SEBASTIAN — Authorities speculate more than $1 million worth of cocaine found Saturday near the Sebastian Inlet State Park may have been tossed by smugglers in an attempt to not be caught with the illegal drugs.

The Indian River County Sheriff’s Office said they responded to a call about 8:30 a.m. Saturday about a package floating near the shore, said spokesman Deputy Jeff Luther. A boater spotted the package, he said.

Deputies determined the package contained 60 pounds of cocaine, Luther said. The street value of the package is substantial, but probably not a huge loss to the smugglers, he said.
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OKEECHOBEE COUNTY — The death of a 49-year-old woman found by family members appears to be a homicide, and a sheriff’s spokesman Wednesday said a neighbor has been taken into custody.

Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office deputies went Tuesday night to an address in the 2700 block of Northeast 11th Court and met with Roberta “Bobbie” Elizabeth Christensen’s son and daughter-in-law.

They reported coming to the residence in the Pine Ridge Park subdivision to see Christensen, a waitress at Golden Corral, and finding her dead inside.

A preliminary examination indicated the death was “most likely the result of a homicide,” a release states.

“The nature of the injury appears to be from a sharp instrument,” the release states.

A neighbor in his 20s was taken into custody Wednesday and Detective Ted Van Deman, sheriff’s public information officer, said he will be charged in connection with the death.

“We’re confident we have the right person in custody,” Van Deman said.

Sheriff’s detectives are interviewing others to determine whether anyone else could have played a role in the death.

The Sheriff’s Office declined to reveal a possible motive and also declined to provide further details about Christensen’s injuries.

By Will Greenlee, TCPalm.com

OKEECHOBEE COUNTY — The death of a 49-year-old woman found by family members appears to be the result of a homicide, and sheriff’s investigators are interviewing “persons of interest,” the sheriff’s office stated Wednesday.

Sheriff’s deputies responded Tuesday night to an address in the 2700 block of Northeast 11th Court and met with Roberta “Bobbie” Elizabeth Christensen’s son and daughter-in-law.

They reported coming to the residence in the Pine Ridge Park subdivision to see Christensen, a waitress at Golden Corral, and finding her dead inside. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — A Georgia man accused of walking naked along a beach about 100 yards from two children and their parents faces an exposure charge, according to a recently released arrest affidavit.

Kevin Francis Gallagher, 61, reportedly was spotted Tuesday afternoon by a St. Lucie County Sheriff’s deputy in a patrol boat. He also had a gun in a bag.

The deputy sighted Gallagher, of Snellville, Ga., about 100 yards north of where two children and their parents were swimming. The incident occurred in the 5500 block of South Ocean Drive.

“There was also a couple that told me they were walking down the beach towards the suspect and had to turn around and walk the opposite direction because the suspect was standing at the water edge,” the affidavit states.

Arrested on a misdemeanor charge of exposure of sexual organs, Gallagher was handcuffed and a gun was found in his carry bag.

The affidavit does not specify why Gallagher, listed as unemployed, was walking naked.

By Will Greenlee, TCPalm.com

PORT ST. LUCIE — Air-conditioning units were stolen early Sunday morning from at least four nearby businesses on Southeast Lennard Road, according to recently released St. Lucie County Sheriff’s records.

The businesses are in the 10200 block of Southeast Lennard Road, east of U.S. 1 near Southeast Mariposa Avenue. They were identified as Express Food Mart, Duke of Oil, Design A Sign and Uptown Motors.
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PALM CITY — Hard financial times have turned tumultuous at a local church, with the pastor using a sheriff’s deputy to keep elders outside the sanctuary doors and the elders, in turn, filing suit to remove the pastor.

In the lawsuit filed Wednesday in Martin County Circuit Court, seven members of Palm City Christian Church charge Pastor Anthony “Pastor Tony” Galbicka with breach of fiduciary duty and seek a ruling “ousting” him and voiding the “improper and/or illegal” actions he took.

The suit also alleges Galbicka slandered one plaintiff, Edward Taudien, when the pastor told other church members Taudien had stolen money from the church. The suit counters that Taudien had donated more than $168,000 to the church and loaned it $200,000 to build the sanctuary at 6450 Martin Highway in western Palm City.

Galbicka could not be reached Thursday at his home in Palm City, at the church, via telephone or by e-mail.

Robert J. Watson, a Stuart attorney representing the plaintiffs, said he expects a hearing on his request for a temporary restraining order against Galbicka to be scheduled late this month or early August.

According to the lawsuit, the 80-member church “began to struggle financially” this year; at a May 28 meeting attended by Galbicka, the elders approved several spending cuts, including reducing the pastor’s salary “by a modest percentage.”

Watson said the cut was to be about 15 percent, adding the church paid Galbicka’s housing and car expenses plus $22,000 a year. Details of how to make the cut had not been worked out, he said. (more…)

A Fort Pierce woman that was arrested and charged with numerous counts of animal cruelty may have stabbed one of her dead dogs.

St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Deputies found a sick home full of animals, some dead and starving, with an odor of death reeking from it when they arrived on the scene Monday.

Deputies arrived at the home on North Kings Highway after the landlord of the home noticed a foul smell coming from it. The landlord also said he hadn’t seen his tenant, Michele Nunziata, in several days.

Deputies on scene said they were met with “an overwhelming foul odor of decomposition.” They also said they could hear several dogs barking from inside the home.

As deputies tried to get Nunziata to come back to the home and allow them inside, she repeatedly told deputies over the phone that she was “too busy.” When she did arrive home and let deputies inside she admitted to burying dogs in her front yard, though deputies could not find grave sites.

When Animal Control Officers arrived they took inventory of the home and found:

3 very slim Pit Bulls

A Blood Hound suffering from malnutrition

2 Cockatiels without food or water

2 ferrets without food or water

1 Black Wolf and 1 Doberman Pincher locked in a kennel laying in feces with no food or water, suffering from malnutrition

3 dead dogs locked in a kennel, decaying

Deputies and Animal Control Officers also found rabbits caged without food or water and a goose.

Nunziata has been charged with 6 felony accounts of animal cruelty as well as 11 Misdemeanors.

In a follow-up report, Animal Care and Control Officers say it appeared one of the deceased dogs left to rot in a cage had been stabbed in it’s armpit.

Officers said it appeared that most of the dead animals died of neglect.

Nunziata told officers she never neglected her animals and “would get them all back.”

Marianne Wellendorf
WPEC Channel 12

Michele Nunziata

So on Monday night, Michele Nunziata’s landlord called the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office and reported his concerns.

When investigators showed up at the home in the 900 block of North Kings Highway, they found a grim scene.

Three dead dogs locked up in kennels. A black wolf locked up in feces and starving. A Doberman pinscher in the same condition.

There were other animals. Three skinny pit bulls running loose in the house. A bloodhound reported to be malnourished, two cockatiels and two ferrets – all without sufficient food – and a chinchilla with food and water.

Investigators also found veterinary medicine and piles of feces scattered on the dining room floor.

Nunziata, 40, was booked into the St. Lucie County jail on Monday and is being detained in lieu of $42,500 bail. She faces 16 counts of animal abuse charges and one charge of having the wolf without a permit.

Nunziata told investigators that she had put down the dogs on Saturday and had been too distraught to remove their bodies.

The malnurished bloodhound reportedly removed from Nunziata's home.

She said she had received the euthanasia from her landlord, who had called to tell her that the syringes where in her mailbox ready for use by saying in code, “The snowman had arrived.” (more…)

JENSEN BEACH — A man was charged Saturday evening with domestic battery after he drenched his wife with a garden hose and attacked her, according to an affidavit released Monday.

The altercation began when the victim entered the couple’s residence in the 1400 block of Northeast Chardon Street, while smoking a cigarette.

The affidavit says the victim’s husband, John Jeffrey Murray, 51, began yelling at her about smoking in the house and sprayed her with the hose.
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STUART — An affidavit released by sheriff’s deputies accuses a man of a brutish attack Tuesday on an 11-year-old boy.

William Raymond Dion, 18, of the 5800 block of Southeast Avalon Drive, has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and battery.

According to the affidavit, the boy was riding his bicycle near the intersection of Southeast Dixie Ross Street and Southeast Robert Loop Road at 6:40 p.m. when Dion hit him in the hip and the face with a chunk of cement.

He then pushed the boy off his bicycle as the boy attempted to get away, the affidavit says.

The boy’s face was extremely swollen when deputies arrived. His parents took him to an unspecified hospital for treatment.

Dion was being held Wednesday in the Martin County Jail in lieu of $10,500 bond.

By staff report, TCPalm.com