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.”

STUART — Two men being followed by Palm Beach Gardens police Tuesday morning were apprehended in the area of Halpatiokee Regional Park after their Hyundai crashed into a ditch, according to a Martin County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman.

Driver Brandon Tavaris Davis, 24, of Fort Lauderdale, and passenger Darris Bryan Gresham, 21, of Oakland Park, were taken into custody after the pursuit.

Palm Beach Gardens police called Martin County sheriff’s investigators about 10:09 a.m. and asked for assistance, saying officers were following a vehicle north on Interstate 95, sheriff’s spokeswoman Rhonda Irons said.

Deputies went to the area and put out tire deflation devices on I-95 just south of Kanner Highway. The Hyundai swerved to avoid the devices and crashed into a ditch.

One of the men in the vehicle was taken into custody immediately, Irons said. The other man ran into the park and was captured about 20 minutes later.

A helicopter, K-9s and several law enforcement vehicles converged in and around the park in efforts to find the men, who were arrested and taken to the Martin County jail.

A high school district boys and girls tennis tournament was being conducted in the park at the time. Athletes were ordered into their cars and onto school buses until the men were brought into custody.

Aaron Lindstadt, a freshman tennis player at Fort Pierce Central High School, witnessed one of the suspects on the run near the tennis courts.

“I was watching the tennis tournament and saw something out of the corner of my eye,” said Lindstadt, who was at the event with his mother. “Something popped out of the woods, and it looked like a man.

“He vanished right away back into the woods.”

The son of former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks was charged with driving under the influence Saturday, according to Indian River County Sheriff’s records.

A sheriff’s deputy charged Corey Spinks, 32, of St. Louis with the violation as well as leaving the scene of an accident at 3:28 a.m. Saturday. Corey Spinks, who is also a professional boxer, posted $1,000 bail at 8 a.m. Saturday. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — A 24-year-old Fort Pierce man was arrested early Saturday morning after he was accused of eluding law enforcement, according to the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavit.

Nicholas C. Davis of South 33rd Street was arrested on felony charges of resisting officers, vehicle theft, cocaine possession, and nonmoving traffic violation; and misdemeanor charges of narcotic equipment possession, resisting officers, littering, hit and run with property damage and a moving traffic violation. (more…)

Updated March 4, 2010, 2:15pm

By Melissa E. Holsman

STUART — A judge this week ordered a Stuart man arrested in July for possessing 20,000 pounds of fireworks inside his garage to spend 25 years behind bars for trafficking in morphine.

James Buhs, 46. a convicted felon with a history that includes possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a machine gun, was arrested at his East Ocean Boulevard home in Stuart as state and federal authorities seized about $100,000 in illegal fireworks, explosive materials and several weapons.

Members of the Martin County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division, Tactical Unit, SWAT Team, Bomb Disposal Team and Special Investigations Section served a search warrant at the address.

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When Dennis Mitchell called 911 Sunday, he said he molested a teenaged girl, was locked in a bedroom and wanted to shoot himself.

But 15 minutes later, the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office said a dispatcher persuaded Mitchell to drop the gun and walk out of his home to surrender to deputies. Sheriff Deryl Loar credited Pam Metzdorf, a 21-year veteran 911 operator, with bringing the emergency to a peaceful resolution.

Mitchell’s wife was at the home with her three children when he locked himself in the room about 5 p.m. Sunday.

“Please get the kids away from the house,” Mitchell, 32, told Metzdorf toward the beginning of the 15-minute call, which was released Tuesday by the Sheriff’s Office. “I don’t want them to see this. Right now, I do want to hurt myself.”

Metzdorf said her training prepared her to stay calm and persuade Mitchell to surrender.

“Don’t make it worse by pulling that trigger,” Metzdorf said during the call. “Your children have to live there. Do you want this to be their last moment with their dad?”

For much of the call, Mitchell sobbed.

“When he started to break down, I felt I could have lost him,” Metzdorf said. “But I wasn’t scared. I knew when he promised to put the gun down” the situation was defused.

Mitchell was apprehended by deputies when he stepped out of his home and charged with four counts of sexual battery. The girl told detectives the abuse started in August 2008 and continued through last month, according to his arrest affidavit.

PORT ST. LUCIE — Four adults and three juvenile teens were arrested following a violent confrontation with St. Lucie County Sheriff’s deputies that began with a loud music complaint and involved one of the adults barricading herself in a bathroom, according to affidavits released Wednesday and the sheriff’s office.

Three deputies were treated and released from a local hospital following the Tuesday incident in the 100 block of El Sito Court, where deputies were called five times in November by neighbors making noise complaints.

Deputy Supreet Cheema went to the home about 2 p.m. after someone reported a vehicle in the carport playing music at a loud volume. Several people were in the vehicle, including Jamale Ware, 20, who said, “OK,” when Cheema asked if he’d keep the music to a “reasonable volume.”

The affidavits and sheriff’s officials gave this account of what followed:
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ST. LUCIE COUNTY — A St. Lucie County Sheriff’s deputy who said he made fun of a man with no arm at a softball game, and another deputy who was “discourteous” to the public each received a written reprimand, according to internal investigation records obtained Tuesday and an official.

The deputies, Thomas Johnson and Rigoberto Iglesias, were on a softball team sponsored by the jail’s food service provider during the March 8 incident, which involved two umpires.

The home plate umpire complained to sheriff’s officials that Johnson and Iglesias “behaved improperly” at the game at Lawnwood Stadium.
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STUART — Authorities are looking for a man who stole more than $6,000 in cash and checks from a convenience store Friday.

Employees at the Stuckey Shell station in the 8000 block of Southwest Jack James Drive, Stuart, called deputies about 11 a.m. Friday after the theft. An employee said she had been counting cash and preparing to load an ATM machine when she left a rear office at the store for a few minutes. When she returned, a plastic bag with the cash was missing, according to the incident report.
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A Sebastian woman remained in custody Tuesday in Brevard County after she roughed up and robbed someone she was partying with and threatened to arrest him, though she is not a law enforcement officer, according to an incident report.

Dawn Leigh Kravis, 31, of the 1000 block of Roseland Road, Sebastian, was charged with robbery with no weapon, kidnapping and false imprisonment of an adult and fraudulently impersonating a law enforcement officer in the commission of a felony. She was being held at the Brevard County Detention Center in lieu of $48,000 bail.

A 53-year-old man who lives in the 9100 block of U.S. 1, Micco, called the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office about 6 a.m. Saturday and said Kravis had robbed him, the report said. He told deputies he had been partying most of Friday and early Saturday with Kravis and another woman, the report said.
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