Jeremiah Minatee

Still, 22-year-old Herbie Innocent ended up dead Friday night and, two days later, Minattee, 18, was behind bars for his murder.

Police say witnesses reported that Innocent’s death was retaliation for him allegedly beating Minatee’s sister before he was shot dead outside a home on Ormond Avenue.

The sister told police Innocent, her ex-boyfriend, had punched her in the face several times when he met to pick up their baby earlier that night. After he left, the woman called her mother, who showed up with Minatee to check on her, she said.

Mary Dawson told police her son, Minatee, was upset. He had received a message from Innocent about the incident and meeting later that night to fight.

“Don’t do it,” she told her son. “It ain’t worth it.” (more…)

FORT PIERCE — Six members of a Fort Pierce gang were arrested today as part of a multi-agency investigation into the group.

The investigation into the Zoe Pound gang was initiated as part of a concerted effort of regional law enforcement agencies in accordance with the state Attorney General’s Gang Reduction Initiative, according to a news release from the state office.

According to the arrest affidavit, the gang has continually been in existence since at least 1998 and currently consists of approximately 50 individuals who are involved in the narcotics trade, deal in stolen property, commit robberies, burglaries and thefts, and engage in acts of violence, including violence against law enforcement.

Zoe Pound members and associates arrested today were David Poole, 28; Michael Louis, 27; Wendell Bellevue, 21; Francis Dextra, 25; Jamel Asseille, 26; and Fred Boston, 19.

The defendants are charged with criminal racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering. (more…)

Glenn Hedrick

Glenn Hedrick, a diabetic, did not respond when called to have his blood sugar taken at about 4 a.m.

His cellmate told St. Lucie County sheriff’s deputies Hedrick, 54, wasn’t breathing, according to a sheriff’s report.

When a deputy when to check on him, Hedrick was cold to the touch, the report states.

Paramedics pronounced him dead at 4:13 a.m.
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FORT PIERCE — A Fort Pierce man reported armed kidnappers masked his eyes and robbed him of his cash and clothes over the weekend.

The 30-year-old man told police he was walking along Okeechobee Road around midnight on Friday after leaving the El Torito restaurant when a minivan with a television screen in the front pulled over by him.

The driver and another man jumped out in front him, the man said, with the driver pointing a gun at him. The pair told the man they were police officers and wanted to his identification, he said.

After the man took out his documents, the passenger shoved him inside the vehicle, the man told police.

(more…)

Alejandro Gomez

Jose Sanchez

Alejandro Gomez told police he was drinking with Jose Sanchez at Sanchez’s home in the 900 block of Skylark Drive when the two started arguing about a woman.

Gomez, 38, said Sanchez, 35, then grabbed a machete and swung it at him. So Gomez then ran home for his shotgun, returned to Sanchez’s home and pointed the gun at Sanchez, Gomez told police.

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Robert Friddle

Edward Lewis

FORT PIERCE — Two Brevard County men were arrested in connection with an early morning crime spree that included stops at Big Apple Pizza, the City Marina and Indian River State College, police said.

Edward R. Lewis and Robert S. Friddle, both of Cocoa, stole approximately $5,000 in electronics which included three flat screen televisions, iPODS and cell phones, according to police.

Three televisions were stolen from a Big Apple restaurant in the 2300 block of S. 35th Street, according to police reports. Pepsi bottles and cash were also stolen after the eatery was broken into late Monday night, the owner told police.

Other electronics were taken from vehicles parked at the Indian River State College campus in the 3200 block of Virginia Avenue and the city marina in the 100 block of Avenue A, the reports state.

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Arcelona D. Duncan

Police were called to the corner of Avenue H and North 13 Street at about 12:50 a.m. when they found a 38-year-old Fort Pierce man unconscious, lying on the sidewalk with blood on his head, according to a police report.

Arcelona D. Duncan, 33, told police the man had pushed her first, and was about to hit her, because she was breaking up with him.

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FORT PIERCE — A Delaware Avenue bank reported a robbery this afternoon.

At about 1:13 p.m., Fort Pierce police responded to Oculina Bank in the 600 block of Delaware Avenue, where a man walked into the bank, handed a note to the teller and demanded money, police said.

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WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden says a former police chief in Port St. Lucie and Fort Pierce will be nominated by President Obama today as drug czar.

Seattle police chief Gil Kerlikowske (kuhr-lih-KOW-skee) will bring to the job a lifetime of experience working on drug policy, Biden said.

Kerlikowske is a 36-year law enforcement veteran and has been Seattle’s top cop for nearly nine years. He’s been credited with cutting crime rates to record lows.

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FORT PIERCE — Torenda Youngblood stood outside his rust-colored house on Monday morning and tried to make sense of the death of his son.

The son who did what he was told, the father remembered. The son who was supposed to join the Navy after he was done with school. The son who was his namesake.

Torenda Youngblood Jr. died Monday morning after he was shot at his bus stop on the corner of Avenue K and N. 22 Street. He was 16.

He was also the city’s second homicide this year, and the fourth victim of a shooting since early Saturday.

“That is unusual,” Deputy Chief of Police James Nygaard said on Monday. “This has been a challenging weekend.”
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