Five members of an alleged retail theft crime ring are facing charges for thefts made at a number of retailers in 14 of Florida's 20 judicial districts, including the Twentieth, which covers Lee, Charlotte, Collier, Glades and Hendry counties.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a death warrant for a man convicted of brutally murdering a couple at a Charlotte County sod farm in 1997.James D. Ford, 64, is scheduled to be executed Feb. 13 at Florida State Prison in the murders of Greg and Kimberly Malnory. It would be the first execution this year in Florida and would come after one inmate was executed in 2024.

In what could be a first-of-its-kind ruling in Florida, an appeals court Tuesday said a drug-sniffing dog's alert did not justify police searching a car because the dog could not differentiate between medical marijuana and illegal pot.The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal in a Lake County case could add complexity to police searching vehicles without obtaining warrants.

The Florida Highway Patrol said a Cape Coral man told troopers he was a CIA agent when the pickup he was riding in, which sported flashing red and blue emergency lights, was stopped Thursday on I-75 in Collier County.

Two of the more than 30 people injured in what is being termed as a terror attack in New Orleans Wednesday morning have been confirmed as former students from the Canterbury School in Fort Myers.Congressman Byron Donalds on Wednesday posted the names of the two injured students, Elle Eisele and Steele Idelson, both 2023 graduates of Canterbury. Social media posts say Eisele is studying at the University of Georgia while Idelson is attending San Diego State University.Further details on their injuries were not available.

The City of Marco Island has experienced several incidents of vandalism at Veterans Community Park over the past few months. More recently, there has been damage to public property at the Maple Avenue beach access point, and to public trash receptacles on Collier Boulevard.Damage has included ripping sinks off public restroom walls, dismantling public drinking fountains, knocking down the shower facilities at the beach, and pushing over trash cans.

The suspect in the 45-year-old homicide of a Punta Gorda store clerk has been identified as a then active-duty Charlotte County Sheriff's Office deputy who reported the killing.The case, investigated several times over the years, was picked up again after the county formed a cold case unit in 2009. New evidence and witnesses lead investigators to the suspect.The former deputy, John J. Greer, acknowledged his involvement a year before he passed away in 2024.

In the early hours of Saturday, May 18, 2024, a cascade of failures within the Florida criminal justice system led to a heartbreaking tragedy: one man dead, his brother—a star running back for the Auburn University football program—partially paralyzed, and a grieving community. At the heart of the chaos was the shooter, Darryl Bernard Brookins, Jr., a five-time convicted felon with prior arrests for violent crimes, who remained free despite an arrest just three months earlier for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor.

Innocent Lives Foundation, ILF, recently held a fundraiser in Punta Gorda. The non-profit group hires experts to scour the internet, looking for child predators.

A Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office deputy killed in the line of duty Sunday has been posthumously promoted to the rank of sergeant.The deputy, Elio Diaz, was killed by a man he had pulled over for a traffic stop Sunday afternoon.