FORT PIERCE — Police have arrested a Milton man in connection with the death of a man found Tuesday night in a ditch behind a bar.

Gentleman John Clark, 35, of Milton, in the northwest corner of Florida, was arrested Thursday night and charged with first-degree murder in the death of 51-year-old Ronnie Cartee, whose body was found about 11:45 p.m. Tuesday outside of Pappy’s Lounge in the 6900 block of Okeechobee Road.
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FORT PIERCE — “The Don Corleone of the Port St. Lucie marijuana grow house operations” was sentenced Wednesday morning to 45 years in prison.

Roberto Alberto Cepero

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An altercation between a husband and wife turned into an attempted murder and suicide this evening, St. Lucie County authorities said.

William Beck, 54, of Fort Pierce, shot his wife Jacqueline Beck, 54, twice and then turn his .32-caliber automatic pistol on himself. William Beck, who shot in himself in the head, was pronounced dead at the scene, while his wife was critically injured, St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken J. Mascara said in a statement. She was transported to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center in Fort Pierce, where she was being treated tonight.

The incident occurred shortly after 5 p.m. in the 3400 block of Fort Walton Avenue, Mascara said. William Beck and Jacqueline Beck were married but not living together.
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FORT PIERCE — A man suspected of being the “Red Striped Bandit” was arrested following a Monday armed robbery and is thought to be involved in a series of similar crimes stretching back to 2007, according to an affidavit released Tuesday by police.

Cedrick T. Beckwith, 26, of the 800 block of Georgia Avenue, faces a robbery with firearm charge in connection with the Monday evening incident at the Ramallah Food Market in the 3000 block of Orange Avenue. (more…)

SAVANNAH, Ga. — A Fort Pierce man died Tuesday afternoon after the motorcycle he was riding crashed on a Georgia highway, according to Savannah-Chatham police.

At 3:25 p.m., first responders were called to the westbound lanes of Georgia 204 near Interstate 95 on a report of two people injured in a motorcycle crash, the Savannah Morning News reported. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — About $200,000 worth of marijuana was seized Thursday during a grow house bust by the Fort Pierce Police Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, according to a police news release.

Police with the DEA arrested and charged Michael Philip Carty, 44, and his wife, Tiffany Dawn Carty, 32, both of the 1100 block of Granada Avenue, with cultivation of marijuana, possession of marijuana with the intent to sell and possession of drug paraphernalia. As of Thursday evening, both were in St. Lucie County Jail in lieu of $10,500 bail. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — Two treasure Coast scientists have solved a mystery that for decades has been wrapped up in the coils of a conch shell.

With less than two years of research and experimentation, Megan Davis and Héctor Acosta-Salmón, both scientists at Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce, have developed a technique to culture, or grow, pearls inside queen conchs. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — A local man was arrested after fleeing a deputy and bailing out of a Buick in which about 50 rocks of crack cocaine were found, according to an affidavit released Wednesday.

Eliezer Geneus, 22, faces charges including cocaine possession with intent to sell, driving while license suspended habitual offender and obstruction without violence following the Tuesday incident. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — One person received minor injuries and two others were unharmed after a twin-engine airplane crashed after take-off at the St. Lucie County International Airport Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

About 3:35 p.m., the Albatross seaplane blew its left motor just after take off and crashed in a wooded area, according to a St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office news release and Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen.
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FORT PIERCE — The juvenile violent crime rate dropped by nearly 30 percent so far this year, Fort Pierce police said Tuesday.

Police attributed the decrease to some initiatives run by officers. The numbers also included a 17 percent drop in overall youth crime. (more…)