A server at a popular Naples restaurant has been charged with fraud. Pablo Pazimo was allegedly using a device called a skimmer to steal credit card information from customers at Brio Tuscan Grill.

Economic crimes investigator with the Collier Sheriff’s office, David White, says skimming is one of the most frequent forms of credit card fraud.

“they take the information that they skim off the back which is your credit account number, your name a couple symbols and then they just re-encode it on another card – they just create a counterfeit with your numbers”

White says the best way for consumers to protect themselves is to check their debit and credit card statements often. He does not recommend carrying large amounts of cash.

The city of North Port’s police chief says he’s awaiting autopsy results before revealing how six year old Coralrose Fullwood died. The child’s body was discovered Sunday around noon – about six hours after her parents reported her missing.

Police Chief Terry Lewis says about 30 officers are working around the clock to find out who killed Coralrose Fullwood. He says they’ve received about 20 leads –but no arrest in imminent. Until an arrest is made, he urges caution.

“So, we’re telling parents please be diligent in what you do. Use an abundance of caution, which you should be doing every day.

Coralrose Fullwood was a student at Toledo Blade Elementary School. Counselors were on hand to help students and teachers deal with her death. About 100 of the school’s 14 hundred students stayed home on Monday. The school was operating under partial lockdown – mostly officials said - to assure students they were safe. WGCU's Valerie Alker has more.

Members of the Lee County Juvenile Justice Council gathered Monday to thank lawmakers for securing money this past legislative session…and to encourage them to try to do it again next year.
Four of the five budget requests submitted by the Lee County Juvenile Justice Council received state funding this year. Programs designed to keep juvenile offenders out of prison, like ‘Mental Health & Family Counseling Services’, and ‘Domestic Violence Diversion’ will share nearly 700-thousand-dollars. Governor Jeb Bush vetoed one project: an Outpatient Substance Abuse Diversion program.

Cape Coral Republican State Representative Jeff Kottkamp says between the state’s budget surplus, and the right people on the right committee…the stars aligned this legislative session.

“Sometimes it takes a while for our members to build up the seniority to get in those positions and this year was the year that it all came together. We had Senator Aronberg sat on the conference committee with me…I co-chaired the conference committee…so we were there until the bitter end to make sure that these funding priorities stayed in the budget.”

Kottkamp says it’s rewarding to know the work they do in Tallahassee makes a difference back home. The 700-thousand-dollars Lee County is getting this year for these programs will once again need to be renewed next year.


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The Lee County Juvenile Justice Council recognized local lawmakers Monday for their efforts during this past legislative session. Republican State Representatives Jeff Kottkamp and Trudi Williams – and Democratic State Senator Dave Aronberg – cobbled together nearly 700-thousand-dollars for services intended to keep area youth out of prison. The Juvenile Justice Council received money for 4 programs this year…and it would’ve 5 if Governor Jeb Bush hadn’t vetoed a Substance Abuse Diversion program. Circuit Judge Sherra Winesett was until recently the county’s only juvenile judge for delinquency. She says Southwest Florida needed more money…and got it.

“We gathered data and presented that to our legislators and our proposals for these programs and they agreed with us that we were underfunded – and they worked very hard to bring us the funding.”

The juvenile offenders programs funded this year include Mental Health & Family Counseling – Domestic Violence Diversion – and Trauma Counseling.
Winesett says these programs all work to get families AND community service providers directly involved in the lives of juvenile offenders. She says while this funding outlook is great, it’s already time to start looking ahead to next year.

The Fort Myers Police Department has arrested a former local preacher alleging he molested children who were in his care.
Police charged 53-year-old Russell Brown with three counts of Lewd and Lascivious Battery. He was a preacher for the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in east Fort Myers. Investigators say he resigned in May after sexual abuse allegations prompted by several church members.
Fort Myers police spokeswoman Shelly Flynn says detectives are investigating six instances of sexual molestation that occurred between 1999 and 2005.

“We’ve learned that there are approximately six children, ages 10 to 11 years old when the crimes occurred. And recently one of the victims who is an adult now came forward and alerted us.”

The crimes allegedly occurred at Browns’ home where he watched the children after school. Southwest Florida Crimestoppers called Brown one of its top fugitives in Lee County. Officials thought he might have fled Florida but his attorney coordinated his surrender Monday night. Flynn says he faces three life sentences if convicted.

After 20 years hosting the program America’s Most Wanted, John Walsh is a household name. But in 1981, Walsh was working as a hotel executive in Florida when his six year old son Adam was abducted. On the 25th anniversary of Adam’s kidnapping, President Bush signed a new law giving authorities more power to track sex offenders nationwide. White House Correspondent Corbett Daly has details.

Law enforcement agencies from around Southwest Florida started a new effort Thursday to solve ‘cold cases’. There are hundreds of unsolved murders and missing person investigations that go back twenty years or longer. Now authorities think they’ve found a new way to find the suspects. W-G-C-U’s Russell Lewis has the story.

A top Florida anti-drug official says Charlotte County’s unified approach to reducing drug abuse is working. WGCU’s Valerie Alker reports.

Experts estimate 15 to 20 thousand people in this country are living under conditions best described at slavery. And they might be living right next door to you. A conference on Human Trafficking at Florida Gulf Coast University continues tomorrow/today. WGCU’s Valerie Alker reports.

Florida Gulf Coast University hosts the National Conference on Human Trafficking this week. Lee County has become a major center for human trafficking and slavery - with five certified victims and 14 cases pending. A women’s club on Sanibel has been working to make people aware of the issue. Wendy Humphrey reports.

A local restaurant owner jumped into a canal, broke a van’s window with a rock and saved a Golden Gate Estates neighbor – whose van had plunged into the canal early yesterday morning.
48-year-old Sandra Ranew thought she was on another road but drove through two reflectors at the end of Shawn Teeters’ road and into the canal in the early morning darkness. She climbed to the back of the van and had about of foot of air left when she called 911 on her cell phone. But she gave the wrong street number to operator Sandra Long.

(hear part of the 911 call)

The crash woke the Teeters. Josi Teeters called 911 with the correct street while Shawn Teeters jumped in to rescue Ranew. He broke the window and pulled her by her hair out of the van, managing to get the panicking woman to the edge of the alligator infested canal. Josi Teeters told the News-Press Ranew is the sixth person who has driven off their street into the canal. The Teeters own Cheeburger Cheeburger in Naples Park and the Key Western Grill in Estero.