We previously reported on the arrest of Troy Parry for felony battery. A second young man with ties to Parry was arrested hours later, also for felony battery.
Keegan Dix (19) was arrested late on Wednesday by deputies and booked just after midnight. Court records show the alleged offense took place on Saturday, October 25th, the same day of Parry’s alleged battery. The cases followed the same court, both filed the same day (the 27th) with warrants issued.
Dix’ reported address is in the Bella Vista at Boca Del Mar apartments, on the east side of Powerline across from Olive Garden. Our research indicates he went to Boca High and was an outstanding youth hockey player.
Our research also shows this is his third felony arrest and his 11th case in our courts starting in 2011. In May last year he was arrested for misdemeanor battery. The next day he was arrested for burglary and grand theft. Those charges were eventually dropped by prosecutors.
The next month he was arrested on a felony drug charge, for ecstasy or MDMA after testing positive with an MDMA test kit, and the case was resolved with “adjudication withheld” and probation. Two months after that arrest he was charged with (but not arrested for) underage possession of alcohol, a charge that was also dropped by prosecutors. And in April of this year he was ticketed for littering, a case that’s still open.
He also had a few traffic tickets along the way. The latest was for an open container in June of last year. Court records indicate his license was suspended in July for not responding to the ticket and the case was sent to a collection agency in October.
We remind our readers that all arrestees are innocent at this stage. And with young people it can be challenging to spot signs they might develop a disregard for following the law.
Tag: battery
SWAT Raid in Meadow Lakes?
New Update: Mr. Parry has apparently been released and had these comments in response:
Update: We’ve learned that the SWAT incident did not involve Mr. Parry, but rather was for a misdemeanor domestic assault in Meadow Lakes.
A number of readers contacted us about a SWAT raid in the Meadow Lakes community yesterday. We can’t be certain that it’s related, but Troy Parry (20) was arrested for felony battery and his reported address is very close to Meadow Lakes in the Emerald Bay Club apartments at Boca Entrada. Both communities are on the west side of 441 just north of the county line.
The precise nature of the charge against Mr. Parry and other details are unclear. The sheriff’s blotter indicates:
“BATTERY – FELONY BATT OR DOMESTIC BATT BY STRANGULATION”
The court records shows the charge as felony battery under §784.041(1), which is:
(1) A person commits felony battery if he or she:
(a) Actually and intentionally touches or strikes another person against the will of the other; and
(b) Causes great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement.
The strangulation charge is listed under subsection 2 of the statute, so it probably does not apply here.
Also, the sheriff’s blotter shows the arresting agency as PBSO (Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office). But the court record indicates the arresting agency as Boca Raton PD. It also indicates the alleged battery occurred on October 25th (Saturday). The case was filed on Tuesday and a warrant was issued.
Parry, an Olympic Heights graduate, has a mostly clean record. All we see is a few traffic tickets and an “open container” incident in Deerfield Beach earlier this month.
Why the SWAT team? We don’t have the underlying paperwork to know, but we have some guesses. Maybe it’s because the police were scared of him because he’s in great shape, has a tattoo, and is friends with black people?
In response to comments on Facebook about that last line, we now include this: SARCASM ALERT!
If you don’t get it read Radley Balko’s book.
Or maybe it’s his Twitter post from the day before his arrest:
Battery Turns Into Smuggling
The Sheriff’s blotter shows deputies arrested Ms. Dara Zemo (41) on Sunday on a misdemeanor battery charge, and also for a felony for allegedly smuggling contraband into the jail.
Originally from the Danbury area of Connecticut, Ms. Zemo’s reported address is on Marina Blvd (aka SW 18th) just east of 441 in Sandalfoot Cove. The home was foreclosed in July and she may be renting from the bank.
Ms. Zemo has a substantial criminal history in Florida. In Palm Beach County court records show 15 cases (including traffic and some duplicates) starting in 2009. The worst of her cases here were a fraudulent use of a credit card charge in 2011 and a 2010 DUI case both of which involved some jail time. She’s also had a domestic battery in 2012 that was dropped by prosecutors, and a few cases of driving with a suspended license.
Moving to Broward we see one felony case involving drugs and prostitution from 2013. We also see a drug case in Lake County (near Orlando) from February of this year which the Sheriff’s record shows led to a month in jail.
Ms. Zemo was a licensed real estate agent in Florida until 2010, based in Jupiter. She may have also resided in Kissimmee at some point in the past.
Of course, all arrestees are innocent at this stage of the process.
David Martinez Arrested Again and Again
Some of our readers may remember David Martinez, who was arrested in July for a home invasion, accused of stealing morphine from a cancer patient. He was being held on $50,000 bond, so we thought it was odd when he popped up on yesterday’s blotter.
The home invasion case was quietly dropped by prosecutors on August 5th. We don’t have an explanation for this yet.
In researching this we also discovered that Mr. Martinez was arrested four days later, on August 9th, for battery. He was released on bond for that case, which is still open, and arrested again yesterday accused of petit theft and resisting an officer.
Martinez also had felony arrests in 2008 (robbery – pled guilty) – and 2014 (drugs, dropped by prosecutors). This incident prompted us to do further research and we found a burglary case from 2008 in Volusia County.
Mr. Martinez’ reported address is in the Edgewood apartments north of Sandalfoot Square plaza, on the east side of 441. He appears to be a graduate of Spanish River High.
Robbery Arrest: Jonathan Larkin
At the young age of 29, Jonathan Larkin has managed to accumulate more than his share of cases in the South Florida courts. Most recently Mr. Larkin was arrested Sunday night on a robbery charge, and he remains in custody at this writing.
Larkin’s reported address is in the Holiday City subdivision of Palmetto Pines, north of Judge Winikoff near Keystone Street.
His court history is stunning, with a total of well over 40 cases between Palm Beach and Broward counties including both criminal and traffic. Leaving out the small stuff, this is what we found:
2003 – Felony drug charges
2005 – Misdemeanor drug case
2006 – Felony drug charges
2007 – Battery charge dropped by prosecutors
2008 – Felony drug charges dropped by prosecutors
2008 – Misdemeanor drug charges
2008 – Drug felony (Broward)
2009 – Felony driving with suspended license
2010 – Felony drug charges dropped by prosecutors
2010 – Felony drug charges dropped by prosecutors (again)
2010 – Misdemeanor drug charges
2010 – Battery charge dropped by prosecutors
2010 – Misdemeanor drug charge
2010 – Misdemeanor retail theft dropped by prosecutors
2010 – Misdemeanor theft (Broward)
2010 – Felony theft (Broward)
2010 – Misdemeanor driving without license (Broward)
2011 – Drug felony (Broward)
2011 – Drug misdemeanor (Broward)
2013 – Drug misdemeanor
July 2014 – Drug misdemeanor
And now we see a felony robbery charge. We can’t see all the sentencing details but despite his extensive record it appears that Mr. Larkin faced little or no jail time on any of these cases.
A quick browse of the friends list on Larkin’s Facebook page showed at least 10 people we’ve seen arrested in the past. This reflects a disturbing criminal subculture in Boca Raton. Our so-called criminal justice system is teaching them that they will get away with it.
West Boca News believes the drug war is a failure. Most of Mr. Larkin’s cases are for things that should not be subject to criminal prosecution. But battery, theft, robbery, and driving with a suspended license are real crimes that should be punished. If we stop wasting police, prosecutor, and judge time on things that shouldn’t be illegal, we would have the resources to hold criminals accountable when they commit real crimes.