PORT ST. LUCIE — St. Lucie County Fire District crews were called Wednesday morning to a crash involving a school bus with children on board and a small car, a fire district spokeswoman said.

No injuries were reported in the crash, officials said.

The bus had 15 children aboard and was headed for Parkway Elementary School, according to Janice Karst, director of communications for St. Lucie schools.

Crews were called at 7:39 a.m. to the incident at Southeast Walters Terrace and Southeast Ocean Lane, Fire District spokeswoman Catherine Chaney said.

No other information was immediately available.

Dogs & Cats Forever, a “no-kill” animal shelter in western St. Lucie County, is inching closer to building a 5,900-square-foot forever home.

Kelly Debus, of Dogs & Cats Forever, checks on a few cats in one of the cat rooms inside the “no-kill” animal shelter in Port St. Lucie. (Eric HAstert/TCPalm)

The new shelter, on 8 acres at the corner of Selvitz and Devine roads, will be more than double the size of the existing shelter on Carlton Road. It will include a swimming pool for dogs, similar to the bone-shaped pool at the Fur Seasons “luxury pet resort” in Stuart; a medical clinic; a memorial garden; and a large inside playroom, said Dogs & Cats Forever’s executive director, Jay Apicella.

“I’m just so excited because this is really a dream,” Apicella said. “This is going to be so much better (than the existing shelter). It’s like a dream to see a place where animals could live without being put to sleep.” (more…)

FORT PIERCE — A man in his early 20s was taken to a local provisional trauma center in critical condition after being hit Sunday night by a compact car, a St. Lucie County Fire District spokeswoman said.

Crews were called to the incident at South 13th Street and Kentucky Avenue about 11:30 p.m., Fire District spokeswoman Catherine Chaney said.

The man was taken to a local provisional trauma center in critical condition, Chaney said.

No one else was injured in the incident.

FORT PIERCE — The mystery of convicted Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein’s whereabouts may be solved.

Authorities at the St. Lucie County Jail in Fort Pierce confirmed Tuesday that an inmate with Rothstein’s name and date of birth is being held there “for housing only.” The jail database does not list what charges the inmate is being held on.

The federal Bureau of Prisons Web site listed Rothstein as having been “released” from the Miami Federal Detention Center on Friday. However, federal authorities said he’s still in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Rothstein pleaded guilty in January to masterminding a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme and he is facing up to life in prison when he is sentenced on May 6.

Rothstein’s defense attorney Marc Nurik said Monday that Rothstein had an unspecified “medical incident” last week and was taken to a hospital for treatment, and that Rothstein was either still receiving medical treatment or is being moved between detention centers.

“I was advised he’s in transit, that he’s in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service,” Nurik said Monday. “He’s not with prosecutors, he’s not talking to the government. He had a medical incident last week and he was taken out to the hospital.”

Nurik was able to provide only a few more details Tuesday morning. He said he still had not learned what medical condition Rothstein had, but that it was not life threatening.

“He was not beaten up, attacked, or whatever,” Nurik said. “He had some kind of medical incident. I have not seen the records yet, but apparently it was not life threatening. He was experiencing some distress and was taken out of the facility for tests and observations.”

Rothstein has said in court that he is taking medication for high blood pressure and high cholesterol. He is also taking Zoloft for “anxiety,” he has told the judge in his case.

Federal prosecutors and marshals are typically tight-lipped when it comes to the movements of federal detainees and inmates, for security reasons. Alicia Valle, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and Barry Golden, a spokesman for the Marshals Service, would say only that Rothstein remains in federal custody, without offering any more details.

The federal government contracts with jails to hold detainees, and Nurik said Rothstein may have been moved to free up space at the Miami detention center.

“It could be as simple of bed space. He is not needed again until May,” said Nurik, before making light of the situation with a reference to Rothstein’s expensive taste in cars, including a $1.5 million Bugatti seized by authorities.

“I am not overjoyed that he is now in St. Lucie County because now I have to take my Bugatti, and I don’t want to put the mileage on my Bugatti,” Nurik joked. “If he were cooperating, he would be at the Fountainebleau, or the W. at least. He is not cooperating. He is out of sight and out of mind, right now.”

The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office announced it charged a school bus aide Tuesday with child neglect for allowing an autistic child to injure himself on a bus.

Investigators said Patricia Davis, 44, of the 700 block of Avenue E, Fort Pierce, stood by while the child smashed his head against a bus window until it cracked during a ride to school last month.

Officials for the sheriff’s office and the St. Lucie County School District said they will not release the name of the school to protect the identity of the child.

A school resource deputy said a security video on the bus showed the child beginning to bang his head against a window at 9:10 a.m. Feb. 8. Davis gave the child a couple of treats, for which he stopped the behavior temporarily, the arrest affidavit said. After the treats, the child resumed banging his head, the affidavit states. The student was also striking himself in the face, the affidavit states. After seven minutes of nonstop thrashing, Davis began rubbing his shoulders to calm him down.

The student was treated by the school nurse for cuts and swelling to his head, she told deputies. The child’s father took the boy to the hospital, which determined he suffered no serious damage, deputies said.

The school’s behavior technician told deputies school employees are trained to respond to head-banging behavior by redirecting or blocking a student from the object, the affidavit states. But the school bus driver told deputies the school aide was hesitant to step in.

“I don’t think we’re allowed to touch him,” was Davis’ statement to the driver, he told investigators.

Davis, who has worked for the school system for more than nine years, was being held at the St. Lucie County Jail in lieu of $5,000 bail.

School officials declined comment on the arrest.

“I have no comment at this time pending any ultimate conclusions that may come through the legal system at a later time,” Schools Superintendent Michael Lannon said.

School District spokeswoman Janice Karst said Davis has been reassigned away from students.

Staff writer Colleen Wixon contributed to this report.

FORT PIERCE — Police took a man into custody after he made repeated threats to kill his senior citizen landlord, police said.

Manuel Melendez, 49, of the 1200 block of Easter Avenue, Fort Pierce, was charged Monday with assault on the elderly, aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony and two counts of aggravated stalking. He was being held in lieu of $350,000 bail at the St. Lucie County Jail.

The 65-year-old landlord said she started having problems with Melendez earlier this month when he refused to pay rent, according to the arrest affidavit. She told police Melendez slashed the tires on her car and threatened to kill her and her husband, the affidavit states.

FORT PIERCE — Homicide victim Sharpkina Yolanda Woods was four weeks pregnant when she was fatally shot over the weekend along with her boyfriend, Travis John Lattimore, St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara said Wednesday.

In a morning briefing, Mascara said Lattimore, who had a murder warrant stemming from a Feb. 8 killing in Miami, and Woods were shot to death inside a green 2004 Ford Expedition that Woods usually drove.

“We really want the community’s help in identifying where that (SUV) was Saturday night, Sunday morning,” Mascara said.

The bodies of Lattimore, 21, and his 35-year-old girlfriend were found about 2 p.m. Sunday behind an abandoned home on Coronado Avenue.

The SUV, which belonged to Woods’ mother, was recovered in the 100 block of North 28th Street. Investigators don’t know where the SUV was at the time of the killings.

Mascara said Woods’ pregnancy won’t result in an additional criminal charge because the fetus wasn’t 26 weeks old.

In the Feb. 8 Miami homicide, Lattimore reportedly rode a purple mountain bike up to Erick Johnson at about 11:30 a.m. A Miami police detective has described the two as “associates in the narcotics trade.” Lattimore pulled a pistol and shot Johnson eight times, according to Mascara and records.

Woods, a mother of five, and Lattimore reportedly moved to Fort Pierce about five months ago.

“Their family says that they both left Miami to move away from the violence there,” Mascara said.

Lattimore had been arrested more than 15 times since 2002 in the Miami-Dade County area. Woods wasn’t working, and Mascara did not know their source of income.

He declined to detail the evidence found in the SUV that led investigators to believe the vehicle is where the killings took place. The SUV was shown to media members, and what appeared to be blood was seen on a seat and running board.

Woods’ mother, Vera Woods, has said she didn’t want Lattimore hanging around Sharpkina Woods or her children. She thought they began dating in June or July.

Jimmy Ware, one of Sharpkina Woods’ two siblings, said he talked to his sister about 5 p.m. Saturday. She was on her way to her uncle’s birthday barbecue in Hollywood. Lattimore was with her, Ware said.

They both apparently went back to Fort Pierce after that, Ware said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Treasure Coast Crime Stoppers at (800) 273-TIPS.

A federal judge has ruled against activists for the St. Lucie River who sued the federal government on claims that it violated their property rights by allowing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to pollute the waterway with massive discharges from Lake Okeechobee.

Judge Lynn Bush said the discharges’ long-term environmental effects on a “national treasure” were tragic, but she agreed with federal lawyers who argued that the property owners were past a six-year statute of limitations to pursue their case.

Even if they weren’t, she said, their property rights claim still would fail under state and federal law.

The plaintiffs, whose suit is being paid for by the non-profit Rivers Coalition Legal Defense Fund, waited several years to have their case heard in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington. They sought $50 million in damages, once the combined market value of their 22 riverside properties.

Karl Wickstrom, coordinator for the Rivers Coalition, said they plan to appeal the decision, which was released last week.

“We think she’s dead wrong,” he said. “It’d be scary if we couldn’t be protected from our own government when they pollute the water.” (more…)

By WILL GREENLEE

PORT ST. LUCIE — A 57-year-old local man was arrested Tuesday after threatening to blow up a mortgage company in north Florida and saying he’d hire someone to “put a bullet” in a company representative’s head, according to records released Wednesday.

Portik was arrested and taken to the St. Lucie County Jail.

John Andrew Portik

John Andrew Portik, of the 8000 block of Kiawah Trace, who said he was calling for one of his employees, faces a felony threaten to discharge a destructive device charge following the incidents.

A Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office investigator Tuesday was dispatched to American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc., where an employee took a call from a person identifying himself as Portik, a Jacksonville Sheriff’s report states. The call had been transferred from an office in Texas.

Portik was calling on behalf of one of his workers in Arizona and was “upset” that American Home Mortgage wasn’t assisting with the worker’s “mortgage problems,” the report states.

“The subject told (the mortgage employee) that he has been noted as crazy, owns a ‘skip-tracing’ company, suffers from PTSD, and is disabled,” the Jacksonville Sheriff’s report states. “He said he had no problem ‘…blowing all of your (backsides) up.”

A Jacksonville investigator determined Portik called different numbers for the business, and in one case talked to a representative in India.

“I will hire someone in India to burn you and put a bullet in your head!” he said.

The Jacksonville sheriff’s investigator contacted St. Lucie County Sheriff’s officials, who went to Portik’s home.

Portik stated he was not getting anywhere with the people he was calling and stated “I ruffled some feathers!” Portik’s arrest affidavit states.

Asked how he “ruffled feathers,” Portik said he’s been a bill collector for 28 years and “knows the law and where the line is.”

He said he knows “how to get deep in their hearts to get an effect,” the affidavit states.