Authorities in Palm Beach County this afternoon arrested a 27-year-old woman on charges related to the death of a 20-year-old Stuart man who overdosed last month on methadone.

Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Kimberly Katherine Manos on a charge of manslaughter and two counts of sale and delivery of the prescription drugs methadone and hydrocodone in connection with the death of 20-year-old William Gifford.

Gifford died inside his trailer on Sunshine Street in Stuart sometime between May 6 and may 7 from a methadone overdose. Witnesses told police Gifford got the drugs from Manos, who used to live with Gifford and her ex-boyfriend.

Martin County detectives interviewed Manos after the death and said though she initially denied giving him any prescription drugs, she later admitted she gave him four hydrocodone and four methadone pills.

According to a detective’s report, Manos said she felt bad about Gifford’s death and began to cry during the interview.

Though Manos told authorities she had a prescription for the medications, detectives said they later discoverd the last time she had a prescription for Methadone wasa in 2005 and she had reenty been visiting a walk-in clinic in Boynton Beach.

Manos was booked into the Palm Beach County jail Tuesday, where she remains on $300,000 bail.

Michele Nunziata

So on Monday night, Michele Nunziata’s landlord called the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office and reported his concerns.

When investigators showed up at the home in the 900 block of North Kings Highway, they found a grim scene.

Three dead dogs locked up in kennels. A black wolf locked up in feces and starving. A Doberman pinscher in the same condition.

There were other animals. Three skinny pit bulls running loose in the house. A bloodhound reported to be malnourished, two cockatiels and two ferrets – all without sufficient food – and a chinchilla with food and water.

Investigators also found veterinary medicine and piles of feces scattered on the dining room floor.

Nunziata, 40, was booked into the St. Lucie County jail on Monday and is being detained in lieu of $42,500 bail. She faces 16 counts of animal abuse charges and one charge of having the wolf without a permit.

Nunziata told investigators that she had put down the dogs on Saturday and had been too distraught to remove their bodies.

The malnurished bloodhound reportedly removed from Nunziata's home.

She said she had received the euthanasia from her landlord, who had called to tell her that the syringes where in her mailbox ready for use by saying in code, “The snowman had arrived.” (more…)

JENSEN BEACH — A man was charged Saturday evening with domestic battery after he drenched his wife with a garden hose and attacked her, according to an affidavit released Monday.

The altercation began when the victim entered the couple’s residence in the 1400 block of Northeast Chardon Street, while smoking a cigarette.

The affidavit says the victim’s husband, John Jeffrey Murray, 51, began yelling at her about smoking in the house and sprayed her with the hose.
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STUART — An alleged crack dealer’s plan to allow a client to buy him shoes in exchange for drugs was stopped short by Stuart police Friday, according to an affidavit released Monday.

Michael Deshawn Harris, 30, of the 7900 block of Southeast Kingsway Street in Hobe Sound, was charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and resisting arrest without violence.

Police had been watching a foreclosed home in the 800 block of Southeast Nassau Street after a suspicious vehicle was reported parked in the driveway several times that day.
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PALM CITY — Martin County Commissioner Ed Ciampi closed his ice cream and chocolate shop at the Publix shopping center on Martin Highway in May and anticipates reopening in late July at a new location in a strip mall on Mapp Road.

It was the second setback for Ciampi’s 3-year-old chain of “Sweet Sarah’s” ice cream and chocolate shops. Last year, Ciampi closed his shop in Port St. Lucie because of a lack of traffic at a shopping center near Veteran’s Memorial Park.

“We all have to adapt to the current economic conditions and I’m doing just that,” Ciampi said. “Three or four years ago, when I started this process, the economy was different. So now I’m making smart decisions to stay in business.”
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FORT PIERCE — St. Lucie County has set its sights on landing an unnamed eyeglass lens research firm that could bring 200 high-paying jobs to the Treasure Coast and create a curriculum at Indian River State College focused on training people to work for the company.

The county is awaiting Enterprise Florida, the state’s economic development arm, to approve its share of an incentive package that would require the local government to provide about $550,500 as its part of a state and local package that includes a job growth incentive grant and property tax breaks.

“This is a serious competition for us,” said Larry Pelton, president of the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County. “I can’t give you more until we see how this all turns out.”
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VERO BEACH — More than 1,000 Medicare patients were impacted by a decision by a health maintenance organization this month to end its affiliation with a local clinic, which has offices in Indian River and St. Lucie counties.

Quality Health Plans, of Tampa, which is contracted to offer a Medicare Advantage Plan through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has terminated its contract with University Medical Clinics as of June 30.

The company “felt that this was necessary due to multitude of reasons; abrupt closures of UMC clinics thus affecting patient care and accessibility, UMC threatening patient abandonment, inability of UMC to maintain financial solvency,” according to an e-mail sent Monday from Quality Health Care.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — Thousands of festival-goers might not be able to enjoy the next annual Oktoberfest, St. Patrick’s Day Festival, and Art and All That Jazz because of city budget cuts.

The city’s Community Redevelopment Area staff is recommending the City Council cut the $10,000 sponsorship it gives to each festival. Assistant City Manager Greg Oravec, who also serves as the agency’s director, sent letters earlier this month giving the bad news to the organizers.

He said last week he doesn’t know how long the cuts will last, and the festivals will have to raise more money privately.
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Gladys Gurski Gehrig

Ms. Gehrig is a white female, 5 feet 4 inches tall weighing 160 pounds with brown, medium-length curly hair, gray eyes and wearing glasses. She was last seen wearing a purple blouse and black pants with unknown type of shoes.

Her son, Robert D. Gehrig, said his mother went to the Wachovia Bank, 2597 South U.S.1, Fort Pierce, at 2 p.m. and has not returned.

She called her caretaker at 3:30 p.m. and said she was lost. The caretaker gave her directions on how to return to her Sunset Boulevard, Fort Pierce, home.

Anyone with information is asked to call 9-1-1 in St. Lucie County.

STUART - Jury selection began Monday in the civil trial on behalf of a Guatemalan immigrant deported by a Martin County hospital after he racked up more than $1.5 million in medical bills.
Luis Alberto Jimenez sustained severe brain injuries in 2000 when the car he was riding in collided head-on with a stolen van driven by a drunken driver. He was taken to Martin Memorial Medical Center in Stuart, then to a nursing home months later.
Jimenez returned to the hospital for more treatment in January 2001, but when hospital officials tried to discharge him a second time, no nursing homes or facilities in the area would take him.

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