Barbara Branks, owner of La Gringa Professional Immigration Services in Clearwater, was sentenced this week to nearly five years in federal prison for filing false asylum applications with United States customs agencies. She was also ordered to forfeit about $816,000 in profits from the fraudulent filings.

Branks was indicted last September and pleaded guilty in November to filing 274 fraudulent asylum petitions. After a pre-sentence investigation, Branks appeared for sentencing. The judge sentenced her to four years and nine months in federal prison. (more…)

Craig Wall of Clearwater was officially indicted by a grand jury last week on charges of murdering his girlfriend, Laura Taft, and their baby, Craig Wall Jr.

Now prosecutors in Pinellas County will review the case to decide whether to pursue the death penalty. (more…)

A Hillsborough County jury reached an impasse last week when trying to decide whether Ronnie Tremel Walker killed Elaine Lanier Caldwell during a 2003 home invasion. After deliberating for five hours, jurors told the judge they were hopelessly deadlocked. The judge declared a mistrial due to the deadlock.

Prosecutors quickly announced that they plan to retry Walker for first-degree murder, burglary and robbery. He faces life imprisonment if convicted. (more…)

Federal prosecutors in Tampa charged a Plant City couple last week with manufacturing methamphetamine in a home they shared with their three children. Hillsborough deputies were called to the home in regard to a domestic dispute on February 15.

There they allegedly discovered Matthew and Beth Cantin as well as chemicals used to make meth and hardware to cook it in a “one pot” system. The alleged meth manufacturing set-up was located in the garage.

Three children — ages 6 months to 9 years — live at the home with the Cantins. Law enforcement claims that the children were present when the Cantins cooked meth, which can result in toxic fumes and explosions.

Both parents now face the federal charge of conspiring to manufacture methamphetamine on premises where children were present or resided. The maximum penalty is 40 years in prison.

Dexter Bell, 21, was sentenced to 35 years in prison last week for the shooting death of 16-year-old Torie McDuffie. McDuffie was killed three years ago on a corner in a neighborhood near Clair Mel when two cars drove by, guns firing from both. Bell had been convicted of second-degree murder and attempted murder for his role.

Those in the cars were targeting a group of people who had thrown cinder blocks at one of their cars. McDuffie, an honors student at Blake High School, was not the instigator of the conflict and had just walked to the corner when he was struck in the head by a bullet. (more…)

Dee Dee Moore of Plant City has been charged with first degree murder in relation to the death of Abraham Shakespeare last year. Shakespeare won an estimated $30 million in the Florida Lottery in late 2006. His remains were found in January 2010, buried behind a home in the Plant City area owned by Moore and her boyfriend.

According to law enforcement, Moore approached Shakespeare in 2007, telling him that she was interested in writing a book about his life. She ultimately become something of a financial advisor to Shakespeare. Within a few months, she had control over $3.5 million of his assets.

Shakespeare went missing last April, although his family did not report him missing until November.

Police now say that Moore went to extreme lengths to make it seem that Shakespeare was still alive. She even had someone call Shakespeare’s mother, pretending to be Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s mother didn’t think it sounded like her son and police traced the phone number back to Gregory Todd Smith. They found Smith the next day, meeting with Moore. (more…)

Miami Beach police arrested Miami Dolphins cornerback Will Allen this weekend and charged him with driving under the influence. He was booked in Miami and held on $1,000 bond.

According to the arrest affidavit, Allen revved the engine of his Ferrari at a police barricade at about 3:30 a.m. When an officer approached, Allen lowered his window, and told the officer, “I gotta get through.”

When the officer told Allen that the road was closed due to a traffic accident, Allen reportedly replied, “You don’t understand. I gotta get through.” Officers noticed that Allen had bloodshot eyes and a “constant sleepy look.” They asked him to get out of his car four times before he finally exited the car.

The arrest report indicates that Allen was given two Breathalyzer tests, as required under Florida law. The result of one test showed his blood alcohol level at more than twice the legal limit of .08. The other test registered .152, according to the arrest affidavit.

A nine-year NFL veteran, Allen missed the final 10 games last season because of a knee injury that required surgery.

Late last week, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Richard Luce sentenced John Lee Hampton to death for murdering Lashonda McKinnes in Clearwater in 2007.

Hampton was convicted of the murder back in June 2009. After returning a guilty verdict and hearing additional evidence and testimony related to sentencing, the jury voted 9-3 vote in favor of giving Hampton the death penalty.

Although Hampton gave police several different accounts to explain the incriminating evidence, including blood on his clothing, he ultimately said that he accidentally killed McKinnes because she came after him while he was going through her apartment looking for cocaine. Prosecutors aid Hampton raped McInnes and slit her throat, before trying to wash his DNA off her body with cleaning chemicals and lighter fluid. (more…)

Despite years of appeals and several last minute pleas to the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, Martin Grossman was executed at the Florida state prison in Starke on Tuesday. A court issued the death penalty to Grossman almost 25 years ago.

In his final statement, Grossman expressed remorse to the family of Peggy Park, the Florida wildlife officer he beat and shot to death in 1984. “I would like to extend my heartfelt remorse to the victim’s family,” Grossman said. “I fully regret everything that happened that night, everything that was done, whether I remember everything or not. I accept responsibility.”

He then said a Jewish prayer before the execution commenced. (more…)

A U.S. District Court judge in Tampa last week sentenced Rosa Barrett Herrera of New Port Richey to 51 months in federal prison for wire and mail fraud in connection with an accounts-receivable financing scheme. The court also entered a forfeiture judgment in the amount of $1,134,238.48 against Herrera and ordered her to make restitution to Capital Plus Equity, LLC in the amount of $489,238.48.

Herrera had pleaded guilty to the fraud back on October 27, 2009. (more…)