ST. LUCIE COUNTY — With the swoop of a small plane carrying County Commission Chairwoman Paula Lewis and the splash of water cannons from fire trucks, St. Lucie County International Airport will christen its new 4,000-foot runway on Thursday.

The $15.3 million runway is about 2,500 feet northwest of the existing pair of runways. It has been under construction for more than a year.

“We had a lot to do,” Lewis said. “We moved power lines, we acquired a piece of property for light of sight from the control tower, and I’m excited that it’s finally finished.”
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PORT ST. LUCIE — Alfredo Felipe opened his new barber shop in Port St. Lucie because he liked the hometown feel of the community.

Felipe, 33, never thought that a month after his grand opening, an odd theft would occur at his business, Fredo’s Barbershop Hair Trends International, 698 Southwest Port St. Lucie Blvd.

Felipe said his homemade, 7-foot barber pole, made out of Styrofoam, mesh, stucco and some light metal materials, was stolen between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. Friday at his shop.
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STUART — Nine years ago, a drunk Donald Flewellen drove a stolen van across the center line, causing a collision that killed two people and left illegal Guatemalan immigrant Luis Jimenez permanently brain damaged.

Less than four months after his December release from prison for two counts of DUI manslaughter, authorities say Flewellen, 52, was behind the wheel of a borrowed car and caused a hit-and-run crash with property damage in Fort Pierce.

Already charged with two counts of violating his supervised release, court papers show when Flewellen returns to court Aug. 17, he’ll face additional charges of leaving the scene of a crash with property damage and driving on a revoked driver’s license related to an April 5 traffic collision.
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Theresa Caputo of Stuart, in black, hugs another woman Wednesday at the scene of a memorial that was built along Cove Road near Stuart. Caputo, a mother of three, said her children all knew and grew up with those killed. (DEBORAH SILVER/Treasure Coast Newspapers)

A few teenagers in board shorts and T-shirts lifted their sunglasses just long enough to wipe away their tears and hug one another in the grass along Cove Road Wednesday afternoon as they stood above a swelling memorial site.

Amid her tears, a mother bent down, reached through the letters, flowers and mementos and clutched a golf ball in her hand.

Angela Coady said she knew one of her son Nick’s friends had put it there intending for it to stay, but when she saw it she decided she had to take it with her.

“The last time I saw him he was going to play golf. He was happy as a lark,” she said. “The next time I saw him, he was dead.”

Nick Coady, 18, and his friends — Christopher Harold Briglio, 18, and Connor William Graver, 16, — were all killed early Tuesday when the Jeep Grand Cherokee that Coady was driving slammed into the back of a John Deere truck and overturned.

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VERO BEACH — Schoolmates of one of two teenagers accused of making bomb threats to Vero Beach High School have been writing letters of support for the accused.

Taren Lee Stage, 17, of the 1100 block of 39th Avenue Southwest was arrested in late April on charges of making six false bomb reports to the high school. The threats repeatedly forced evacuation of hundreds of students and staff during school hours from March to April.

The investigation is continuing.
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STUART — A California woman arrested for defrauding a Palm City couple out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in furniture, flooring and home accessories was sentenced to 15 years in prison as part of a plea deal she struck with state prosecutors.

In addition to prison, Corrine Victoria Blakely, who pleaded no contest to first-degree grand theft, was also ordered to pay $267,508 in restitution to the couple and serve 15 years of probation after her release from prison.

Authorities said Blakely, 47, fraudulently posed as an interior designer in 2006 when she was hired by a 67-year-old Palm City man to do about $400,000 in renovations to a home in the 3200 block of Southwest Winding Way.

Court papers show the man never received $129,000 worth of furniture for which Blakely was paid. When asked when the goods would arrive, Blakely provided fraudulent invoices and “padded bills,” which she falsified to perpetrate the fraud, investigators concluded.

As part of her plea bargain, state prosecutors dropped a count of organized fraud, grand theft from a person 65 years of age or older and practicing interior design without a license.

Blakely, who at one point had promised but later failed to repay thecouple, was arrested in January and extradited from California.

By staff report, TCPalm.com

STUART — A Martin County grand jury on Wednesday returned first-degree murder and robbery indictments against two Stuart residents accused in the April 5 beating death of Keith A. Hall, who died three days after being attacked.

Charged are James Louis LaForteza, 29, and Kobi Anderson, 15, who authorities say beat Hall into unconsciousness to steal $40 he’d shown the man and teen in an attempt to buy drugs. (more…)

SEBASTIAN — The woman who kept her mother’s mummified remains in a bedroom of their home for six years told police she never reported the death because she couldn’t afford burial expenses.

According to interview records released Tuesday, Penelope Sharon Jordan had maintained the ruse over the deception of the fate of Timmie Jordan since 2003. The story she gave to a Sebastian officer Monday morning was that her mother, who was born in 1913, was living in Melbourne. However, officers said Penelope Jordan couldn’t provide an address for where her mother was staying.
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A former Walgreens pharmacy technician has been arrested after police say she befriended an elderly woman and then stole credit cards and prescription drugs from her.
St. Lucie County Sheriff’s officials have charged Melissa Dewey of Bella Vista Way in Port St. Lucie with multiple crimes including grand theft from the elderly, trafficking in oxycondone and fraudulent use of ID and credit card.
They say Dewey first ingratiated herself to Dianne Birnbaum about six months ago when Birnbaum called her Walgreens pharmacy requesting if the drug store made home deliveries.

Birnbaum told investigators Dewey, a pharmacy technician, answered the phone, told Birnbaum that Walgrees does not make deliveries, but offered to drop off Birnbaum’s Xanax prescription on her way home. (more…)

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…)