Fugitive On The Run

MEDIA RELEASE

Date:                December 30, 2009

Time:                11:30 AM

 

The Levy County Sheriff's Office Drug Task Force has received numerous complaints on Kendrick Hill for dealing in narcotics from his residence at 18530 NE 76^th Street in Raleigh. The Drug Task Force did a control buy and purchased marijuana from Hill and obtained a search warrant.

 

On December 21, 2009, agents executed a search warrant at Hill's residence and recovered approximately ½ a pound of marijuana.  Hill was not home during the raid but his wife, Yolanda Regina Hill was present.  Yolanda Hill was arrested for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of marijuana more than 20 grams, possession of drug paraphernalia and maintaining a drug dwelling.

 

On December 30, 2009, drug agents obtained arrested warrant for Kendrick Hill for sale of marijuana and possession of marijuana.  Hill is on felony probation and he is currently on the run.  Hill is a seven time convicted felon and has a past criminal history of resisting arrest and drug charges.  Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Kendrick Hill is asked to call the Sheriff's Office or you can remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-877-349-8477.

 

Defendant:

 

Yolanda Regina Hill

18530 NE 76^th Street

Williston, Fl

Black Female

10/02/72

 

Wanted Fugitive:

 

Kendrick Jermaine Hill

Black Male

07/03/74

 

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Youth Arrested For Sexual Battery

MEDIA RELEASE

 

Date:                December 30, 2009

Time:                10:30 AM

 

Archer, Florida-On December 28, 2009 Detective Roger Bell arrested Rolando Perez-Melendez, age 17 for sexual battery.

 

On December 18, 2009 eleven under age juveniles were having a party at 10390 NE 124^th Street.  During the party the juveniles consumed alcoholic beverages and the victim went in the bedroom and lay down.  Perez-Melendez admitted to consuming ten (10) beers and he advised that he entered the bedroom and checked his MySpace account.  When Perez-Melendez was leaving the bedroom he fell down and the victim assisted him and he sat on the edge of the bed. The victim lay back down and was attempting to go to sleep when Perez-Melendez started making advances towards her.  The victim told him no and he forced himself on the victim and committed sexual battery.

 

On December 28, 2009 Detective Bell arrested Perez-Melendez and transported him to the Levy County Jail.

 

The investigation revealed that the home owner, Linda Lee Evans, age 57 was at the residence when the kids were partying and drinking alcoholic beverages.  Detective Bell is filing a sworn complaint on Linda Evans for contributing to the delinquency of children.

 

 

Defendant:

 

Rolando Perez-Melendez

6851 NE 112^th Ave

Archer, Florida

Hispanic Male

01/02/92

 

 

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Burglary In Progress Arrest

MEDIA RELEASE

 

Date:                December 30, 2009

Time:                10:00 AM

 

Chiefland, Florida-On December 28, 2009 Detective Jimmy Anderson arrested Drew Anthony Gore for armed burglary, grand theft, possession of a firearm in commission of a felony and carrying a concealed firearm.

 

The Levy County Sheriff's Office received a 9-1-1 call in reference to a burglary in progress at 6151 NW 94^th lane.  The victim stated that a white male just left the residence wearing a black hooded shirt.  Upon arrival in the area Detective Anderson observed Gore riding a bicycle and wearing the described hooded shirt.  Detective Anderson noticed that Gore had his hands inside his waist band and was quite evident that he was attempting to conceal something.  Detective Anderson detained Gore and a search revealed that Gore had a stolen Taurus 357 pistol concealed inside of his waist band.

 

The victim responded to the scene and positively identified the gun as belonging to him and his residence being burglarized and ransacked.  Gore was arrested and transported to the Levy County Jail.

 

Defendant:

 

Drew Anthony Gore

6130 NW 2^nd Ave

Ocala, Florida

White Male

02/06/91

 

 

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Romance Lamar Bryant Arrested In Levy County

 MEDIA RELEASE

 

Date:               December 24, 2009

Time:               5:15 PM

 

Williston, Florida- The Levy County Sheriff's Office arrested Romance Lamar Bryant on two Alachua Count Warrants.  The charges were aggravated battery and violation of probation for fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer.

 

Bryant went on the run after he allegedly attacked and severely beat a Gainesville woman in Alachua County last week.  Bryant's brush with the law ended Christmas Eve when Levy County deputies arrested Bryant at 660 Country Club Drive.  When Bryant was confronted by deputies he considered running until he seen K-9 Rossi a Belgian Malinois.  Bryant was arrested and transported to the Levy County Jail.  Alachua County Detectives were notified of the arrest and Bryant was transported to Alachua County for questioning.

 

 

Defendant:

 

Romance Lamar Bryant

4627 SE 1^st Place

Gainesville, Florida

Black Male

10/11/79

 

 

 

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East Williston Robbery

MEDIA RLEASE

 

Date:                December 19, 2009

Time:                8:15 AM

 

Williston, Florida-On December 18, 2009 the Levy County Sheriff's Office investigated a robbery that occurred in east Williston.

 

Detective Mike Bell met the victim at the Williston Police Department.  The victim reported that he just been paid and he was robbed at gun point. The victim stated that he was at the BP gas station in east Williston and was approached by an unknown black male that needed a ride.  The victim gave the suspect a ride and upon arriving in the area of the 4500 block NE 210 Ave the suspect took the victims cell phone and made a phone call.  A short time later another black male walked out of the woods armed with a gun and robbed the victim at   gun point of an undisclosed amount of money.  During the robbery a witness saw the suspects and yelled at them and they fled the area on foot.

 

The Levy County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's assistance in identifying the suspects.  Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Mike Bell or you can remain anonymous and call Crime Stoppers at

1-877-349-8477.

 

Suspect # 1:

 

Black male, 5'07-5'10", medium build, wearing dark stocking knit cap, dark shirt, grey pants and possibly white tennis shoes.  Attached is a photo of the suspect # 1.

 

Suspect # 2:

 

Black male, last seen armed with a long gun.

 

 

 

 

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Captain Evan Sullivan
Levy County Sheriff's Office
FBI-National Academy 183rd Session
Office: 352-486-5448
Cell:    352-577-4218

Levy County Sheriffs Office Awards

The Levy County Sheriffs Office presented its annual Officer of the Year awards December 16, 2009 at its Christmas Luncheon. Sheriff Smith states this is always a hard time of year for him, because he has such a large pool of professional talent that its hard to focus on the highlights of just one employee. But all three of these people step up to the plate on a day in and day out basis and deserve to be recognized.




Law Enforcement Deputy of the year Cpl. Mike Narayan serves as an investigator in our Cid unit. He is always a go to officer and willing to except any assignment that comes his way. Mike constantly clears a lot of major cases while he maintains a large case load.





Correctional Deputy of the Year is Lisa Mathis. Lisa serves as a correctional officer, nurse and director of our Medical program. Lisa and her staff continue to excel in their work despite an ever shrinking budget and does this without ever reducing the quality of care to our inmates.




Administrative Employee of Year Mike West. Mike serves as our IT and 911 director. In the last 6 months he and his team have made "Mission Impossible into Mission Possible". Mike and his staff have supervised the conversion of our old 911 system to another more cost effective user friendly system. Additionally his team have installed new servers to create the first effective redundant information system in our office. They have also installed 28 new in car networked laptops in our patrol fleet replacing the antiquated units we currently had. All this at no cost to the citizens of Levy County.

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Crime Prevention Tips on Identity Theft

Levy County Sheriffs Office Investigators have noticed an increase in identity theft both on andoff line this holiday season and have asked that we remind you of what you can do to protect yourself. Consider the flowing tips Courstesy of http://www.ic3.gov/.

Identity Theft

Ensure websites are secure prior to submitting your credit card number.

Do your homework to ensure the business or website is legitimate.

Attempt to obtain a physical address, rather than a P.O. box or maildrop.

Never throw away credit card or bank statements in usable form.

Be aware of missed bills which could indicate your account has been taken over.

Be cautious of scams requiring you to provide your personal information.

Never give your credit card number over the phone unless you make the call.

Monitor your credit statements monthly for any fraudulent activity.

Report unauthorized transactions to your bank or credit card company as soon as possible.

Review a copy of your credit report at least once a year.

DUI Check Point

On December 31 2009, the Levy County Sheriffs Office will be hosting a DUI, drivers license vehicle safety check point on SR 121 in the area of 250 NE 6th Blvd Williston from 10pm to
2am. This will be a part of a state wide effort to crack down on impaired driving over the holidays. Drivers are asked to have their insurance, registration and drivers license ready when entering the check point.

The Levy County Sheriff's Office would like to wish everyone a happy holidays and please do not drink and drive.

Levy County Sheriffs Office Partners with CrimeReports to Launch New iPhone Crime Map

Today The Levy County Sheriffs Office announces the availability of a new iPhone app, in partnership with CrimeReports that will provide citizens with local crime mapping and national sex offender data. LCSO already publishes their crime data on the National Crime Map at www.CrimeReports.com and are now making that data even easier to access through the CrimeReports iPhone app, available at the iTunes App Store starting today. The CrimeReports iPhone app is free.

“Information is Key to our citizens’ safety,” says Sheriff Smith “Providing it to the general public through a mobile device allows citizens even easier access to it than before. We’re pleased to be offering the most advanced tools available to foster communication and engagement with community members to prevent and reduce crime.” Through this and our Levysostar.com website one can receive updates and information via email, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. Sheriff Smith states citizens can get timely information when and where they want to.

Todays CrimeReports iPhone app allows anyone to:
Filter data by location or address, incident type, and customizable date range.
View recent neighborhood level crimes on the map or in a list.
View national sex offender data alongside crime in your neighborhood.
Sign-up for free, automated, email crime alerts
Request the participation of other surrounding law enforcement agencies if they’re not already on-board.

The Crime Reports team is also currently planning similar apps for other mobile platforms. You can find out more about the new CrimeReports iPhone app by visiting www.CrimeReports.com/iphone.

Home Invasion Arrest

MEDIA RELEASE

Date: December 14, 2009

Time: 2:45 PM

Fanning Springs, Florida- On December 14, 2009 the Levy County Sheriff's Office responded to 17769 NW 90 Court Lot # 5 in reference to a 9-1-1 hang up call. Upon arrival the victim, Nicholas Batista reported through an interpreter stated that two white males entered his residence wearing a ski mask. The suspects forcibly entered the residence armed with a pistol and entered the victim's bedroom. The suspects demanded money and the victim fearing for his life gave them his wallet and the suspects left on foot.

When K-9 Deputy Kevin Kinik and his partner, Rossi arrived on the scene they tracked the suspects to a near by residence located at 17726 NW 90 Terrace. Deputy Kinik noticed that the front door was open and several people were inside the residence. The victim's cellular phone was located in the suspect's residence.

Detective Tom Martin's investigation revealed that David Darling another suspect, which is at large, entered the victim's residence and robbed the victim. Stone participated in the home invasion robbery by obtaining ski mask for the suspects and was a lookout from across the street.

At this time Detective Martin has indentified the third suspect and an arrest will be forthcoming.

Defendants:

David Darling

17726 NW 90 Terrace

Fanning Springs, Fl.

White Male, 10/6/88

Charges: Home Invasion Robbery & Theft

Samantha Stone

17726 NW 90 Terrace

Fanning Springs, Fl.

White Female, 12/23/91

Charge: Home Invasion Robbery

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Church Burglaries on the Rise Again

Over the last couple of weeks we have had some burglaries targeting Churches in the Williston, Bronson, Chiefland and Inglis areas. These Burglaries are part of a regional problem where houses of worship have been targeted in several jurisdictions. The Levy County Sheriffs Office is asking for your help. First we need for all Churches to revisit their security procedures to include the way they handle and store money to reduce the impact of a such a burglary at their church. Secondly we ask that you keep an eye out for suspicious activity in and around your church and report anything unusual as soon as possible to your local law enforcement agency.

If you have any information regarding any church burglaries in or around Levy County please call Lt. Scott Tummond at 352-486-5111 or you can remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-877-349-8477.

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Levy County Jail Gets straight A on its report card

The Levy County Jail recently underwent its required Annual inspection for the Florida Model Jail standards and received a 100 percent grade. Sheriff Smith stated Jail Director Mike Sheffield and his staff are to be commended for their hard work and dedication. I can always provide jail cells and guards said Sheriff Smith but true professionalism and success only comes with the right personnel in the right jobs administering your correctional program. The Florida Model Jail Standards is a program sponsored by the Florida Sheriffs Association where peers from surrounding regional correctional agencies come in and inspect jail facilities for cleanliness and operational safety to ensure the health and safety of our inmates. This year’s inspection team consisted of members from Alachua, Gilchrist. Putnam and Marion County Sheriffs Office.

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Bronson Man Fights Deputies

MEDIA RELEASE

 

Date:               December 12, 2009

Time:               7:00 PM

 

Bronson, Florida-On December 12, 2009 an off duty Levy County deputy received information that Anthony Leroy Thomas was at the Bronson Dollar General store.  The off duty deputy knew that Thomas was wanted since June 2009 and he notified the Communication Center.

 

Deputy Joey Barrera responded and made contact with Thomas inside the Dollar General store.  Thomas gave a false name and stated that he could prove his identity by retrieving his identification from his vehicle.  Thomas and Deputy Barrera walked outside to his vehicle and Thomas began fighting Deputy Barrera in the parking lot.

 

Upon Deputy Jimmy Anderson and Corporal Todd Houchin arriving on the scene that seen the two fighting on the ground.  Thomas was tasered on several times and he was able to pull the barbs out.  Thomas had to be physically restrained and subdued and it is believed that Thomas was under the influence of narcotics.  Thomas was treated and released at Nature Coast Hospital and transported to the Levy County Jail.

 

Thomas was wanted on a Levy County warrant for fleeing attempting to elude a police officer and driving with a revoked driver's license.  Thomas was arrested on a State Parole violation warrant for two counts of fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer during a high speed pursuit, driving while license suspended or revoked and carrying a concealed weapon.  Thomas was additional charged for three counts of resisting arrest with violence and one count of battery on a police officer.

 

Defendant:

 

Anthony Leroy Thomas

320 Glover Street

07/17/67

 

 

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Yankeetown Fire

MEDIA RELEASE

 

Date:               December 12, 2009

Time:               11:00 A.M.

 

Yankeetown, Florida- On December 12, 2009 the Levy County Sheriff's Office responded to the Cattail Creek RV Park located in Yankeetown in reference to a fire.  Upon arrival an older model 20' travel trailer was fully in gulfed in flames. The caretaker of the park saw the travel trailer on fire and called 9-1-1.  Several citizens attempted to enter the travel trailer but due to the intense heat and smoke were unable do so.

 

The Yankeetown Fire Department responded to the scene and a fire fighter was able to enter the travel trailer in an attempt to rescue the home owner 89 year old, James Edward Carnathan from the residence.  Mr. Carnathan was later pronounced dead at the scene and will be transported to the Medical Examiners Office to determine the cause of death.  Deputies do not suspect foul play and at this time it is believed that the fire started from two space heaters inside the trailer travel.  Carnathan is from Pennsylvania and he has resided in Levy County for approximately one year. 

 

The investigation was turned over to the State Fire Marshall for further investigation.

 

 

 

 

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Second Cates Pistol class Fundraiser a big Success

Saturday Dec 5, 2009 46 people battled the rain and elements and attended the second Levy County Sheriffs Fundraiser For the Cates Family. (Carrie Cates Was struck by a car outside of Bronson on Oct 9 and left Behind 5 children to be raised by her parents). Today 2300 dollars was raised with this Basic Handgun class that qualified people to get their concealed weapons permit. Although over 87 people had signed for todays class. We were still impressed with the turn out for this cause considering the bad weather and wish to thank everybody for attending this event says Lt Scott Finnen the event coordinator. Finnen also stated he wished to thank Lt Todd Polo of the Levy County Sheriffs Office and Officer Bill Hartman of the Veterans Affairs Police department of Gainesville for volunteering their time and assisting with this event. Finnen advised between the Nov 10 event and today that brings the total amount raised up til $4850. Please remember the Cates family struggle is not over especially with the upcoming holiday season and donations are still encouraged to a special fund set up at Capital City Bank in Bronson please make donations out to the The Cates Family Children's Fund at Capital City Bank at 140 E. Hatahway Ave., Bronson, FL 32621.

Raleigh Couple Arrested on Drug Charges

MEDIA RELEASE

In September 2009 the Drug Task Force purchased crack cocaine from Cynturia McClendon and Stephen Pollard. The two live together as a family at 8312 NE 166 Ave in Raleigh. The Drug Task Force was unable to locate the couple and obtained a Levy County felony arrest warrant on Pollard for possession of crack cocaine and sale of crack cocaine.

On December 3, 2009 surveillance was conducted at the Pollard/McClendon's residence. Captain Scott Anderson observed a brown Buick 4-door leave the residence. Corporal Rick Rogers, Agent Burt Miller and Captain Evan Sullivan followed the vehicle and confirmed the identity of the occupants in the vehicle. A felony traffic stop was attempted in the Raleigh area on County Road 335 and McClendon attempted to flee from officers. McClendon refused to stop and drove into Marion County where she attempted to hit Corporal Rogers and Captain Sullivan's vehicle. Corporal Rogers and Capt. Sullivan were forced to use evasive actions to prevent the assault.

Upon McClendon finally stopping the vehicle Pollard immediately jumped out of the vehicle and ran into a heavily wooded area. Agent Miller apprehended Pollard and a fight ensued. Captain Sullivan assisted in the arrest and securing of Pollard. Pollard had over 9 grams of crack cocaine and a small amount of marijuana in his possession when he was arrested. The investigation revealed that the couple was making a drug delivery to a person in Marion County. Upon Pollard's arrest he made a threat to Agent Miller that when he gets out of jail he would kill him. Pollard and McClendon were arrested and transported to the Marion County Jail.

Defendants:

Stephen Daniel Pollard

8312 NE 166 Ave

Williston, Fl

B/M, 01/31/81

Charges: Possession crack cocaine, sale of crack cocaine, possession of crack cocaine with the intent to distribute, possession of marijuana, resisting arrest with violence and corruption by threat.

Cynturia Jenae McClendon

8312 NE 166 Ave

Williston, Fl.

B/F, 08/09/88

Charges: Possession of crack cocaine, sale of crack cocaine, three (3) counts of aggravated assault with a motor vehicle, aggravated fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer, resisting arrest without violence.

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Fingerprint fee now in effect

Due to the unusually high volume of fingerprint requests for employment and concealed weapons applications the Levy County Sheriffs has now instituted a 5 dollar fee to cover the costs of the man power involved in taking the prints. If you desire to have your prints taken please be prepared to pay in cash or money order as no personal checks will be accepted.