STUART — A parent of a J.D. Parker Elementary School student was accused of stealing a teacher’s credit card and using it to make unauthorized purchases, according to an affidavit.

Cortina Renee Wobbleton, 26, of the 800 block of Southeast Bayou Avenue, was charged with fraudulent use of a credit card.

The affidavit states Wobbleton had been in the teacher’s classroom the morning of March 4 just before the teacher’s credit card and wallet were noticed missing.

Surveillance video from Wal-Mart in the 4000 block of Southeast U.S. 1 showed Wobbleton use the card to make a $318 purchase the same afternoon, according to the affidavit.

Wobbleton was arrested Saturday and was being held in the Martin County Jail in lieu of $5,000 bond.
By TCPalm.com

Jeremias Mendoza-Esteban

The girl’s mother walked into her daughter’s bedroom on Saturday afternoon and found Jeremias Mendoza-Esteban in bed under a blanket with her, according to a Martin County Sheriff’s report. The mother told the father, who questioned the girl, the report states.

The girl said that 23-year-old Mendoza-Esteban had touched her, according to the report. The father told deputies he confronted Mendoza-Esteban, who allegedly admitted to touching the girl.

Mendoza-Esteban was arrested Sunday. He declined to answer investigators’ questions without an attorney, deputies said. He is being held in the Martin County jail without bail.

A federal jury ended deliberations Monday with a question but no verdict as to whether Ricardo Sanchez, Jr. and Daniel Troya should face life in prison or the death sentence for the 2006 murders of Jose Luis Escobedo and his family.

The jurors asked U.S. Senior District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley to clear up confusion about the verdict form he and attorneys in the case gave them before they began their deliberations Thursday.

Family slain

Jose and Yessica Escobedo with sons Luis Julian (left) and Luis Damian (right). Husband, wife and two children from Greenacres found shot to death off Florida’s Turnpike in northern Port St. Lucie. More news, photos

During discussions between Hurley and attorneys outside the presence of the jury, Troya's attorney James Eisenberg renewed his objection to the fact that Hurley had only informed jurors of three possible options for their deliberations - unanimous decision for a life sentence, unanimous for a death sentence, or a unanimous decision to let Hurley decide the sentence.

The third option is a life sentence by default because life is the maximum sentence Hurley is authorized to impose under those circumstances.

Eisenberg during a hearing more than two weeks ago asked Hurley to also inform jurors that the burden of sentencing would also fall to him if they could not reach a unanimous decision. Hurley ultimately declined and reiterated his decision Monday in court.

"I'm not getting into any issue about a hung jury here," Hurley told Eisenberg.

Prosecutors say Sanchez and Troya killed Escobedo, a cocaine supplier for their drug organization, to steal cocaine and to clear a debt owed to him by their boss, Danny Varela. Jurors also convicted the men in the deaths of Escobedo's wife Yessica, and their 3 and 4-year-old sons Luis Damian and Luis Julian.

Varela was not charged in the deaths but will likely spend the rest of his life in prison based on convictions on related drug charges for which the jury convicted him, Sanchez, Troya, and Liana Lee Lopez earlier this month.

The jury will continue deliberations today.

PORT ST. LUCIE — Marie-Josee Roy, whose 8-year-old son attends Port St. Lucie Elementary, stood today around the corner from the school with a sign covered in children’s handprints that read: “These hands are the future. Why take away from them?”

Other parents held signs of their own: “Education Comes First” and “Schools are closing. What’s next?”

For these parents, an estimated $30 million shortfall for the St. Lucie County School District for the 2009/10 school year is personal: Port St. Lucie Elementary is one of two schools slated to close under budget cuts recommended by Superintendent Michael Lannon to account for the loss in revenue. Southbend K-8 School is the other.

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A woman has been arrested and charged with stalking a former teacher who made national headlines for her work on a bikini fishing charter.

View photos of ‘bikini teacher’ Tiffany Shepherd

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An Asheville, N.C.-based company paid $3.8 million this month for Freedom Plastics Inc.’s plant in Fort Pierce.

Pipe manufacturer Silver-Line Plastics intends to refurbish the 100,000 square feet and may rehire some of the 33 workers who lost their jobs there, according to Chief Financial Officer Bill Beard. (more…)

More than three-quarters of Martin County businesses say they don’t have room to expand.

If they can’t grow where they are - and if they think it’s too cumbersome to get permits - they’re likely to leave. That’s a conclusion of a new report commissioned by the Business Development Board of Martin County.

The assessment of Martin County’s competitiveness - or, more accurately, lack thereof - highlights challenges to business recruitment and expansion, including the high costs of building permits and a lack of move-in-ready space. (more…)

Indiantown’s home-grown telephone company is about to invest big bucks to link fiber optic lines to homes in the central Martin County community.

ITS Telecommunications Systems Inc. got an $8 million loan this month from the Rural Utilities Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that makes sure people living in the country have access to electricity, water and telephones. (more…)

JENSEN BEACH — Martin County Sheriff’s detectives are investigating the deaths of a husband and wife after their bodies were discovered on Saturday.

At about 4 p.m. on Saturday deputies responded to the home of Jeaneatte and Norton Euart after a caregiver discovered their bodies inside the couple’s Jensen Beach home in the 2500 block of Northeast Mildred Street, according so sheriff’s spokeswoman Rhonda Irons. The caregiver told investigators the couple had several health issues, Irons said.

Jeaneatte Euart, 76, appeared to have been shot several times, Irons said. Norton Euart, 84, had what appeared to be a single gunshot wound, Irons said.

Detectives believe Norton Euart shot his wife multiple times before turning the gun on himself. The bodies have been turned over to the Medical Examiner’s Office.

PORT ST. LUCIE — A Port St. Lucie woman is facing a felony charge of aggravated domestic assault after being accused of threatening her brother with a sword during an argument Saturday, according to an arrest affidavit from the Port St. Lucie Police Department.

The brother told investigators his sister, Vishma Maharaj, of the 4500 block of Southwest Yamada Road, pulled out a sword and said “she was going to cut him” while they were arguing, the report said.

Family in the house supported the brother’s statement, the affidavit said. According to the report, the brother said he was in fear for his well being.

The affidavit said Maharaj previously had threatened people with swords.

Maharaj was transported to the St. Lucie County Jail and later released on $5,000 bond.

By Staff reports, TCPalm.com