Category: Public Safety

Shortly after 1:30 a.m. this morning, the Florida Highway Patrol reported a single-vehicle motorcycle crash to Historic City News. The crash occurred at Longleaf Parkway in St Johns around Durbin Parkway. The operator of the 2005 Honda VTX 1800, 20-year-old Dakota J. Schmidt of St Augustine, was traveling eastbound on Longleaf Parkway in the outside…

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Historic City News was informed by media contacts at the St Johns County Emergency Operations Center that Hurricane Michael made landfall in the Florida Panhandle earlier this afternoon as a strong Category 4 major hurricane. The EOC remains at Activation Level 3 (Monitoring).

Historic City News was notified that beach driving is restricted on all St. Johns County beaches and could remain so through Thursday. Due to abnormally high tides and elevated surf related to Hurricane Michael, safe access to beach driving lanes is limited or non-existent. The beaches remain open to pedestrians, but beachgoers are urged to…

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Executive Director Bryan L. Shorstein of the State Attorney for the Seventh Judicial Circuit, reported to Historic City News that Putnam County defendant Jose A Maldonado Sr. pled guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison at the conclusion of his sentencing hearing on Friday.

This morning at about 9:31 a.m., detention deputies at the Flagler County jail discovered the body of an inmate against a cell door, the victim of an apparent suicide. The jail was immediately placed on lockdown while onsite medical staff assisted officers performing CPR until Flagler County Fire Rescue could arrive.

About an hour ago, Facebook reported that it has discovered a security breach affecting nearly 50-million accounts, and that it’s not yet clear whether any information was accessed, or any accounts were otherwise misused. Historic City News is following this latest breach and will update the article as new information is released. The vulnerability that…

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A 49-year-old St Augustine man who pled guilty on March 22, 2018 to violating federal supervised release on drug charges, has been sentenced to eight-years in federal prison for new charges by U.S. District Judge Henry L. Adams. Historic City News was informed that James Ray Crooms was sentenced for selling cocaine base, also known…

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Today, Bryan L. Shorstein, Public Information Officer for State Attorney R. J. Larizza, announced to local Historic City News reporters that at the end of a three-day trial, 40-year-old Christopher William McCook of St. Augustine was found guilty of first-degree murder in the strangulation death of Keneshia Gadson. The evidence showed that McCook used an…

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