Page 31 - Florida Sentinel 7-21-17

Crime
Court Orders Bookkeeper To Forfeit $848,136
Jaguars Player Charged With Battery
A federal judge sentenced a former bookkeeper on wire fraud charges Wednesday. The Court also ordered him to forfeit $848,136.04, which is considered pro- ceeds of the offense in which he was convicted.
U. S. Federal District
Judge Mary S. Scriven sentenced Paul Wheeler, 34, of Tampa, to serve four years in prison for wire fraud. In addition to forfeit- ing nearly a million dollars, Wheeler was also ordered to pay restitution to his vic- tims.
According to testimony given during the trial and court documents, Wheeler was a bookkeeper for six companies over the course of a 15-year period. During that time, he diverted more than $840,000 from his various employers to bank accounts under his control. He is also accused of subverting the in-
A member of the Jack- sonville Jaguars was ar- rested Tuesday and charged with two misdemeanors.
According to the St. Pe- tersburg Police Department, Dante’ Fowler, Jr., 22, was driving in the Trellis at the Lakes Apartment Com- plex, when a man reportedly made a comment about Fowler’s driving. F0wler reportedly got out of his car and the two exchanged words.
Fowler is alleged to have hit the man, knocked
taining recently purchased liquor, and threw it into a lake. The unidentified victim was not injured, police said.
Fowler was taken into custody and charged with simple battery and criminal mischief. He was trans- ported to the Pinellas County Jail, where he was released after posting bond, police stated.
Fowler was the third overall selection in the 2015 NFL draft. He had 32 tackles and four sacks for the Jaguars last season.
Man Charged With Fatally Shooting Girlfriend
PAUL WHEELER
ternal controls of the compa- nies so that he received di- rect payments.
Officials said their inves- tigation revealed that Wheeler also registered a number of fictitious names to conceal his schemes. He reportedly used the majority of the money for online gam- bling.
Wheeler was arrested in February 2017.
DANTE’ FOWLER, JR.
off his glasses and stepped on them. He then took the victim’s grocery bag, con-
Two Seriously
Injured In
Hit And Run
Police arrested a 27-year- old man Tuesday evening and charged him with the fatal shooting of his girl- friend. The incident took place at 1100 James Avenue, South.
According to the St. Pe- tersburg Police Department, officers were dispatched to the residence in reference to a shooting early Tuesday. When officers arrived, they discovered that Ms. Melinda Soria, 35, had been fatally wounded.
The investigation led po- lice to Ms. Soria’s boyfriend, Joshua Thomas. Thomas was lo- cated in the 4500 block of
Accident
Man Who Lured Boys
An unidentified driver left two people injured Tues- day afternoon. Both were taken to a local hospital.
The accident took place on Tuesday shortly after 1 p.m., on Interstate 75 at State Road 574.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, an un- known type vehicle was trav- eling southbound on Interstate I-75, just south of State Road 574 in the inside lane. The driver of the vehi- cle abruptly changed lanes and drove into the path of a 2017 Honda Civic driven by Ms. Carina Janessa Diaz, 26, of Lutz, colliding with the left side of the vehicle.
This caused Ms. Diaz’ vehicle to rotate and it col- lided with the left side of a 2012 Toyota Corolla driven by Thurston Edwin Reaves, 28, of Tampa. Upon impact, Reaves’ vehi- cle rotated and left the road- way.
Both Ms. Diaz and Reaves were seriously in- jured in the accident. Both were transported to Tampa General Hospital for treat- ment.
After the accident, the driver of the first vehicle fled the scene. Investigators have been able to determine that it was white in color because of the paint transfer left on Ms. Diaz’ vehicle.
They are asking anyone with information about the accident to contact the Florida Highway Patrol at (813) 631-4020.
JOSHUA THOMPSON
19th Avenue, South and taken into custody without inci- dent.
Thompson was charged with second-degree murder and transported to the Pinel- las County Jail.
To House Charged
With Sexual Battery
According to the St. Pe- tersburg Police Department, D’Andre Banks, of St. Pe- tersburg, was taken into cus- tody Tuesday evening and charged with two counts of kidnapping and one count of sexual battery with a deadly weapon.
Detectives said the first incident took place on June 29th. Banks reportedly posed as a teenage girl on Facebook and lured a 17- year-old boy to a house. Banks was reportedly armed with a handgun and threatened the boy before he sexually battered him.
On July 17th, Banks is al- leged to have once again posed as a teenage girl on Facebook. He allegedly lured the second victim, a 15-year-
D’ANDRE BANKS
old boy, to a vacant house. However, the boy escaped without being harmed.
Detectives said they be- lieve there may be other vic- tims and they are asking anyone with additional in- formation to contact them at (727) 893-7780.
UNCLE SANDY
Choosing to be positive 12, 14, 22, 28 and having a grate- ful attitude 30, 35, 41 50 is going to determine 25, 44, 51, 52 how you're going to live your life. 1, 5, 9, 19.
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