INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Deputies charged a woman with beating a boy with an extension cord Wednesday.

Lehoter Pleshett St. Aime, 35, of the 4700 block of 40th Avenue, Vero Beach, was charged with child abuse and aggravated assault. She posted $5,000 bail Thursday at the Indian River County Jail. (more…)

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Authorities Tuesday filed charges against a man who allegedly punched and killed a 6-pound dog earlier this month.

Justin Dabelow, 23, of the 1300 block of 16th Court Southwest, Vero Beach, posted $7,000 bail Wednesday at the Indian River County Jail. He was charged with cruelty to animals, disposal of bodies of dead animals and abandonment of an animal.

Dabelow told the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 7 he was at his home and removing his girlfriend’s Yorkshire terrier from its crate when it bit him on his hand. He punched the dog and it went unconscious.

Later, he and his girlfriend checked on the dog and found it was dead, according to an incident report. Dabelow took the dog’s body and tossed it into the woods behind his home, the report states.

By Lamaur Stancil, TCPalm.com

VERO BEACH — Police are investigating nude photos of underage girls found on a memory card in the lost-and-found at the Vero Beach Hotel and Club.

An employee at the hotel in the 3500 block of Ocean Drive told police she placed the memory card in the lost-and-found four months ago, according to the police report. The hotel’s policy is to allow employees to keep unclaimed items they have turned in after three months. When the employee saw the images of the young teenage girls on the card, she decided to contact police.
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VERO BEACH — Minor League Baseball officials hope their plans for the former Dodgertown will bring year-round business to local hotels, restaurants, stores and health clubs.

Craig Callan, the vice president of MiLB Vero Beach, updated the Taxpayers’ Association of Indian River County at its monthly membership meeting Wednesday on the future of the former spring training home of the Los Angeles Dodgers. (more…)

VERO BEACH — A high-level financial struggle over the troubled Vero Fashion Outlets now may reach into an owner’s family trust, court records show.

In early October the outdoor mall filed for bankruptcy in federal court, a move that halted a foreclosure lawsuit filed by the mall’s creditor, LNV Corp. of Nevada, in Indian River Circuit Court. LNV Corp.’s attorney Kenneth Curtin contends the mall defaulted on a $32 million loan for purchase of the 329,000-square-foot mall in 2007. (more…)

VERO BEACH — A second high-level Piper Aircraft Inc. executive is resigning from the company, less than six months after the company’s chief executive officer resigned.

The resignation of Piper’s president, John Becker, was announced Monday. His last day is Dec. 1. (more…)

VERO BEACH — High electric bills have provided the spark to this year’s election, with some candidates contending a contract with a new power provider will bring relief and others suggesting the city look at getting out of the electric business.

Incumbents Bill Fish and Debra Fromang are being challenged by five people looking to gain two-year terms on the five-member council.

The challengers include former City Council member Ken Daige; frequent council critic Brian Heady; retired National Geographic Society Chief Cartographer Jack Shupe; downtown businesswoman Susan Viviano; and local businessman and political commentator Charlie Wilson.
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FORT PIERCE — A 39-year-old Vero Beach man was arrested Saturday after being found with a short-barrel assault rifle outside a gun show at the Havert L. Fenn Center in Fort Pierce, according to a recently released arrest affidavit and a sheriff’s official.

James Mathew Kennedy, of the 1000 block of 27th Avenue Southwest, took the AR15-type rifle into the gun show, where he went to buy parts, officials said. They gave this account: The rifle had a barrel length about three inches shorter than is allowed without first going through a lengthy federal approval process.
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VERO BEACH — Two people were taken into custody Tuesday morning after law enforcement officials raided a house suspected of being a methamphetamine lab.

The Multi-Agency Criminal Enforcement Unit had been investigating the home for about a month and conducted some undercover purchases at the home in the 1300 block of 30th Avenue, Vero Beach, Indian River County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Deputy Jeff Luther said.

“The evidence inside the home indicated an operation to cook meth for personal use, but we monitored a large amount of traffic to the home,” said Sheriff’s Lt. Darin Jones.
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VERO BEACH — A 26-year-old woman who was speeding and weaving out of traffic on Interstate 95 is guilty of vehicular homicide of two motorcyclists she hit along the roadway.

A jury deliberated for a hour Wednesday afternoon before finding Dominique Brice, of Miami, guilty of killing the motorcyclists parked along the northbound lanes on Feb. 29, 2008, near the juncture of Indian River and St. Lucie counties. (more…)