Ricardo Jose Vazquez was found not guilty Thursday of second-degree murder in the shooting death of an 18-year-old man in Poinciana in 2006.
Jurors deliberated about 2 1/2 hours before acquitting Vazquez, 26, of Kissimmee.
Rafael Beltran was shot to death after an argument broke out between a group of men at a home on Linnet Court in Poinciana on Sept. 28, 2006, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office. A man pulled a 9-mm handgun and fired several rounds at Beltran..
LAKE WALES | Two Polk County sheriff's pilots practicing emergency operations escaped serious injuries when their helicopter crashed about 4:40 p.m. Thursday at Lake Wales Airport.
The R44 Robinson helicopter was occupied by Chief Pilot Greg Love, 48, hired in 1995 as a pilot, and Deputy Brian Bolton, 39, hired in 2006 and promoted to the Aviation Unit in 2007. Love was piloting the helicopter when it went down.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Donna Wood said the reasons for the crash had not been determined. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were notified and will investigate. Sheriff's crime scene investigators were processing the scene Thursday evening.
HAINES CITY | Polk County Sheriff's Office detectives scoured an orange grove on Patterson Road in Haines City on Thursday looking for evidence in the death of a man whose body was found in the trunk of a burned vehicle.
According to police sources, a call came in about 1 a.m. Thursday with a report of a burning vehicle near an orange grove on Patterson Road.
The vehicle was taken to a local towing facility where an arson investigator discovered a body in the trunk.
Robert O. Kincart, American Compliance Technologies president, was named honorary Polk County fire chief by the real Polk County Fire Chief David Cash.
The honor was bestowed upon Kincart during the company's annual co-op hazardous material training exercises.
Cash presented a white fire chief's helmet to Kincart in recognition of his more than 23 years of assisting and supporting local, state and national fire service issues.
“Rob Kincart is a great friend to the fire service and to Polk County,” Cash said.
Kincart was the first volunteer chemist on the nation's first hazardous materials team in Jacksonville in 1977, and also the first volunteer chemist for the Polk County Hazardous Materials Response Team in 1983.
Kincart also received the annual award from the state's District Seven Emergency Response Commission for Hazardous Materials for his work in the environmental field and making emergency responses safer.
Kincart graduated from the University of Florida in 1972 with a degree in chemistry and in 2005 was awarded the outstanding alumni award in the chemistry department.
Body Found In Trunk of Burned Vehicle In Haines City
HAINES CITY | Polk County Sheriff’s Office detectives are scouring an orange grove on Patterson Road in Haines City for evidence in the death of a person whose body was found in the trunk of a burned vehicle.
According to police sources, a call came in about 1 a.m. Thursday with a report of a burning vehicle near an orange grove on Patterson Road.
The vehicle was taken to a local towing facility where an arson investigator discovered a body in the trunk.
Sheriff’s Office Spokeswoman Donna Wood said detectives were called to the orange grove at 9 a.m. Thursday and are still at the scene.
She confirmed that a body had been found in the burned out vehicle.
She said she could not confirm if the body was found in the trunk by an arson investigator at Ryan’s Towing company.
Wood said more information will be released as it is available.
Two pilots were taken to an emergency room for evaluation Thursday after their Polk County sheriff’s helicopter made a hard landing at the Lake Wales Airport.
The Robinson R44 helicopter came down about 4:40 pm while practicing
emergency operations procedures, the Sheriff’s Office said.
As a precautionary measure, the two pilots on board were taken to Lake Wales Hospital Emergency Room for evaluation, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The helicopter was occupied by 48-year old Chief Pilot Greg Love, hired in 1995 as a pilot, and 39-year old Deputy Brian Bolton, hired in 2006 and promoted to the Aviation Unit in 2007.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were notified and will investigate what caused the crash.
LAKELAND | A Lakeland Fire Department crew was dispatched Wednesday to help battle one of several fires raging on the state's East Coast.
The other crews were to have brought two brush trucks from Hillsborough County, an engine and brush truck from the Tampa Fire Department and a team leader from Tampa, said Paul Roberts, a Lakeland Fire spokesman.
The team met at LFD's Station 6 at State Road 33 North and left for a staging area near Brevard County.
It is not known where, or how long, they will be positioned in the fire that has already damaged or destroyed more than 160 homes and scorched about 10,000 acres near Palm Bay and Malabar.
"Hopefully, they will be back in a couple days," Roberts said. "But they will keep them as long as they need them."
In Polk County, Florida Division of Forestry crews spent most of Wednesday "mopping up" a few small fires, but there was no major activity, said Gary Zipprer, who heads the Lakeland-based district.
Zipprer said one new fire involved about 5 acres on property controlled by the River Ranch Property Owners Association, which is commonly known as "The Hunt Club."
That fire destroyed "a couple of sheds and vehicles" at hunting camps, he said.
Officials said Wednesday night that the fire had been contained.
A state forestry official urges Polk residents to postpone any plans for outdoor burning.
LAKE WALES | Polk County has been spared of major wildfire problems so far, but that could change in the time it takes to ignite a match.
These days he's urging them to postpone burning anything outdoors.
"It's going to be a rough week," Zipprer said.
Zipprer said his agency worked seven wildfires in Polk County on Monday afternoon and three more had been reported by 2 p.m. Tuesday.
None of the fires was significant, but any fire has the potential to spread quickly as a result of dry, breezy conditions.
The National Weather Service again issued a Red Flag Warning for Tuesday to indicate the threat of wildfires, and is expected to do the same this afternoon.
A dry air mass has covered much of the state, leaving humidity levels low.
"Low humidity and heat are doing a number on our vegetation," Zipprer said. "Fires ignite easily and spread quickly. What people think they can handle with a single garden hose they cannot."
The Keetch-Byram Drought Index, which the Division of Forestry uses to measure fire danger, has been climbing daily and now stands at 465 in Polk County. The highest mark in Polk was 691 in the spring of 2001.
The index ranges from a soggy zero to a bone-dry 800, with firefighters expected problems any time it is above 400.
Officials had expected problems with fires earlier this year, as the index started 2008 at 579.
Three months of above-average rain eliminated the problem, with the index dropping below 100 after heavy rains the first week of April.
But Polk County has recorded only one-tenth of an inch since April 7.
Bay News 9 meteorologist Mike Clay said conditions are not expected to improve any time soon.
Clay said there is a 20 percent chance of rain early Saturday and about a 20 percent chance Tuesday, but nothing else for at least the next week.
Florida's summer rain machine is driven by heat and humidity. Clay said it will require more of both to jump start that engine.
That can't happen as long as fronts from the north are able to push into Florida, bringing the drier type air that Florida has seen this week.
The season usually starts about the first of June, but has been known to wait until almost the end of that month, Clay said.
A Highland City man was arrested Monday morning and charged with attempting to lure a 14-year-old girl into his car at a school bus stop, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
Manuel Lopez, 40, was charged with aggravated stalking and attempted kidnapping, and was booked into the Polk County Jail on Monday night.
Just before 7 a.m., a man in a car watched the girl and her mother shopping in a convenience store near Combee Road in Lakeland, a sheriff's report said.
FROSTPROOF | A grove worker found dead in a Frostproof parking lot Sunday was killed by a blow to the head and the death is being investigated as a homicide, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.
An autopsy revealed that Octavio Hernandez, 25, of Frostproof, died from blunt-force trauma to the head, the Polk County Medical Examiner's Office said. Detectives would not elaborate on the cause of death, but said they have no suspects or motive.
Hernandez was last seen by a co-worker walking east on West Fifth Street about 9 p.m. Saturday. Hernandez told the co-worker he was going to the Rio Grande Bar at 540 S. Scenic Highway.
