This week in crime:
- An FAU football player arrested for domestic violence and threats of more violence
- Another parking lot incident at the same West Boca pub
- Residents of Loggers’ Run, Boca Winds, Boca Chase, Boca Rio, Watergate Estates, Boca Del Mar and East Boca
- East Boca man attacks BMW with an ice pick
- Beards are in
- Heroin, Drunk Driving, Theft, Violence, Plague, Pestilence
Leading off this week is FAU Football’s freshman defensive end Travon Thomas.
In October Thomas was arrested and charged with domestic battery after allegedly head-butting his girlfriend, causing a nose bleed. In mid-November he was arrested again for making multiple threats against the same woman, now his ex-girlfriend.
The threats, mostly via telephone and Instagram messages, included:
- I’m going to beat your ass
- I’m going to kill your ass
- I kill him and U
- I got my big knive if mf want to play
- gonna get u before u leave
Thomas was named a Student-Athlete of the week in September, not long before his first arrest.
At this writing FAU has not responded to our request for a comment. We reached out to them twice.
Update: FAU did respond on Friday, December 13th:
The student was immediately and indefinitely suspended from all team activities as soon as we became aware of the situation in October.
Vanessa Moreno (29) was arrested for heroin and contempt. She is a resident of the Indian Head subdivision of Loggers’ Run.
Police were called to the Daniel Sagiv Law Group by Mr. Sagiv. He accused Moreno, a paralegal, of stealing various items from the office. She returned the items and Sagiv declined to press charges.
During the encounter police found an active warrant for Moreno for mental health contempt and arrested her on that warrant. During the arrest an officer found 3 capsules inside Moreno’s bag which Moreno admitted was heroin.
We see no prior criminal history for Moreno and we do not see the mental health case either.
44-year-old Arend Ferwarda was arrested for DUI. A resident of the Ashley Park subdivision of Boca Winds, Ferwerda had a prior DUI case in 2009.
This is yet another arrest in the Sandalfoot parking lot of O’Connor’s Pub. Ferwerda’s vehicle was stopped after backing out of a parking spot with no “tag light” (light over the license plate).
He was charged with both DUI and refusing a breath test. It seems like Ferwerda was arguing he was tired from overwork, rather than intoxicated.
From his LinkedIn profile he appears to work in HVAC.
From the Greenbriar 55+ subdivision of Boca Chase, 34-year-old Diego Osuna was arrested in Lantana for DUI. The arrest report starts off with what looks like a dubious traffic stop (11 mph over the limit and some trivial violations). Osuna registered roughly 0.13 on a breath test.
Osuna has a prior drug felony case from 2018.
Keegan Gallagher (30, Watergate Estates) was arrested for domestic battery. His mother called PBSO after witnessing him push his girlfriend to the floor. The girlfriend admitted to the deputy that it got “physical” but she would not be more specific and said Gallagher was drunk.
Gallagher has prior charges for criminal mischief and domestic violence.
East Boca’s Donnie Brawley (48) was arrested for dating violence along with assault and battery charges on law enforcement officers.
A neighbor in their building called Boca PD after hearing yelling and screaming from Brawley’s unit, including seeing him choking a woman on the balcony.
When police entered the unit Brawley – behind a closed interior door – threatened to shoot them. He then came out pointing his hands at the police as if they were guns. Since he did not have guns the Officer Payne tried to deescalate the situation. Brawley than attempted to close the front door of the unit on the police officers and a struggle ensued.
Brawley grabbed a female officer’s arm causing a minor injury. The two officers were able to keep Brawley on the ground until two more officers arrived and Brawley was handcuffed.
The victim said that Brawley put his hand on her throat but did not cut off her breathing. He also head-butted her leaving a visible mark. The two have been dating several months and she just moved into the apartment with him.
We don’t see any priors for Brawley.
East Boca’s Kevin Silvers (62) was arrested after a traffic incident at Palmetto and NW 2nd Ave. Silvers’ Astrovan collided with a BMW. The BMW then followed Silvers until he stopped.
Silvers stopped, exited his vehicle and approached the BMW while brandishing an ice pick. He hit the driver’s window with the ice pick and then hit the BMW again as it was driving away.
Silvers was charged with Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, criminal mischief (for damaging the BMW), and leaving the scene of an accident.
We see no prior criminal history.
Nicole “Nikki” Berg (26, Boca Rio) was arrested on a Broward warrant for some relatively minor criminal traffic charges. We don’t see any priors for her. She might be from the Bronx.
36-year-old Brandon Brawner, listed with no home address and born in Kentucky, was charged with grand theft of a vehicle. He allegedly stole a Nissan pickup from in front of a home in East Boca near Camino Real. The truck had been left unlocked with keys in the ignition.
We see a prior domestic violence charge that was dropped.
27-year-old Daniel Pinedo Velapatino of Boca Landings was arrested for battery. He allegedly hit his girlfriend outside Houston’s restaurant where she had gone for a job interview. He punched her four times on the arm and shoulder after she called him an addict. Later in the dispute he elbowed her in the mouth.
Maybe it’s just us, but if you think your boyfriend is a narcotics addict, has an FDLE record from 2014, and hits you, maybe he’s not the one.
Forrest Read (28 – Avalia in Boca Del Mar) was arrested for larceny after a Home Depot employee saw him hiding high value light bulbs ($790 in value) inside boxes of other merchandise which he then took up to the checkout.
We see no priors for Read, who was born in Daytona Beach.
34-year-old Michael Silver of East Boca was arrested for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after allegedly stabbing his roommate, a 58 year old man. This took place on Federal Highway in East Boca. The victim described the knife as a “Rambo knife.”
Silver had a DUI in 2011.
31-year-old Katelynn Trieper lives in the Amberwoods subdivision of Boca Del Mar. She was arrested for DUI by Boca PD after an accident on Federal Highway. Trieper allegedly made an illegal left turn from Federal Highway to go west on Palmetto and collided with a pickup in the intersection.
Trieper refused all tests and was charged with DUI as well as with refusing a breath test for the second time. We see a prior DUI on her record as well as an arrest for driving while suspended and multiple traffic offenses.
