitering and another count of aggravated battery for the attack on his roommate.

Sebring Police originally tried to arrest Martinez-Venture in his home after he cut the victim on the thumb with a knife. The victim was uncooperative and would not press charges but he changed his mind after the second incident. He told police he was a sleep when his roommate began to punch him in the face repeatedly. The victim was found by police with blood all over his face and arms in front of a liquor store in Highlands County.

Maryann Verdi was arrested this past weekend and charged with domestic battery, resisting an officer with violence and battery on a law enforcement officer. The 39-year-old is a River Ridge High School teacher and Pasco County school officials are reviewing the situation before taking any action. Her exact position at the school is listed as literacy coach.

According to TBO.com, Verdi and her husband had an argument in their home. Her husband tried to leave but Verdi began to throw things at him but there were apparently no injuries. When a deputy arrived on the scene at Verdi’s brother’s home, the woman struck the deputy in the arm, poked her in the eye and pulled her hair.

A 20-year-old man in jail awaiting to be sentenced on an armed robbery charge will also now have to face battery charges. Cody Rogers is being accused of beating up an inmate on March 22 and is now facing charges of battery on a detained person. Authorities charged Rogers after viewing video footage.

Rogers is connected to Timothy Brooks, who is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of 19-year-old William White, Jr. in 2008. Rogers and Brooks were involved in an armed robbery that ended up with Brooks firing a shot and hitting White in the neck and killing the teenage

Ellen Schmaling was arrested in Sarasota County for allegedly having sex with at least three underage, teenage boys. The 36-year-old has been arrested and charged with three felony counts of having sex with a minor and three misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor by supplying them with prescription drugs.

According to the Sarasota Herald Tribune, Schmaling met the alleged victims at a skate park located in Payne Park. Three boys have already told authorities that they have engaged in sex with the woman and also received money, gifts and prescription drugs from her. The crime was uncovered by the mother of a 15-year-old who found text messages from Schmaling that she felt were inappropriate.

A woman who allegedly stole a Chihuahua puppy from a litter in Holiday, Florida has been arrested and charged with grand theft. Kylea Lynn Jenness turned herself in after authorities were closing in on her for poaching the pooch. She was booked into Land O’Lakes jail and was being held without bail.

According to TampaBay.com Jenness stuffed one of the Chihuahua puppies into her shirt while two men who were with her distracted the woman who was selling the puppies. Jenness saw an ad for the puppies in a local newspaper. The owner had enough information about the trio to allow police to track down Jenness’ boyfriend via a social networking Internet site. Neither of the men with Jenness is expected to be charged for theft.