Top 100 Volusia County Stories

DELAND -- A Volusia County Sheriff's investigator resigned after being arrested March 8, on a charge of DUI after smashing into a speed-limit sign in Lake County while speeding before crashing into a utility pole, which snapped in half, then crossing the road and striking a fence before finally being stopped by a tree.

Lake County authorities reported Sheriff's Investigator James Mathis, 31, was found with two open bottles of whiskey in his vehicle. Mathis had been reprimanded by his own department in January after arriving late for work and smelling of alcohol.

PONCE INLET -- A Ponce Inlet police officer was suspended for two weeks without pay after an internal affairs investigation concluded he showed favoritism by not charging an off-duty Volusia County Sheriff's sergeant with driving under the influence in early November when he reported he had probable cause to make an arrest.

DAYTONA BEACH -- The jokes about cops and donuts has not included coffee or tea, until a Daytona Beach cop got fired in July after allegations he was trying to use his influence as a police officer to get the piping-hot liquids from the Starbucks at the Ocean Walk Shoppes on Atlantic Avenue.

Lt. Major Garvin, a 15-year veteran was fired after an internal affairs report found he was intimidating Starbucks employees into giving him freebies often during his shifts on the beachside.

Photo by Roland Via. Holly Hill Public Safety Director resigned his post in December to become chief of police in Port St. Lucie.

HOLLY HILL -- Don Shinnamon, public safety director for Holly Hill, resigned in December after he was offered and accepted the position of chief of police in Port St. Lucie.

Shinnamon had been with Holly Hill since 2001, and was formerly top cop in Gainesville.

ORMOND BEACH -- Pedro Lemos resigned his position as an Ormond Beach cop in December amid an internal affairs investigation into allegations he interfered with Holly Hill police giving his girlfriend a ticket.

PONCE INLET -- An appeals prosecutor shot a home invader in the stomach the night of Aug. 26 after he was warned several times to leave the home, according to a police report.
Kenneth Nunnelley the lead prosecutor for appeals to the Florida Supreme Court in the 7th judicial circuit, pointed a 9 mm handgun at Roman Nowak who had pushed his way into the home while he was there with his wife and children about 10:30p.m. that night.

DELTONA -- A 27-year-old woman was arrested during the early morning hours on a misdemeanor battery charge of biting her husband's penis, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office reported.
Delou Bowers told responding deputies that after he and his wife, Charris returned home from a bar they began to have oral sex during which she bit down on the tip of his penis, forcing him to punch her in the face to unclench her jaw. He said his wife then let go and tried to hit him before he pushed her down and called for help, according to the Sheriff's report.

DAYTONA -- This was a Christmas Volusia County Jail inmate Lempira Noman won't soon forget after he was jumped by two other inmates and a likeness of a human penis was tattooed on his right shoulder, according to officials there.

Norman was attacked by the others after he refused to join a club they were forming and after they tackled him and threw a blanket over his head and threatened to beat him unless he agreed to a tattoo with a capital and lower case b. Instead, a penis was drawn without his knowledge.

DAYTONA BEACH -- With the sour economy, there were far less bikers this time around during the annual four-day October biker rally throughout Volusia County. If there was a real positive that came out of this special event that is supposed to boost the local economy, it's that there were no road fatalities. The same held true on both fronts for last spring's 10-day Bike Week with fatalities down to five.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Total passenger traffic at Daytona Beach International Airport decreased 34 percent in November compared to the same month a year earlier.

During November, 29,300 passengers arrived and departed through DBIA, compared with 44,622 in November 2007. For the 12-month period ending Nov. 30, 608,912 passengers traveled through the county-operated airport, compared with 704,786 recorded during the prior 12-month period and representing a 14-percent decrease.