WINTER HAVEN – State Attorney Jerry Hill and two of our prosecutors were honored Thursday, Sept. 22, at the MADD Polk County Law Enforcement and Prosecutors Recognition Dinner. Felony Attorneys Melissa Gravitt and Stephanie Durrance were awarded for their work prosecuting DUI cases, and Mr. Hill was given a special award for his dedication to […]
A trail of heroin crumbs led deputies to the closet where Gleen Efrain Zayas-Acosta was hiding. Deputies found 35-year-old Zayas-Acosta behind hanging clothes near a hamper where he’d hidden about a kilo of heroin. A prosecutor with the State Attorney’s Office laid out all the evidence before the jury in closing statements Thursday, re-enacting the […]
When Perry Lee Chance walked into the Winter Haven clothing store where 82-year-old Carol Sleeth was working, Sleeth had no way of knowing the same man would return four days later, rob her and beat her. Chance, 55, faces life in prison after a jury found him guilty Thursday of burglary with an assault, robbery, […]
Gary Carroll said there were a number of reasons he didn’t stop after striking and killing someone with his vehicle on the way home from a party. In addition to claiming he hit an animal, to which there was no physical evidence, Carroll left the scene and removed the evidence of the crash from his […]