Dispatchers received reports of a white sport utility vehicle southbound at the 70 mile marker at 11:15 a.m.; the vehicle reportedly had a hose in the exhaust pipe leading to the cab of the vehicle. They notified deputies to be on the lookout for it.

Deputy Leon Bourcier spotted it on the shoulder of the road at the south end of the Channel Five bridge. As he stopped behind the vehicle, he saw the back hatch open; he saw a man later identified as 50 year old Stephen Gius of Lake Worth, Florida; Gius grabbed the hose leading to the exhaust pipe and pulled it back into the vehicle. Before Deputy Bourcier could intervene, the vehicle then pulled out from the shoulder and began traveling northbound.

Deputy Bourcier called for backup and began following the vehicle as it traveled northbound over the Channel 5 Bridge with several vehicles between them. As the deputy reached the top of the bridge, he saw the SUV had pulled to the side of the road and traffic had come to a stop. A witness ran up to the deputy and told him a man had gotten out of the SUV and had jumped off the bridge.

Deputy Michael Cofield was in the vicinity in his patrol boat. He’d heard the radio traffic about the incident and headed for the area where Gius had jumped off the bridge. He found him floating in the water; he was unresponsive, floating face down.

Deputy Cofield pulled beside Gius and started to pull him into the patrol boat. Suddenly Gius started to fight with him. He broke away from the deputy and began to dive under the surface of the water.

Deputy Cofield waved a nearby fishing vessel over to assist him. He was able to grab Gius by the belt. Two women on board the fishing vessel were able to help and they pulled Gius on board the patrol boat.

Gius was taken to shore where he was turned over to paramedics. He was transported to Fishermen’s Hospital where he was later pronounced deceased.

A handwritten note was found in his vehicle; on one side it said “I lost my wife, my business and my dog”; on the other side it said “sorry mother.”

What exactly is the law?

When an authorized emergency vehicle making use of any visual signals is parked or a wrecker displaying amber rotating or flashing lights is performing a recovery, the driver of every other vehicle, as soon as it is safe:

Shall vacate the lane closest to the emergency vehicle or wrecker on an Interstate or other highway with two or more lanes traveling in the direction of the Emergency Vehicle or wrecker. If such movement may not be safely accomplished the driver shall:

Slow to a speed that is 20 mph less than the posted speed limit when the posted limit is greater than 25 mph: or travel at 5 mph when the posted limit is 20 mph or less, when driving on a two lane road.

* Violation of the “Move Over Law” is a moving infraction that would result in a fine and three points on your driving record.

The resident at a home on Bahia Avenue heard glass breaking and saw someone peering into his home with a flashlight at 4:15 a.m. He called the Sheriff’s Office to report a burglary in progress.

When Deputies Vaughn O’Keefe and Brian Cross arrived, they began checking the area. They heard a  noise at a home next door to the victim’s. When they went next door to see what made the noise, they saw a man on the property. They confronted him and he fled.

More officers arrived on the scene and began searching for him. Investigations revealed a broken window on the first house and a torn screen and open door on a storage area at the second house.

As the investigations continued, deputies spotted a man walking on a dock; he was soaking wet and claimed to have been lobstering. He was fully clothed; his wallet and a cell phone were in his pocket, soaking wet, along with two prescription bottles, also wet; he had no lobstering tools with him, but was carrying a flashlight. A shoe in the water near his location matched another shoe found near one of the crime scenes. Deputy Cross, who’d gotten a look at the suspect before he fled identified him as the same man.

33 year old Kenneth Sutton was arrested. He was charged with two counts each of burglary, criminal mischief and possession of burglary tools. He was also charged with two counts   possessing controlled substances without a prescription. As he was being arrested and transported, he reportedly became loud and threatening to Deputy O’Keefe. He was warned that he could be charged with assaulting an officer for his threatening remarks. In reply to the warning, he said his remarks “weren’t a threat; they were a promise.”

He was further charged with resisting arrest and he was booked into jail.

Detectives received information about a possible marijuana growing operation at 1301 Grouper Drive. When they arrived at the home, they made contact with the residents. They also spoke with residents of a small efficiency next to the home on the same property.

In the house they found a total of 39 marijuana plants and five pounds of processed marijuana. In the efficiency they found just over a pound of processed marijuana.

Three people were arrested in connection with the operation:

• 45 year old Marcela Delgado was charged with cultivation of Marijuana, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia.
• 29 year old Jose Angel Martinez was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Martinez is currently out on bond for cultivation of marijuana in Miami Dade County.
• 52 year old Jose Luis Diaz was charged with resisting without violence and an arrest warrant out of Polk County for Failure to appear reference Burglary, Grand Theft and Criminal Mischief.

The warrant was served at Lot #4, in Water’s Edge Trailer Park on Laurel Avenue, Stock Island. Inside the home they found  56 year old Ramon Machado, who lives there with his wife. A search of the trailer turned up 13 crack cocaine rocks inside a closet in the bathroom, along with 5.6 grams of marijuana and rolling papers hidden in some clothing.

Machado was arrested. He was charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute within 1000 feet of a church (Baptist Church on 2nd Avenue); he was also charged with possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia. He was booked into jail.

The first report of a possibly suspicious incident came from Marathon High School on April 24th; two men who identified themselves as Italian teachers who asked to tour the school after hours. They were granted a short tour and escorted off the property; afterward, because the visit made the school employees uncomfortable, they reported it to the Sheriff’s Office.

The school’s Principal, Hammond Gracy, also communicated with other school principals about what happened; shortly after that communication, other schools began to report similar incidents which had taken place in the past couple of weeks.

Key West Police responded to Glynn Archer Elementary School and Horace O’Bryant Middle School to take reports of visitors with possible foreign accents wanting to tour those schools early last week. Key Largo School recalled several people with foreign accents showing up on that campus two weeks ago asking for a tour; Islamorada’s Montessori School also remembered two women wanting a tour of the campus.

None of the reports indicated any threatening behavior by the people wanting the tours; but law enforcement and school administrators decided to investigate further just in case. Given the nature of the reported incidents, and the concern for the safety of Monroe County schools, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s local office was informed and became involved in following up the reports.

FBI investigators were able to determine none of the incidents were threatening in nature. They were able to identify and interview the visitors to the two schools in Key West and determined they posed no threat and were there for a legitimate purpose. They visited the Middle and Upper Keys schools as well, interviewed those school employees who were in contact with the visitors and determined those incidents do not appear to be threatening in nature and, indeed, appear to be isolated cases of people simply wanting to tour a schools.

The large trash fire sent a column of black smoke into the air at 4:50 p.m. as it burned a semi-truck and other items left on the island.

Deputy Nick Whiteman and firefighters responded to the island on board a Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission vessel to assess the fire, which had almost burned itself out by that time.

There were no injuries involved in the incident.

The burglary to Paradise Petroleum on Big Pine Key took place on March 23. 17 year old Nicholas Burttram was caught on surveillance tape throwing a large coral rock through the front glass door of the business.

Once inside, he stole a cardboard box with several hundred packets of Spice, a commercial product commonly smoked as a synthetic marijuana. Spice is no longer legal for sale in the state of Florida.

Detective David Cruz was assigned to investigate the case. Fingerprints were lifted at the scene, from the countertop of the business. Fingerprint comparisons confirmed they were Burttram’s. Once he was confronted with the evidence of his involvement, Burttram admitted to the break in.

55 year old Angel Parrado was picked up at his residence at 240 Sombrero Road in Marathon this afternoon. He was booked into jail on a $3 million bond.

Parrado is accused of sexually molesting a young girl from the age of 9 until the age of 15,when she reported it to the Sheriff’s Office. The girl approached School Resource Sgt. Glenn Test at Marathon High School and reported the abuse to him in March. Sgt. Test then called the Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit, who sent specially trained investigators to interview the victim. She told the investigators she estimates the abuse has happened “hundreds of times” over the years in question.

She said she told her mother about the abuse, but her mother told her Parrado would be returning to Cuba soon and she should just “stay away from him”.

Parrado was booked  for 6 counts of sexual abuse of a child under 12 and six counts sexual abuse of a minor between 12 and 18 years of age.

In February and March, 45 year old Israel Acanda agreed to build the three awnings for the victims. He claimed to own a business called “Perfection Awnings”. He took checks totaling $6,890.00 from the three victims up front, as a down payment for the work. As of now, no work has been done on any of the jobs. The victims called the Sheriff’s Office to report Acanda after they repeatedly tried to contact him without success.

Detective Francisco Gaete was assigned to investigate. He checked with the Monroe County Department of Licensing and found Acanda does not have a license to operate a business in Monroe County. He called the phone number Acanda gave to the victims. The phone number belongs to a roofing business in Miami; the owner says he has owned the company for two years and does not know Acanda.

Detective Gaete obtained a warrant for Acanda’s arrest; he is currently wanted for one count of scheme to defraud; three counts of operating a contracting business without a license and three counts of grand theft. Anyone who has information as to Acanda’s whereabouts should contact the Sheriff’s Office at 853-3211.

“This is a good time to once again remind people how important it is to thoroughly check out businesses before hiring them to do work for you, and before paying them any money up front,” said Sheriff Bob Peryam. “Make sure they have a license to operate in our county; make sure the contact information you have for them is legitimate and talk to others who have done business with them in the past. You may just save yourself from becoming a victim of fraud,” he said.