STUART — Stuart Police arrested a man Friday accused of intentionally leaving a woman’s dog locked in a hot car until it died, according to an affidavit released Monday.

Christopher Alan Gunkel, 55, of the 2000 block of Northeast Pinetree Way, was charged with animal cruelty.

The affidavit says Gunkel left the dog in the car with the windows rolled up at an unspecified time Thursday while picking up a prescription near the 600 block of Colorado Avenue.

Gunkel felt too sick to drive home, however, and called a neighbor to give him a ride to his house, the affidavit says. The dog remained in the vehicle until police discovered it dead in the back seat at approximately 10:30 p.m. Friday.

When police questioned Gunkel about leaving the dog in the car, he stated the dog was “sick to begin with,” according to the affidavit.

Gunkel was being held Monday in the Martin County Jail in lieu of $2,500 bond.

TCPalm staff

FORT PIERCE A 74-year-old man accused of beating another man with a wooden sword last month at a business was arrested Wednesday, according to records released Thursday.

The victim told St. Lucie County Sheriff’s investigators he went to Jose Pinera’s business behind Fred’s Grocery on June 23 to deliver some auto parts to Pinera, 74, who was there with two other men.

The victim said he saw a wooden sword and picked it up. The sword, he said, was hand carved and he was admiring the workmanship.

That’s when Pinera, of the 2300 block of Southeast Marseille Street in Port St. Lucie, reportedly got very upset and asked what the victim was doing with the sword.

Pinera snatched the sword from the victim and hit him with it in the left shoulder, police said.

An investigator noted a large yellow-and-purple bruise on the victim’s left shoulder six days later when the investigator spoke to him. The victim said he hadn’t seen a doctor because he couldn’t afford it.

The victim said he didn’t know why Pinera would hit him.

Pinera left after the victim said he was calling authorities, but was arrested Wednesday night on a battery charge at his home.

By Will Greenlee, TCPalm.com

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

FORT PIERCE — Five men caught snipping “buds” off pot plants in a Port St. Lucie house in May 2008 face up to 11 years in prison after being convicted Friday of cultivating marijuana, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

After a four-day trial at the St. Lucie County Courthouse, a jury deliberated about four hours Thursday evening and Friday morning before reaching guilty verdicts for Reinaldo R. Ramos, 35, of Hialeah, and Jose V. Alvarez-Hernandez, 55, Luis O. Leal, 33, Manuel Gonzalez, 35, and Jose Antonio Blain, 42, all of Miami.
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PORT ST. LUCIE — A man found naked in the room of a 12-year-old girl with whom he communicated on MySpace and discussed having sex faces two felony charges, according to recently released arrest and court records.

The victim told police she spent most of a day in late June communicating with a man identified as Barrington Benjimen Smith Jr., 18, of the 500 block of Northwest Avon Avenue in Port St. Lucie.

They arranged to meet, she told police. The victim opened her bedroom window and let Smith in about 12:30 a.m. June 25, records state.
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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 alleged crack dealer’s plan to allow a client to buy him shoes in exchange for drugs was stopped short by Stuart police Friday, according to an affidavit released Monday.

Michael Deshawn Harris, 30, of the 7900 block of Southeast Kingsway Street in Hobe Sound, was charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and resisting arrest without violence.

Police had been watching a foreclosed home in the 800 block of Southeast Nassau Street after a suspicious vehicle was reported parked in the driveway several times that day.
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John Christopher Woods is hoping his photos and additional information about his birth parents he has been able to extract from the Florida Department of Children and Families will trigger memories in someone on the Treasure Coast, maybe even his mother or siblings.

Woods, born Jan. 16, 1961, at Martin Memorial Hospital, said he feels he is creeping closer to identifying and perhaps meeting his birth mother, but her name and location are still elusive. His mother was 24 when she gave birth to him and then gave him up for adoption. (more…)

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

FORT PIERCE — A 74-year-old man reportedly walked onto the campus of Dan McCarty School Tuesday evening and fatally shot himself near the school’s bus pick-up area.

The 1201 Mississippi Avenue campus was empty of students and faculty when the incident occurred, according to Dave Morris, director of security for St. Lucie County schools. The man’s identity was not immediately released, pending notification of next of kin.
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