Warren Bendix, the Stuart resident who found $3,100 hidden inside a framed picture that had been discarded in a Dumpster, received the money Thursday. The Stuart Police Department issued a press release that read, in part: “All claims to that property were relinquished by the family of the original owner. … Stuart police turned the funds over to Mr. Bendix. He immediately deposited them in the bank.” (more…)

FORT PIERCE — A Miami family that used fake documents to obtain nearly $6 million in mortgage loans used to buy homes converted into marijuana grow farms were ordered Thursday to serve more than five years in federal prison.

The sophisticated scheme, operated during the height of the housing boom, included buying 18 homes in St. Lucie, Miami-Dade, Lee and Columbia counties that were used to cultivate more than 1,000 pot plants worth about $1.3 million, federal records show. (more…)

FORT PIERCE — Two-time Academy Award-winner Hilary Swank might be the star of the upcoming movie Amelia, but Sally Chapman of Fort Pierce will be paying closer attention to co-stars Richard Gere and Virginia Madsen.

In the biopic about famed aviator Amelia Earhart, Gere portrays Chapman’s grandfather, George P. Putnam, and Madsen plays her grandmother, Dorothy Putnam. (more…)