Rodney McGill (Photo: Martin County Sheriff's Office)

Around this time last year, the former pastor, radio show host and real estate mogul had sat in a packed courtroom and openly wished pestilence and cancer upon everyone who helped convict him on racketeering and grand theft charges.

But on Tuesday the only victim McGill identified in the room was himself — afflicted, he said, by jail guards who took his legal paperwork, investigators who intimidated witnesses against attending hearings and Circuit Judge Sherwood Bauer, who has denied most of the requests he has written while battling more fraud charges from jail.

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Erik Christensen

PORT ST. LUCIE - The 18-year-old son of Mayor Patricia Christensen - accused of giving a 15-year-old girl alcohol last month - was arrested Friday on a misdemeanor charge, according to records obtained Monday.

Erik Fugmann Christensen, of the 1900 block of Southwest Burlington Street in Port St. Lucie, faces a giving alcoholic beverage to person under 21 charge.

The girl told police that Christensen picked her up on July 29 at about 7 or 8 p.m. They drove to Jensen Beach and walked along the beach. She said Erik Christensen said he had Captain Morgan rum and asked if she wanted to drink. She agreed and they went back to his home.
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By LIZ NUNEZ
WPTV

JENSEN BEACH - Two days after it came ashore, the waves continue to crash against the hull of a 27-foot sailboat.

“Everyone is just in disbelief to see the boat just sitting here,” said Jessica Langley, who lives nearby.

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JENSEN BEACH - As a fully authorized exorcist of the Catholic Church, Fr. Thomas Euteneuer does not pass lightly on the topics of devils, demons and poltergeists. However, even exorcists perhaps, especially exorcists may require a wry sense of humor.

“If you have a heart problem, exorcism is possibly not the ministry for you,” Euteneuer told a gathering of about 150 Friday for “An Evening with an Exorcist” at St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church in Jensen Beach.

During his two-hour talk, the former Diocese of Palm Beach parish priest and current president of Human Life International lectured on the nature of demons, exorcism and spiritual warfare in our current culture.

“Forget everything you know about ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘The Exorcism of Emily Rose,’ ” Euteneuer said. “It doesn’t happen like it does in the movies.”

Wit, intelligence or theatrical flair will not serve well against an adversary that understands and plays upon human frailty, Euteneuer said. “The main virtue is humility. Only the humility of Christ breaks the power of his arrogance.” (more…)

By Nadia Vanderhoof

JENSEN BEACH — A Total Wine & More will occupy the former Circuit City store at the Vista Plaza in Jensen Beach this fall, executives leasing the property said Tuesday.

Dawn Hendershot, director of investor relations and corporate communications for Michigan-based Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust, which owns the Vista Plaza property at 2550 U.S. 1 in Jensen Beach, said the 20,000-square-foot wine superstore has a planned opening date of Nov. 1. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — A 23-year-old Jensen Beach man was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison for his role in a September home invasion in which an 89-year-old man was tied up. (more…)

A bookkeeper for two businesses was arrested after St. Lucie County sheriff’s investigators determined she took nearly $300,000 from the companies since 2006, a case reminiscent of one 20 years ago where she embezzled almost $1 million from a bank, according to recently released records and a detective.

Sharen Welker Goff, 66, faces two felony counts each of first degree grand theft and organized fraud after sheriff’s officials found she took nearly $102,000 from Joe’s Electric of St. Lucie County Inc. and almost $192,500 from Crystal Lighting Center of Port St. Lucie, records show.

Goff is the same former Stuart bank executive sentenced in 1990 to 18 months in federal prison after admitting to embezzling nearly $1 million between 1985 and 1989, the sheriff’s office confirmed.

At the time she went by Sharen Welker. She was named 1984 Woman of the Year by Soroptimist International. She’d been considered a valued employee during her 28 years with First National Bank and Trust Co. of the Treasure Coast, according to reports at the time.

In the recent incident, owners of Joe’s Electric learned of the alleged thefts after IRS officials “seized their bank accounts for failure to pay taxes” late last year, affidavits show. The owners were surprised because they thought the taxes were being paid properly.

One of the owners told investigators he and another owner confronted Goff, of the 300 block of Emilia Way in Jensen Beach, about the IRS seizure and she said “it was completely her fault, but she had been in contact with the IRS to correct the mistake,” records show.

Meanwhile, Joe’s Electric owners examined records and learned Goff apparently had been embezzling from the company for years, the affidavit stated. An audit of Crystal Lighting Center, where Goff also was the bookkeeper, also showed “widespread theft.”

In 2008, for example, Goff’s W-2 indicated her legitimate income from Joe’s Electric was $10,100, but the total amount of checks written to her was $47,491.72. Generally similar patterns played out for years at Crystal Lighting Center and Joe’s Electric.

Deputies found Goff last year used a checking account from Joe’s Electric to pay personal bills, including payments to The Home Depot, Chase, Florida Power & Light Co. and Cellular AT&T.

Goff also reportedly had a Crystal Lighting American Express card to be used for business purposes only. A review of credit card statements found more than $120,300 of personal charges from vendors including Coach, Disney and cruise lines, records show.

Asked by sheriff’s investigators last month about the credit card, Goff indicated she could “use it for anything.”

“I asked Goff if that meant she was allowed to use it for her own personal use,” records show. “Goff stated she felt she was allowed to use it for personal use if she wanted to.”

Goff said she repaid both companies for the “personal use,” but provided no documentation.

Sheriff’s detective A.J. Flowers said Goff spent much of the money on her granddaughter, traveling throughout Florida, taking cruises and going to Disney, among other things.

“She just lived on the money,” Flowers said. “She lived the high life.”

Kobie Gary, right, and Stephen Shepherd, center, are escorted by Martin County Sheriff’s Office deputies after being arrested and charged with the cultivation of cannabis at a rental house in Hobe Sound on Tuesday afternoon. More than 150 plants in all stages of growth worth more than $100,000 were found inside the house. Photo by MATTHEW RATAJCZAK matthew.ratajczak@scripps.com

Convicted pot grower Kobie O. Gary, son of famed Stuart lawyer Willie Gary, returns to federal court in Miami Friday to finish a sentencing hearing interrupted last week after a DEA agent briefly fainted during his testimony.

Gary, 30, of Jensen Beach, faces from five to 40 years in prison for a drug conviction related to a Hobe Sound marijuana grow house dismantled by authorities in October.

He’s been in custody since Jan. 15 when he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture and possess with intent to distribute 100 or more marijuana plants.
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JENSEN BEACH — A pit bull dog is quarantined at the Treasure Coast Humane Society after it attacked and bit another dog at Jensen Public Beach and injured two people who tried to intervene, according to a recently released sheriff’s reports.

The dog took the face of a golden retriever into its mouth and wouldn’t let go the afternoon of April 7. Two people who were bitten in the hands were treated at Martin Memorial Medical Center.

The pit bull, named Nina, was impounded and put in a 10-day quarantine. The dog’s custodian, Brittany Edwards, 20, of Stuart, was cited for not having proof of a rabies vaccination or license and for not having under restraint an animal that caused injuries.

Because the dog didn’t attack people — just the dog and the people intervened — the incident doesn’t fit state criteria for being classified a dangerous dog, a sheriff’s official said.

The owner of the golden retriever, Serina Colley, 36, of Palm City, told investigators she was sitting on the beach making sand castles with her 3-year-old daughter when “suddenly out of nowhere a pit bull came rushing over and started attacking my dog.”

It took she, her husband Shawn and mother-in-law to pull off the pit bull, she said.

Edwards told investigators she was keeping the pit bull for a friend who couldn’t keep it because of where he lives. She had the dog on a retractable leash, but the dog overpowered her, reports show.

According to a witness, the incident started with Edwards and an another woman trying to get the pit bull in the ocean and it resisted. Then, the dog reared and broke away, running 20 feet to attack the retriever.

Now, Edwards has to pay $870 in fines within 30 days. The dog’s quarantine ends April 17.

If the dog isn’t claimed by the owner it will be euthanized, said Rhonda Irons, Martin County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman. Because of the details surrounding the incident last week, the dog would not be available for adoption once the quarantine period expires, she said.

JENSEN BEACH — A pit bull has been quarantined at the Treasure Coast Humane Society after it attacked and bit another dog at Jensen Public Beach and injured two people who tried to intervene, according to a recently released sheriff’s reports.

The afternoon of April 7, the dog took the face of a golden retriever into its mouth and wouldn’t let go, the reports say. Two people who were bitten on the hands were treated at Martin Memorial Medical Center.

The pit bull, named Nina, was impounded and put on a 10-day quarantine. The dog’s custodian, Brittany Edwards, 20, of Stuart, was cited for not having proof of a rabies vaccination or license and for not having under restraint an animal that caused injuries.

Because the dog didn’t attack people — just the dog, with the people having intervened — the incident doesn’t fit state criteria for the pit bull being classified as a dangerous dog, a sheriff’s official said.

The owner of the golden retriever, Serina Colley, 36, of Palm City, told investigators she was sitting on the beach making sand castles with her 3-year-old daughter when “suddenly out of nowhere a pit bull came rushing over and started attacking my dog.”

It took her, her husband, Shawn, and her mother-in-law to pull off the pit bull, she said.

Edwards told investigators she was keeping the pit bull for a friend who couldn’t keep it because of where he lives. She had the dog on a retractable leash, but the dog overpowered her, reports say.

According to a witness, the incident started with Edwards and another woman trying to get the pit bull in the ocean as the dog resisted. Then, the dog reared and broke away, running 20 feet to attack the retriever.

Now, Edwards has to pay $870 in fines within 30 days. The dog’s quarantine ends Saturday.

If the dog isn’t claimed by the owner it will be euthanized, said Rhonda Irons, Martin County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.