Crime

Friday night, someone allegedly sprayed the numbers 2, 5 and an “x” surrounded by a rectangle in black paint on three of the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center’s Ionic columns. Removing the graffiti will be will not be easy because the columns are made of coquina limestone, which consists of thousands of tiny, fossilized shells.

Lina María Muñoz Posada, who allegedly bilked hundreds of thousands of dollars from Southwest Florida communities with her husband, former Florida property manager Orlando Miserandino Ortiz, has been arrested in Rionegro, Colombia.

A 45-year-old Sarasota man was indicted Monday with transmitting in interstate or foreign commerce communications containing threats to injure the person of another.

Christopher Edward Kane, of Naples, was adjudicated guilty Monday of Money Laundering Over $100,000 and Scheme to Defraud.

A Fort Myers man will serve nearly 30 years in prison for a series of convenience store robberies in 2025 across Hillsborough, Sumter, Manatee, and Sarasota counties, all in close proximity to I-75.

The owner of a 42-foot motor yacht stopped near San Carlos Bay by the U.S. Coast Guard is facing thousands in fines and possible prison for an alleged illegal charter voyage.

Leonard W. Krane of Naples is being charged with four counts of wire fraud and two counts of money laundering in a scheme that exceeded $3.7 million in proceeds. If convicted, Krane faces up to 20 years in federal prison on each count. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of over $3.7 million and other assets traceable to the proceeds of the offenses.

Michael Lee King, 54, was put to death by lethal injection Tuesday evening at Florida State Prison in Starke for the 2008 murder of a North Port woman that resulted in changes in state law regarding 911 operators. King was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. by the state Department of Corrections. The announcement came several hours after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his latest application to stay the scheduled execution.

A Sarasota woman faces five years in prison for multiple threats against MAGA supporters posted on social media.

The Florida Legislature is set to pass a measure as soon as this week that would protect the identities of police officers and crime victims, more than two years after the state Supreme Court struck down portions of legislation known as “Marsy’s Law.” Marsy’s Law was initially a constitutional amendment that Florida voters approved in 2018. It intended to protect crime victims from having their identities revealed under Florida’s public records law. However, some police agencies began invoking Marsy’s Law for officers who used lethal force in the field, under the idea that the officers were victims, as well.