Geoffrey Anderson (above left, 29) was arrested Saturday for larceny/grand theft and also some kind of attempt or conspiracy count. His reported address is just south of Yamato between 441 and Lyons. He has not been released yet, with bond set at a total of $11,000.
Per the Palm Beach Post, Anderson was arrested along with Michael Patruno (center, 31) of the Indian Head subdivision in Loggers’ Run. Patruno faces two additional counts of “resisting an officer with violence,” which may explain the facial injuries shown in the mugshot.
Anderson is a graduate of Pope John Paul II High off Military Trail. Court records show a lengthy history of arrests dating back to 2003. In 2008 that caught up to him and he apparently did about five years in state prison. Since being released from that stint this is his third felony arrest.
Patruno is an Olympic Heights graduate, and is friends with at least a couple other recent arrestees who’ve appeared on our pages. He has a smaller set of cases, mostly drug related, over a longer period dating back to 2001. Patruno also remains in the main detention center pending $3000 bail. Allegedly the two were trying to steal televisions from the Target on 441 in West Boca Square.
Andres Garcia (right, 29) whose reported address is just south of Loggers’ Run Park, was arrested Saturday in Boynton Beach for a larceny charge and for obstructing an officer without violence. The latter charge is often dubious in our experience. Mr. Garcia may have studied in the past at Palm Beach State and FAU. He was released yesterday on bond.
Andrew Tarr (above left, 27) of Boca Dunes was arrested Sunday morning on two counts: larceny/grand theft and grand theft of a motor vehicle. He remains in jail on $6000 bond. Tarr appears to be from Coconut Creek, and he has had several cases in the Broward courts. Several were felonies and a couple of those were just last year.
Byron Drumm (center, 21) of Boca Isles South was arrested late Monday by Boca PD for battery on a person over 65 years old. He appears to be a private security worker as you can see from the photo.
Drumm has had several cases in the county court system over the past 2 years, mostly traffic related. From Yonkers, he has music in his blood and now he’ll have to face the music.
The details of this incident are strangely missing from the Boca PD’s blotter.
Scott Beare (on the far right of the three mugshots, 29) was arrested for DUI late last night or early this morning and released shortly thereafter. His reported address is in Boca Isles (North). Beare has had several cases in Palm Beach County, mostly traffic related. He also had felony drug charges in Orange County back in 2008 and got socked with a stunning $50K fine on that. His appeal on that was denied.
On the tail end of our report we have three minor bits. James South (left, 22) was arrested Monday on a “booked-recommit”. He was previously arrested on marijuana charges on the 5th. He was released again on Tuesday.
Kenneth Mack (center), who was previously arrested in February, was arrested again yesterday for failure to appear. He has not yet been released.
And Ana Anderson (right, 59) of the Lakes at Boca Rio was arrested yesterday for driving on a suspended or revoked license. She was released a few hours later.
Category: Crime
Arrest Week: Gangster Grandma Gordon?
All arrestees are innocent until proven guilty.
Okay, so the headline may be a little over the top. But Century Village’s Pamela Gordon (59) has been accused of a several offenses over the past couple years.
In the latest, on Thursday she was arrested on 11 counts including obtaining controlled substances by fraud, swindling, practicing medicine without a license, and forging prescriptions.
Court records show this is her fourth in a string of felonies dating back to May of 2012, on top of a misdemeanor retail theft arrest in 2009.
Per the Palm Beach Post, she was arrested last year for allegedly bilking an 88-year-old neighbor of thousands of dollars, for which she was sentenced to 60 months (5 years) of probation. A month earlier she had been arrested for forgery and theft, and those charges were dropped by prosecutors.
The 2012 felony arrest for grand theft, apparently at the old Beall’s, was “down filed” to a misdemeanor petit theft and she was sentenced to 6 months of probation. Her 2009 misdemeanor was resolved with a fine and “adjudication withheld.”
Grandma Gangster Gordon’s run may be over for at least a little while. She has not yet been released and there’s a remote possibility that our court system will finally hold her accountable – assuming she’s guilty of course.
In other arrest news, Aaron Gibson (above left, 29) was arrested on Wednesday on a fugitive warrant from another state. North Carolina DPS records have him listed as an “absconder,” and show a history of multiple larcenies. His reported address is in Boca Gardens, southeast of the intersection of 441 and Boca Chase.
Dante Narze (2nd from left, 18) was booked early Wednesday morning accused of disorderly conduct and child neglect. He was released that afternoon. The Sun-Sentinel reported this was a fight with another teen at Sandalfoot Cove Park, a hundred yards or so from Narze’s reported address. Narze is a current or former student at Olympic Heights.
Rossi Laboy (far right, 36, Boca Del Mar) was arrested Wednesday for making false reports to deputy sheriffs. The Sun-Sentinel said she crashed her SUV at the Publix near Palmetto and Powerline, then fled and falsely reported it stolen. Court records show a couple of other minor scrapes with the law over the past few years.
We see three recent arrests for crimes of violence. First, Matthew Brown (left, 33, Boca Del Mar) was arrested Saturday for battery. Court records show two previous cases, one for driving without a license back in 2010, and a disorderly intoxication charge in 2012 that was dropped.
Justin Bowman (center, 17) returns to our pages, arrested Tuesday on battery and domestic strangling charges. He was previously in a West Boca News arrest story in January. Then his reported address was near Lakeridge and Yamato, but he has a new address in East Boca. He remains in the Main Detention Center.
Joseph Balliro (right, 42) also makes a return to West Boca News, arrested Monday for aggravated battery on a pregnant victim. His previous appearance was only a couple weeks ago. Balliro has a lengthy history in South Florida courts. This time they seem to actually be keeping him in jail for a little while as he has not been released yet and bond is set at approximately $60,000.
Last and least, we have four more arrests in the failed war on drugs. David Crance (left, 45) was arrested on cocaine, marijuana and other charges. He previously appeared in West Boca News on a Manic Monday in January for similar charges. His reported address is in the western section of the Sandalfoot trailers.
Shirley Norwood (2nd from left, 66) was arrested Wednesday for obtaining controlled substances by fraud. She is another resident of Century Village, and may be a talented musician and singer.
Stephanie Cioffi (3rd from left, 24) was arrested early Thursday by Boca PD for marijuana and possession of Xanax without a prescription.
Ms. Cioffi appears to be a graduate of Olympic Heights and friends with other recent arrestees who have appeared in West Boca News.
Nicholas Thomas (far right, 27) was arrested on Thursday up in Palm Beach Gardens on charges involving controlled substances without prescriptions. His reported address is near Crance’s in the Sandalfoot trailers.
Arrest Week: Kiddie Porn, Kidnapping, and More
We remind our readers of two key points:
1. West Boca is one of the safest communities in South Florida. Our arrest reports should not change your view of that.
2. All arrestees are innocent until proven guilty.
The most salacious crime story of the week comes with the arrest Boca Chase’s Chris Nill (27). The probable cause affidavit (thanks to our friends at Boca News Now) and blotter entry set forth unusual circumstances.
The blotter indicates the arrest was made by FAU Police. Mr. Nill, however, was arrested at his home in Boca Chase (in West Boca about 8 miles west of the FAU campus). The PC affidavit says the officer was working as a special investigator for the State Attorney on a computer crimes task force. You can read more about the task force in this Sun-Sentinel article from 2012.
The circumstances of the accusation are dubious. Mr. Nill allegedly used the Gnutella peer-to-peer file sharing network. His IP address was being monitored for nearly two years for no apparent reason, from March of 2012 through February 2014. Are they watching all of us too?
A search warrant was issued on March 11th. They allegedly found “child notable type child pornography” in files they downloaded from his IP address, and on his laptop computer when they searched his house.
While many defendants will resolve cases like this with a plea bargain, they can be difficult to prosecute. The government has to prove that Nill knowingly possessed child pornography.
It is unlawful for any person to knowingly possess … a photograph, motion picture, … data, computer depiction … which … he or she knows to include any sexual conduct by a child.
Gnutella is a peer-to-peer file sharing network.
When police attempted to interview Nill, he wisely remained silent. Any defense lawyer will tell you that even innocent people should remain silent. Will police and prosecutors be able to find other evidence to prove that Nill knew those files were on his computer, and that he knew what was in them? Maybe. Or maybe he didn’t know. Another odd detail is that the court record shows his offense date as February 18th rather than when he was searched and arrested in April.
We see no prior criminal history for Nill though he had a run of traffic tickets about 9 years ago.
In the sad world of domestic violence,
Travis Fredrickson (above center, 35) was arrested for kidnapping a child, battery by strangulation, and tampering with a felony proceeding. His reported address is in the Gallery section of Palmetto Pines (south of Palmetto and west of 441), and he works in sales in the agricultural industry. He might be a Dolphins fan, but aside from that poor judgment we see no criminal history.
Jerry Rodriguez, Jr., (above right, 20) was arrested on the 5th on three counts including kidnapping and/or false imprisonment of an adult, and battery. His reported address is an apartment or townhouse very close to the YMCA. Mr. Rodriguez is a student at Palm Beach State, and was previously arrested in March for battery with a vacuum, per the Sun-Sentinel. We see a total of four felony arrests in his criminal history including aggravated assault with a firearm back in 2009 for which he was sent to state prison.
Please note that this is NOT the same as the Jerry Rodriguez who runs the local business PositiveROI.
Next up are a few drug arrests. Please note that West Boca News opposes the “War on Drugs,” a failure much like alcohol prohibition.
Chris Johnston (above left, 27) was arrested on the 5th for cocaine possession. Johnston’s reported address is in Logger’s Run off Ponderosa. He is a graphic designer from Boca Raton.
James South and a friend were booked by Boca PD around the same time on the morning of the 5th. The friends are accused of possessing marijuana, controlled substances without prescriptions, and drug equipment. South was held until the following afternoon. South is a resident of Trends north of SW 18th near Boca Rio. We see no prior criminal history for any of the three of them.
Akino Chantiloupe of Sandalfoot Cove was arrested late on the 4th for aggravated battery of a pregnant victim and robbery. Per the Boca city website this resulted from him stealing a phone from a teenage girl at a bus stop. He has not been released from jail as of yet. This is the third felony arrest we see for Mr. Chantiloupe. He has had a couple stints in the county jail.
Chris Sagmoe was booked early on the 5th and released in the afternoon on the 6th. He’s accused of burglary and robbery. His reported address is off Sandalfoot Boulevard close to the Cumberland Farms, and not far from the Sandalfoot KKK guy.
Per court records these appear to be Mr. Sagmoe’s 11th and 12th felony cases out of 34 total cases in the system for Palm Beach County. He went to state prison in 2010 for a roughly three year sentence.
Almost last and least, we have two larceny cases:
Yvette Rodriguez (above left, 41, Sandalfoot area) and Angela Mignone (right, 53, Century Village) were booked minutes apart late on the 3rd by PBSO for petit theft. Each was released early on the 4th without having to post bond. Neither has any significant criminal history.
And in the “we didn’t know you could get arrested for that” category, Robert Jones was arrested late last night by Boca Raton city police for a non-moving traffic violation, something to do with a license plate or vehicle registration. He has not been released yet and bond is set at $500. Seems odd to us. Jones’ reported address is listed as “at large” (which might mean homeless) in zip code 33428.
The Schneider DUI Homicide Case: Analysis
This article contains both facts and opinions. The opinion content will be set off in block quotes like this one. Warren Redlich is a criminal defense and personal injury lawyer in New York and Florida, and has taken over 50 cases through jury verdict. In the late 1990s he won three awards from Allstate, including being named their top trial lawyer in the northeastern United States.
As we previously reported, Mark Schneider was recently charged with DUI Homicide and Negligent Vehicular Manslaughter.
The accident occurred on Palmetto Park at or near its intersection with Toledo Road, between Powerline and St. Andrews. The location is near the YMCA. It’s a quiet section of Palmetto Park Road. Toledo Road comes in from the north in a “T” intersection. There is no road going south. There are no commercial businesses or driveways in this area and the speed limit is relatively high at 50 mph.
West Boca News has obtained the probable cause affidavit that was filed in support of the charges. Here are some pieces of that paperwork, along with analysis.
Please note that the images are larger than shown on the screen. If you click on them you will see a larger and more readable version – phone users may need to zoom.
On the first page you can see that he’s accused of “DUI Manslaughter” (§316.193(3)(c)(3)) and “Vehicle Homicide.” The first error, and a minor one, is that the officer indicated the “manslaughter” statute, §782.07(1). The correct statute for Vehicular Homicide is §782.071, and that is entered correctly in the court docket. The “§” symbol is an abbreviation for “Section“.
These are the same charges that were filed against Angela Stracar in the fatal accident a few years ago near the entrance to Boca Isles South. Stracar’s conviction was reversed on appeal last fall.
The details start flowing on page 2:
Schneider and another driver (Reed) were heading westbound on Palmetto approaching Toledo. Velasco (the victim) was stopped at the light heading the same direction. One thing worth noting is the vehicles. Schneider’s Hyundai Genesis weighed roughly 3300 pounds while Velasco’s Hyundai Accent weighed roughly 2400 pounds. It’s a harsh reality of physics that occupants of smaller cars are much more vulnerable in collisions. The 2010 Accent did not perform well in crash tests.
The affidavit asserts that “numerous witnesses” said Schneider was going “well in excess” of the speed limit, that he was “changing lanes frequently,” and that he lost control after making a sudden lane change, striking one vehicle and going into a skid.
Witness testimony at trial is rarely this simple and some police officers exaggerate. Years ago I had a case where the arresting officer initially testified that he pulled my client over in part because he was changing lanes frequently. On cross-examination we learned that this meant two lane changes in a 1.5 mile stretch of road.
It is extremely difficult for witnesses to estimate vehicle speeds. Humans do not have radar eyes. However, as we will see below, there is other evidence on the speed that may (or may not) be more reliable.
Page 3 further describes the mechanics of the collision, with Schneider’s vehicle striking Velasco’s, and forcing her onto the median where she then hit a tree.
It then indicates that Velasco’s vehicle hit a tree “with the left rear quarter panel behind the driver’s door, and then “rotated slightly” before coming to rest.
The mechanics of this collision do not seem that extreme. The Genesis and Accent were traveling the same general direction and while the collision may have been somewhat severe, Schneider does not appear to have experienced any major injuries. The Accent’s collision with the tree also appears minor as written here, since the vehicle only rotated slightly. The point of impact on the car was behind the driver’s door, so it should not have caused any part of the car to crush into her.
I do not have the accident reconstruction yet (PBSO says it’s exempt from the Sunshine Law and they’re probably right), but there is a strong chance that Ms. Velasco was not wearing her seatbelt. When I see accident cases like this, badly injured occupants are often unrestrained, leaving them to bounce around the car and hitting hard surfaces. The Accent did have a full complement of airbags but they can’t cover all hard surfaces.
With that said, if the State proves recklessness or DUI, the potential lack of a seatbelt on the victim probably will not help Schneider.
Also noteworthy from page 3 is that the lab results for blood on Schneider’s airbag have not come back yet. The affidavit is dated April 1, 2014, over six months after the accident. There is no explanation in the affidavit for why it has taken this long.
Page 4 has a lot more information:
The investigator describes his observations of Schneider at the scene, including “red watery eyes, an odor of an alcohol type beverage,” and comments about emotions. The officer asked Schneider for a blood sample and Schneider “started to ask questions.” They then took Schneider’s blood without a warrant.
It is likely that this blood evidence will be thrown out. On the facts as stated here in the probable cause affidavit, there was not enough to justify a warrantless blood draw. Schneider had not been arrested and he had not refused to give a blood sample. Starting to ask questions does not constitute a refusal.
The officer’s statements about Schneider at the scene are dubious. He points to red watery eyes to suggest intoxication, but the guy was just in a car crash and there was blood on his airbag. The “odor of an alcohol type beverage” is something I’ve heard many officers say, even in cases where the driver had no alcohol at all. Alcohol is odorless and there many different smells consistent with alcoholic beverages and other sources. Comments about his emotions could be related to alcohol or drugs, or to the fact that he’d just been in an accident, or could reflect a mental health problem (see below).
Blood tests showed a high level of alcohol in the blood with a BAC of nearly 0.18. That is dramatically higher than the legal limit of 0.08, and would typically mean somewhere in the neighborhood of ten drinks. The blood also showed marijuana at 5.7 ng/ml (nanograms per milliliter) and Fluoxetine (Prozac) at 290 ng/ml.
The marijuana level is probably not high enough to cause impairment. See Expert Panel on DUI Cannabis. Similarly the Prozac level is within the therapeutic range (see Mayo Medical Laboratories) and is considered a low risk for impairment. With that said, combining the alcohol, marijuana and Prozac might increase the risk of impairment. It would be difficult to find an expert to testify credibly on this since research on such drug combinations is rare.
What’s striking is the decision to draw blood so quickly without a warrant. BAC levels drop by roughly 0.015 per hour as the liver processes the alcohol out of our blood. If someone has a BAC over 0.08, it would take 5-6 hours for the BAC to drop to zero. Here with Schneider’s blood at 0.18, it would have taken roughly 12 hours. If they had waited, a prosecution expert would have been able to explain that to a jury and that would have supported a DUI Homicide charge.
Please also note that the presence of Prozac in his blood suggests a mental health problem, which could explain Schneider’s allegedly erratic behavior on the scene.
The last substantive paragraph is the biggest problem for Mr. Schneider. Computer data from the car says he was going over 90 mph on a 50 mph road.
We can’t know at this stage if this evidence is reliable. The State will have to get witnesses together, including an expert witness, to make sure the evidence can be used in Court and to explain it to a jury.
This takes us back to the language of the Stracar decision.
The evidence presented at trial showed that appellant’s actions, while certainly negligent, did not rise to the level of recklessness sufficient to sustain the convictions for vehicular homicide. See … State v. Esposito … (reversing conviction for vehicular homicide where evidence at trial merely demonstrated negligence with no evidence of intoxication, speeding, erratic driving, or failure to observe traffic regulations); Berube … (reversing vehicular homicide conviction where driver executed improper left turn across oncoming traffic and there was no evidence that driver was intoxicated, distracted from the road, or speeding). The presence of central nervous system depressants in appellant’s blood stream after the crash, in and of itself, is insufficient to support a finding of reckless driving. … W.E.B. v. State … (reversing conviction for vehicular homicide where, although driver had consumed several beers hours prior to the accident, there was no evidence of impairment).
Unlike Stracar, here there is evidence that Mr. Schneider was speeding and driving erratically. If – and only if – the prosecution is able to prove those points to a jury, he is likely to be convicted of Vehicular Homicide. The DUI Homicide charge is unlikely to survive due to the warrantless blood draw.
As we noted in our previous article on Schneider’s DUI Homicide arrest, this prosecution was delayed for unknown reasons. The incident occurred in late September and charges were not filed until early April. A delay like that suggests the prosecution has some other problem we don’t know about yet. We also wonder if the previous arrest of Mr. Schneider for resisting without violence (which was quickly dismissed) creates a potential double jeopardy problem.
West Boca Man Faces DUI Homicide Charge
It was a mostly quiet weekend in West Boca with few arrests. We remind our readers that West Boca is one of the safest areas in South Florida with little crime. However, there were a couple big ones this weekend.
In September of last year a Broward County woman was killed in a car accident on West Palmetto Park Road near the YMCA. Per the Sun-Sentinel, the accident appeared to be the fault of Mark Schneider (above, 22) and the PBSO said at the time that “the investigation [was] continuing.”
A few days later Schneider was charged with “resisting an officer without violence.” In our experience this is usually a bogus charge and it was dropped by prosecutors two months later. He was represented by a defense attorney based in Coral Springs.
On Monday Mr. Schneider was arrested and charged with one count of DUI Homicide and a second count of Vehicular Manslaughter. There is a substantial delay between the accident and the arrest. We can’t know, but based on experience this looks like a very weak case for the prosecution. The earlier dropped charge may also complicate things and lead to dismissal for speedy trial and/or double jeopardy.
We should also note that the two charges look similar to the Angela Stracar case. That case was an accident in front of Boca Isles South. The prosecution dropped the DUI count at trial and the jury convicted on the reckless count. The conviction was reversed on appeal as there was no proof of recklessness.
West Boca News will see if we can get more information on the earlier “resisting” case and the new one, which is not showing up yet in the court’s online database.
Mr. Schneider’s reported address is in the Encantada community southwest of SW 18th and Powerline in a house that appears to be owned by his parents. He remains in jail at this writing on $50K bond on each count, which seems excessive considering he has substantial ties to the community and no criminal record we can see.
Warren Redlich, founder of West Boca News, is a criminal defense and personal injury lawyer who handles cases in Florida and New York. He has handled many DUI cases and is the author of Fair DUI: Stay Safe and Sane in a World Gone MADD. He can be reached at 888-RED-LAWYER (888-733-5299), or by e-mail at [email protected]. All arrestees are innocent until proven guilty.
The least serious case we see is Katty Alarçon (43), arrested by Delray Beach police late Saturday night for DUI based on blood alcohol content. She was released Sunday morning.
Ms. Alarçon’s case doesn’t show up yet in the court database, which seems odd considering the timing. We see no criminal history for her with a couple of minor traffic tickets.
She appears to have studied in New Jersey, and her reported address is in the Timberwalk townhomes off Ponderosa.
The other big case is Treasure Hlengwa (31), arrested Sunday for domestic battery by strangulation and aggravated battery causing bodily harm.
Mr. Hlengwa had a DUI arrest in 2010 that was resolved with a reckless driving; a felony oxycodone charge in 2011 that was dropped; a drug paraphernalia felony in 2011 that was resolved with probation in 2013 and reopened in February of 2014 for some violation of the terms of his probation.
His reported address is in the Villa San Remo community near Century Village. This is just a few houses from a incident we reported on in January, where a man died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. While we can’t be sure, the name Hlengwa appears to originate from South Africa.