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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GOLDEN GATE — A fire at 2587 S.E. Normand St. on Monday night left a two-story home uninhabitable but nobody was injured.

The Martin County Fire Rescue Division received a call about a car fire at the home around 8 p.m. They learned that a fire in the vehicle had spread to the dwelling, said Hoss Wiggins, a fire battalion chief with Martin County Fire Rescue.

By around 9 p.m., the department had extinguished the main fire and was searching the house for smaller fires it might have missed. The home was was still standing at the time, but it was destroyed.
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JENSEN BEACH — A tile setter who had not been paid in three weeks told Martin County sheriff’s investigators he decided to rob a bank to get money Monday morning.

William Albert Crowell, 44, of the 4100 block of Cinnamon Circle, was arrested 31 minutes after being suspected of handing the teller at the PNC Bank at 1021 N.E. Jensen Beach Blvd. a note that read: “Give me the money. Have gun.”

The teller handed him a pack of money that included a dye pack and he left the bank. The dye pack exploded, and he fled in a gray Chevrolet. He was followed by a witness who reported his travels to 911 operators.

Crowell, who is wanted for parole violations in Massachusetts, returned to the Cinnamon Circle address where his fiancee was taking a shower.

The house was soon surrounded by deputies, who then entered it and arrested Crowell, charging him with bank robbery. He told investigators he had not been paid, was behind on his bills and was afraid he would be thrown out of his home.

His fiancee told officers she thought he had left for work about 8:30 a.m., but then he returned about 10:30 a.m., while she was in the shower. She saw him washing his hands, face and hair, and placing his trousers in the washing machine. Then he told her he had robbed a bank, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Crowell told officers he acted alone and was unarmed. He is being held without bond.

JUPITER ISLAND — A lifeguard swimming in waters off the Jupiter Island Beach Club this morning became the victim of a shark attack.

Martin County Fire-Rescue officials said they received the call for the shark bite at about 9:30 a.m. and transported the man to Jupiter Medical Center for treatment to a bite on his foot. Hospital officials identified him as Steve Burdelski, 22.

Hospital officials said Burdelski, a lifeguard at the club, was still at the hospital Monday afternoon being treated for his injuries. Burdelski through hospital officials declined an interview.
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By Michael LaForgia
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

A Port St Lucie truck driver was involved in a two-truck crash that killed another driver Friday night on Florida’s Turnpike near Orlando, authorities said.

Jorge Dipre, 38, of Port St. Lucie was driving a FedEx semi northbound on the exit ramp to Orange Blossom Trail about 9:30 p.m. when a semi driven by Carl W. Van Wasshnova, 54, of Port Orange lost control of his truck while on the southbound on-ramp, crashed through the center guard rail and collided with Dipre’s truck, cutting it in half, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Wasshnova was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he died.

Dipre wasn’t hurt.

The highway patrol was investigating whether some medical condition caused Wasshnova to drive off the road.

Kim Roden, the Martin County manager who was thrown in the middle of the Mahoney sex scandal, is leaving her $73,000-job with the county. County officials say the hottie’s affair with the married congressman has nothing to do with her departure.
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ST. LUCIE COUNTY — There are almost 360 sex offenders living within a mile of St. Lucie County public schools and there are about 135 sex offenders living within a mile of a Martin County public school.

And along the Treasure Coast, almost 670 sex offenders and predators legally live within a mile of local schools as of Oct. 29, a Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers analysis of Florida Department of Law Enforcement data shows. Expanding the search of the FDLE database almost doubles the number in some cases. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »

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. Read the rest of this entry »