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A federal jury has found Craig Austin Lang, 35, guilty of multiple charges stemming from the death of a couple in Estero in 2018. The charges against Lang include conspiracy to commit robbery affecting commerce and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, robbery interfering with commerce, discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, which resulted in death, conspiring to kill persons in a foreign country and a violation of the Neutrality Act.
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A Cape Coral resident and registered sexual offender is facing charge after police allege he lured a number of local realtors to vacant homes under false pretenses.Cape Coral police say they arrested 58-year-old Tracey Ramirez for failing to comply with state-mandated registration requirements.
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A student at the Charlotte Harbor Center was arrested Monday evening after a written threat to commit violence at the school was found on his desk.It was the second such arrest in under a week in Charlotte County.
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Stephen Jones, a former attorney from Orlando, was sentenced to 42 months in prison, followed by 10 years of probation, for Scheme to Defraud over $50,000, a first-degree felony, for misappropriating funds that were due to a former client. One of the issues involved a Lee County case where court documents said Jones stole $100,000 in insurance proceeds from the insurance settlement of a Vietnam veteran, who was hit by a bicycle in Lehigh Acres in 2019.
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A Naples man pleaded guilty before Magistrate Judge Kyle C. Dudek for the Middle District of Florida to conspiring to defraud the United States by operating an off-the-books payroll scheme. The plea must be accepted by a U.S. district court judge.
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The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will break ground Thursday on a new Fort Myers Regional Operations Center to be built on a site in South Lee County.A noon media briefing will announce construction of the new FMROC nearly three years after Hurricane Ian caused structural damage to the current FMROC building at Page Field.
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Around the country, Law Enforcement are scrambling to tackle a new target for scammers, Crypto ATM’s. in 2024, over $9 billion was lost in these types of fraud cases.
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The FBI reports a staggering increase in reports of crimes linked to cryptocurrency fraud across the country resulting in $9.3 billion in losses in 2024.The federal report also shows the number of crimes linked to Crypto ATMs has skyrocketed — up 99 percent in 2024 compared with the previous year.Florida — across the state and right here in Southwest Florida — is not immune.
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A 16-year-old from Cape Coral was arrested Tuesday after his father reported suspicious items found in his son’s bedroom after he had been reported as a runaway.The Cape Coral Police Department has arrested John David Ruiz in connection with a burglary involving stolen security equipment. The arrest occurred days after Ruiz was reported missing and while detectives were eating lunch at Publix and spotted Ruiz, whom they noticed had put his Crocs shoes into “sport mode” in futile preparation to flee.
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A Cape Coral man is one of nearly 20 Floridians charged in a nationwide health care fraud case.Eric Strom Holland, 55, was charged with wire fraud and distributing and dispensing controlled substances in connection with an alleged scheme to deceive doctors into writing controlled substance prescriptions based on false pretenses.The charges stem from the 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, which resulted in criminal charges against Holland and 323 other defendants, including 96 doctors, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and other licensed medical professionals, in 50 federal districts and 12 State Attorneys General’s Offices across the United States, for their alleged participation in various health care fraud schemes involving over $14.6 billion in intended loss.
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