ST. LUCIE COUNTY — A 28-year-old Fort Pierce man was taken into custody Wednesday after a 15-year-old girl exposed an affair she had been having with him, according to a St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office report.

Reynaldo N. Moran, aka Moran Maldonado, of the 2600 block of North U.S. 1 was charged with sexual battery on a child more than 12 years old and was being held at the St. Lucie County Jail in lieu of $500,250 bail.

Moran allegedly began the affair with the girl when he stayed with the family, the arrest affidavit said. The teenager told a detective she has had sex with Moran last November. Her mother had suspicions about a relationship between the pair and confronted them Wednesday when she saw Moran driving the girl to her school, the report said.

At the school, a school resource officer also charged Moran with driving without a driver’s license.

Lamaur Stancil, TCPalm.com

FORT PIERCE — A city police officer was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison for molesting a 15-year-old girl in a Hutchinson Island beach parking lot.

Chief Assistant State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl asked Circuit Judge Larry Schack to sentence Dwight Toombs, 34, to 35 years in prison after Toombs was convicted Jan. 22 on four felony charges stemming from the Dec. 18, 2007 incident.

Friends and family asked Schack for leniency after describing Toombs as a family man and a Christian.

Defense attorney Jack Fleischman said he plans to file an appeal.

“We expected a high sentence, and we feel pretty confident about the appeal,” he said.

Before sentencing Toombs, who did not speak on his own behalf, Schack said: “This is really a very sad day on two levels. One because of what was done to that young lady and two, because it was done by someone we all rely on to protect our children.”

Toombs was sentenced after being convicted of lewd or lascivious battery or molestation, attempted lewd or lascivious battery, sexual battery on a 15-year-old by a government agent and lewd or lascivious conduct. Schack also declared him a sexual predator.

Toombs faced a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.

Authorities said Toombs came across the girl, who was naked from the waist down, and her 20-year old boyfriend in a parked car at the beach and that Toombs fondled the girl using a glove while she was handcuffed.

Bakkedahl said law enforcement agents must be held to a higher standard because of their status within the community and added officers committing crimes undermines the judicial system. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — A 44-year-old man accused of hitting his wife Wednesday morning after she admitted being out with another woman with whom she’s having an affair is facing a battery charge, a police report states.

The 37-year-old victim told investigators she got home about 12:30 a.m. and went to take a shower when her husband, Alex Adorno, came to the bathroom.

Adorno, of the 1200 block of Southeast McFarlane Avenue, ”asked her if she had been out with the girl she has been having an affair with and she said yes,” the report states.

He allegedly got mad and choked her. He also allegedly turned the water off, hit her in the head and threw the bottles in the shower on her.

The victim said it’s the second time Adorno struck her. She said she didn’t call police the first time ”because she is the one having the affair,” the report states.

Adorno said his wife has been having an affair with another woman for about three months and he doesn’t know what to do. He said he ”lost it” after she returned home and admitted being out with her girlfriend.

The wife didn’t want to press charges, but Adorno went to jail on a battery charge.

By Will Greenlee, TCPalm.com

PORT ST. LUCIE — A 50-year-old man was arrested after reportedly hurling a knife that smashed out a car window following an apparent traffic-related dispute, according to a police report released Monday.

Timothy C. Boudah, of the 1400 block of Southeast Port St. Lucie Boulevard, faces aggravated battery and throwing a deadly missile into an occupied vehicle charges following the Sunday night incidents.
(more…)

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A law enforcement officer is accused of punching a woman, sitting on her head and threatening to kill her while they were arguing, according to an arrest affidavit.

Robert Szoyka, 44, has worked for the North Palm Beach Public Safety Department for 2 ½ years, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. He posted $500 bail at the Indian River County Jail Thursday.

Deputies were called to Szoyka’s Indian River home at 10 p.m. Wednesday, his arrest affidavit said. He told the deputies there wasn’t a problem, and a woman inside the home refused to talk, the report said.

However, the woman called deputies back to her home at 12:30 a.m. Thursday after Szoyka left, authorities said. She told deputies Szoyka had punched her, sat on her head and threatened to kill her, the affidavit said. She said Szoyka had removed batteries from the phones in the home before he left, the report said.

Deputies took Szoyka into custody after they found him sleeping in his car, which was parked in the 2600 block of Fifth Street Southwest.

Officials in North Palm Beach could not be reached for comment Friday.

By Lamaur Stancil, TCPalm.com

VERO BEACH — A man who secretly buried his mother in their back yard to cover up her death will be serving 20 years in state prison for second-degree murder, court files show.

In mid-2008, Vero Lake Estates resident Kelly Smith, 38, argued with his mother, Lynn Schuler, 59, over his unemployment. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — A 63-year-old Port St. Lucie man was sentenced Tuesday afternoon to 30 years in prison for sexual encounters he admitted having with an 11-year-old girl in 2007.

Stephen J. King was sentenced to 30 years for attempted lewd or lascivious molestation of a child under 12 by a perpetrator over 18 and 15 years behind bars for lewd or lascivious exhibition, but Circuit Judge Robert Belanger allowed the terms to run concurrently.
(more…)

FORT PIERCE — A 19-year-old woman is accused of cutting her girlfriend with a 10-inch kitchen knife and is being held at the St. Lucie County Jail on a $100,000 bail, according to tcpalm.com.

Amanda D. Wilson, of the 700 block of S. 29th St., faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in connection with the incidents that began at 1:11 a.m. Thursday.

The 19-year-old victim told police she and her live-in girlfriend argued.

“The argument became very heated and she grabbed a knife from the kitchen,” the report states. “(The victim) stated that she realized how out of hand the argument was getting and threw the knife down and walked away.”

The victim went to attend to her son, whom the dispute woke, and Wilson picked up the knife and held it to her girlfriend’s throat, the report states. She started cutting the victim’s arms and hands, which had superficial lacerations, the report states.

A 40-year-old Port St. Lucie man was arrested Thursday on charges of sexual battery on a child, according to an arrest affidavit released Sunday.

Walter James Geiser, address unknown, was arrested at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the 25 block of Orange Avenue in Fort Pierce on seven counts of sexual battery on a child, the affidavit said.

He remained in the St. Lucie County Jail on $300,000 bond Sunday.

According to the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, the victim is now 17 and came forward with the information with her mother earlier Thursday. The mother told detectives she believed her daughter and that Geiser was a friend who previously lived with the family in Maryland and Florida.

According to the report, the victim said the abuse started when she was 7 or 8 years old and the last encounter occurred in June 2007. The victim said she did not come forward sooner with the information because Geiser had threatened her.

Detectives asked the victim to call Geiser, who allegedly admitted over the phone to the sexual abuse, the affidavit said. The call was recorded by the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, the report said.

By Nadia Vanderhoof, TCPalm.com

PORT ST. LUCIE — Ermanne Metelu, 39, accused of beating his wife following an argument over her wishes not to attend church Sunday is facing a battery charge, according to police.

The 33-year-old victim told investigators Sunday she’d gotten home late the night before from work and that she argued with her husband at their home in the 600 block of Southwest Old Briar Avenue, about her not wanting to go to church. (more…)