Crime

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.

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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.

EDGEWATER, Fla. -- A 34-year-old man armed with a knife was shot in killed 1:30 this morning by two Edgewater cops who opened fire on him in the home he shared with his mother and her boyfriend after an attempt to subdue him with not one, but two tasers failed to stop his forward movement, Edgewater Police Chief Dave Arcieri told HeadlineSurfer.com.

Two eldest kids dead; third clinging to life in hospital

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PORT ORANGE, Fla. -- A domestic quarrel between a married couple on the verge of divorce ended in bloodshed before dawn today in the Spruce Creek Farms subdivision after the wife ran out of the house and the husband taking aim at their three children -- killing two of them in the process -- before shooting himself to death.

Sheriff's spokesman: Ankle monitoring device found in Burger King bathroom

DELTONA, Fla. -- The search has ended for an inmate who failed to return to the Volusia County Branch Jail in Daytona Beach after a court-authorized furlough to attend a funeral over the weekend.

Andrew Rodriguez, 27, was captured at 11:01 p.m. Monday after an anonymous call led Sheriff’s deputies to his whereabouts.

"Late Monday night, a tip received through Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida led deputies to the house on Evergreen Avenue," Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson told Headline Surfer® this morning shortly after his capture.

"Just as deputies were heading into the house to search for Rodriguez, he bolted out of a side door and was quickly captured without offering resistance."

DELAND -- A community activist is leading a grassroots "goodwill job connection" seminar on Friday for those who have had brushes with the law and are having trouble finding employment.

Armed holdup of pizzeria now almost a week old with no arrest

DAYTONA BEACH -- A lone gunman held up Papa John's Pizza at 1506 S. Nova Road on Wednesday night, but Daytona Beach police don't have any leads on who the robber lading to an arrest six days later, with one key exception: He had a noticeable scar on his lower right jaw.

With a silver revolver in his right hand, the gunman walked up to the counter 10:36 p.m. and demanded money from the cash drawer. An employee behind the counter handed over an undetermined amount of money and then the the gunman ran out of the store and took off, possibly in a white Ford Escape. There was no video surveillance on the premises of the robbery.

Deltona teen still at large three days later; considered armed & dangerous

Photo for Headline Surfer® / Dontavious Williams, described as 5 feet 11 and 180 pounds, of Deltona, is wanted by Daytona cops on two active warrants. He's considered armed and dangerous.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Dontavius Williams was spotted by Daytona Beach cops just before 3 a.m. Sunday in the 800 block of S. Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard while on routine patrol, but he didn't stick around, even after being handcuffed at the scene. And three days later he's still missing. And so are the handcuffs.

Cops said they approached Williams, who gave them a fake name, but they hd an idea who he was and that he was wanted. And while searching on an in-car laptop, confirmed his identity and that there was an outstanding warrant charging him with aggravated assault with a firearm.

But Williams was able to disappear into the crowd while police were trying to keep everyone back, police spokesman Jimmy Flynt said. While police were handling the crowd, Williams simply ran off, his hands cuffed from behind.

Headline Surfer® graphic / The locator map at left shows the area south of the 500 block of Osteen-Maytown Road where the body of a man was found floating in shallow water on Saturday. He has since been identified.

OSTEEN -- The body of a man found Saturday afternoon floating in a water-filled borrow pit in Osteen, has been identified as that of 56-year-old Robert Lewis Williams, a Volusia County Sheriff's spokesman said.

"Witnesses said they saw the victim going into the water Friday afternoon," Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson told Headline Surfer®. "Williams has family who live close by where the body was found, but he had no known permanent address. While there were no immediate signs of foul play, the Sheriff’s Office is investigating and will work with the Volusia County Medical Examiner’s Office to determine the cause of death."

Sheriff's spokesman: At first, convenience store clerk thought man was joking

Headline Surfer® graphic / At left is a locate map of the Circle K, 1805 Elkcam Blvd., in Deltona that was robbed by a man, possibly armed with a handgun at 12:23 a.m. Sunday.

DELTONA -- At first, the convenience store clerk thought the man was joking when he approached the counter and demanded cash early this morning, but it was all too real.

The Volusia County Sheriff's Office respond to 9-1-1 call about the robbery at 12:23 a.m. Deputies, who began arriving at the scene at 1805 Elkcam Blvd. two minutes later, were told that the robber had entered the store and demanded that the clerk hand over the money in the cash register.

"At first, the clerk said he thought it was a joke," Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davison told Headline Surfer®.