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…)

FORT PIERCE — The owners of a new antique mall expect to open Hidden Treasures of the Treasure Coast in a few weeks on U.S. 1. (more…)

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — A 32-year-old man swept into the channel while swimming in the Fort Pierce Inlet Tuesday afternoon was pronounced dead less than two hours later, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Lataurus Conley was boating near the Fort Pierce Inlet about 1 p.m. Tuesday and was swimming with friends in the inlet, DEP public information officer Amy Graham said in an e-mail. The outgoing tide swept Conley into the channel, and a fisherman helped in rescuing Conley. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — A man accused of stealing dozens of frozen meals, candy bars, bathroom tissue, tea and other items from a Dollar Tree store was arrested after secreting himself in an attic, according to a police report released Tuesday.

About 8:40 p.m. Monday, police responded to an address in the 800 block of Sunrise Boulevard where a woman in the area said a man approached her and asked whether she wanted to purchase some frozen foods. The woman said the man’s name was “Tom” and that he lived in a nearby apartment. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — A man stabbed several times was taken to a local provisional trauma center early Tuesday, though his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening, a St. Lucie County Fire District spokeswoman said. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — Questions about how to revitalize the local economy, the future of Fort Pierce Utilities Authority are among chief concerns for voters entering Tuesday’s Fort Pierce City Commission elections for District 1 and District 2.

In District 1, R. “Duke” Nelson is hoping to return to the City Commission by defeating incumbent Rufus Alexander. In District 2, incumbent Christine Coke faces three challengers: Curtis Boyd, Tom Perona and Rick Reed. District 1 primarily includes citizens west of U.S. 1 and north of Delaware Avenue as well as those along northern Okeechobee Road. District 2 primarily includes citizens south of Delaware Avenue along with those east of U.S. 1 as well as those south of Okeechobee Road.

Unemployment was at 15.3 percent in the county in September, according to the state’s Agency for Workforce Innovation. High unemployment combined with foreclosure rates have led voters to search for elected officials to come up with smart solutions to fix the problems while managing a budget diminished by a 17.4 percent decline in local property values.
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A 41-year-old bicyclist died after riding into the path of a 2005 Nissan Tuesday night, according to a crash report released Wednesday.

Abel Fierros Hernandez, of the 300 block of North 12th Street, was riding a bicycle about 8 p.m. Tuesday as Veronica Keith Darrisaw, 36, drove the Nissan east on Orange Avenue approaching South 22nd Street.

A witness said Hernandez came off a sidewalk and rode into the path of Darrisaw’s vehicle. The witness said she also had to swerve to avoid Hernandez, who looked as if he had difficulties “steadying himself.” Hernandez’s bicycle didn’t have lights.
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FORT PIERCE — A 49-year-old man faces felony charges after touching a 12-year-old girl inappropriately on two occasions beginning in mid-September, according to a recently released arrest affidavit.

Cornelius Huskin, of the 2400 block of Keen Road, was arrested Monday on two counts of lewd or lascivious behavior in connection with the incidents and told authorities he has “demons inside him of a sexual nature.”

The girl told St. Lucie County Sheriff’s investigators the first incident happened in mid-September when Huskin touched her inappropriately. The girl said he didn’t put his hands under her clothes.

The affidavit gave this account:
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FORT PIERCE — Police arrested a 45-year-old man accused of burglarizing a church in late September, according to a recently released arrest affidavit.

Eric L. Teal, of the 600 block of South Sixth Street, faces charges including burglary, petit theft and giving a false name to a law enforcement officer.

Teal’s arrest Friday came less than a month after an employee at the First United Methodist Church of Fort Pierce in the 600 block of Orange Avenue told police he noticed a DVD/VHS player and a DVD player missing.
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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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