A Seminole man was sentenced to 20 years in prison Wednesday for molesting two girls he lured through MySpace. ...more

October 29, 2009

Two officers were standing in the parking lot of the police station this morning at 5:30 a.m. when a man walked up to them and told them he had killed his wife. ...more

April 12, 2009

A convicted sex offender remained in Highlands County Jail in lieu of $15,000 bond Wednesday, after sheriff's investigators say he moved from his last known Avon Park address without notifying authorities. ...more

March 5, 2009

Police are investigating the extent of a man's involvement with the Florida State Fair after the man, who is charged in a sex crime, said he owned and operated several rides and games there. Tampa police on Sunday arrested Alex Pala, 42, of Chicago, at the Days Inn at 2522 N. Dale Mabry Highway. Detectives said he tried to pay for sex with a 14-year-old boy, offering the child housing and several thousand dollars a month. ...more

February 17, 2009

Former Middleton High School special education teacher Christina Lin Butler was placed on probation for five years Wednesday for having a felonious three-week sexual relationship with a 16-year-old ninth-grader. ...more

December 11, 2008

Former Middleton High School special education teacher Christina Lin Butler was placed on probation for five years for having a felonious three-week sexual relationship with a 16-year-old ninth-grader. ...more

December 10, 2008

A judge today dismissed a second-degree murder charge against a man who said he killed his nephew in self-defense. Edwin Allen Kendrick, 60, was charged with fatally stabbing Randall Marquayne Harrelson, 33, on Jan. 7, 2007. Kendrick was on trial this week, but Judge Manuel Lopez dismissed charges, saying the state could not rebut the self-defense claim. Pam Bondi, spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office, said prosecutors argued that the jury should decide the case. ...more

December 3, 2008

Protecting children from the pitfalls and perils of the world is a job most parents take very seriously. We go to great lengths to teach our young right from wrong, keep them warm, clothed and fed. We lay awake nights worrying about how to expose them to the things they must know about and how to shelter them from the bad they don't need to know about just yet. ...more

November 12, 2008

A 66-year-old registered sexual offender was behind bars Friday after police said he attempted to persuade a woman to let him have sex with her children. ...more

August 2, 2008

A 66-year-old registered sexual offender was behind bars Friday after attempting to persuade a woman to let him have sex with her children. Unfortunately for Richard John Hannon, of 5110 Sandpiper Road, New Port Richey, the woman he was communicating with online was an undercover investigator with the state Attorney General's CyberCrime Unit, the agency said in a statement. Hannon was being held in the Land O' Lakes Jail on Friday evening with bail set at $5,000. He was charged with soliciting a parent for unlawful sex acts with a child, a third-degree felony. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted. ...more

August 1, 2008