Earlier this evening, Robert Benton “Ben” Ellis, a local pawn broker, was taken into custody, charged with three-counts of dealing in stolen property, then booked into the St Johns County Detention Facility where he is being held in lieu of $150,000 bond.

Detectives with the Financial Crimes unit of the St Johns County Sheriff’s Office told Historic City News reporters that they have concluded the first step in a lengthy investigation that began in April of 2014, when they announced the arrest of 38-year-old Robert Scott Allen on Thursday.

Florida Governor Rick Scott has received the report of Jeffrey Ashton, State Attorney for the 9th Judicial Circuit, regarding the investigation into the death of Michelle O’Connell, and Historic City News has received a copy.

Historic City News has learned that 66-year-old Lloyd Keith Mitchell of Elkton was sentenced today by Judge Michael Traynor on charges that he attempted to obtain a Florida driver’s license while pretending to be a decorated Navy veteran and perjury. Mitchell pled no contest.

The breakdown of St Johns County Sheriff David Shoar’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget was obtained by Historic City News this morning, and, if approved by the Board of County Commissioners, it will be the largest budget request ever submitted by the county’s law enforcement agency.