Volusia News Now

Acting Police Chief Donna Lavallee may be all smiles regarding steps towards accreditation in the New Smyrna Beach PD, but all is not hunky dory despite a PR statement from City Hall.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Amid the backdrop of the continuing fallout of the theft of items from the New Smyrna Beach Police Department uncovered two years ago and a revolving door of top cops in the interim, the office of City Manager Pamela Brangaccio put out a press release Friday announcing the police agency was moving towards accreditation.

Headline Surfer® photos /

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Robert Lott was still wearing the same ratty clothes, though he went out of his way to show off his new plastic shoes when the internet newspaper showed up to take photos in August of the "Cheeseburger in Paradise" fundraiser at the Brannon Center. 

Photos for Headline Surfer® /

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - With seven new judges -- six elected and one appointed -- along with several retirements at year's end, the 7th Judicial Circuit, which comprises Volusia, Flagler, Putnam and St. Johns counties, will see judges in new assignments in January like a game of musical chairs except where they land has been determined by the chief judge.

Circuit Judges R. Michael Hutcheson, Shawn L. Briese, Robert K. Rouse Jr., and Terry LaRue are retiring at year's end. Circuit Judge Thomas Portuallo and Volusia County Court Judge Peter McGlashan are leaving as the result of this year's election.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Mike Coffin, the chief deputy of Volusia County, is among six finalists for chief of the scandal-ridden New Smyrna Beach Police Department, still reeling in the wake of the evidence room thefts that have also resulted in four top cops in the past two years.

Mike Coffin, among the two local candidates along with retired South Daytona Police Chief Bill Hall, is considered a frontrunner and certainly the favorite in terms of overall experience and credibility, as far as New Smyrna Beach's newly-elected top leader is concerned.

"Yes, I would have to put Mike Coffin in the category of a favorite -- absolutely," Mayor Jim Hathaway told Headline Surfer® over the weekend.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Back in the 2012 election cycle, Jim Hathaway needed a strong endorsement while locked in a three-way primary battle for the district 3 seat on the County Council. So he called on environmentalist Barbara Herrin, a one-time candidate for the seat herself.

Photos for Headline Surfer® /

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Retired homicide cop Bob Walker has never really gotten along with temperamental Daytona Beach Police Chief Michael Chitwood.

Walker, Teamsters 385 business agent, had actually returned to the DBPD several years back to help out with homicide cold cases, but was it wasn't long before he banned from the cop shop by Chitwood with the exception of his union rep. duties.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Mark I. Johnson wasn't flashy, but he was a workhorse newspaper reporter who got the job done covering the news for two print newspapers over three decades.

He also was pretty handy with a camera, often serving in both roles during a career that began in the late 1980s as a reporter for the New Smyrna Beach Observer and then for the Daytona Beach News-Journal until late last year when he became one of the casualties of continuing layoffs at the former metro.

While Johnson wasn't flashy reporter, a journalist of few words, he knew how to work the flash with his camera, often handling photo assignments for the main newspaper while working out of the the News-Journal's Canal Street bureau where he also filed stories for the regional section, the Daily Journal.

Headline Surfer® graphic /

DELTONA, Fla. -- Volusia County sheriff’s deputies tracked down and arrested eight juveniles in connection with the Wednesday afternoon robbery of a pizza delivery driver in Deltona, an agency spokesman said.

Deputies responded around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday after the driver, Colton Reisner, of a local Papa John's, said he was robbed at a house at 1037 Abagail Drive.

Reisner didn’t report any weapons used in the robbery, or any money stolen. He said some of the teens snuck up and threw a blanket or sheet over his head when he knocked on the front door, then took off with pizza, chicken wings and soda. The house was vacant.