A motorcycle-car crash at mile marker 19 of U.S. 1 on Sugarloaf Key Wednesday morning resulted in the death of two of those involved, the Florida Highway Patrol says.

According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the motorcycle had two people on it; the operator and passenger died. Their names and hometowns weren’t immediately available.

The Sheriff’s Office says following the crash, cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed on them while authorities awaited the arrival of the TraumaStar air ambulance. The TraumaStar call was cancelled when the crash was a confirmed fatality.

Radio station US1 News Director Bill Becker and Dutch tourist Hanna Holman were among the first ones on the scene (Becker lives right next to the crash site) who performed the CPR, says Ezra Marcus, assistant news director at the station.

U.S. 1 was closed until 12:42 p.m., when both lanes opened.

There have now been six traffic fatalities in the Keys this year.

A Marathon man was arrested Monday afternoon after he was caught inside a woman’s house.

The victim called the Sheriff’s Office just before 2 p.m. She said she returned home to her residence on 6th Avenue and found 20 year old Travis Leachman inside. She said he broke in to the home through a locked back door.

When Deputy Jeffrey Deluca arrived, Leachman was still on the premises. Leachman said he’d entered the home to get his belongings from inside. He had a screwdriver with him which may have been used to force open the back door.

Leachman was arrested and charged with burglary and possession of burglary tools. He was booked into jail.

Two men were arrested for possessing marijuana after failing to stop at an intersection on Aviation Boulevard last Wednesday night.

Deputy Nicholis Whiteman was on patrol when he saw a dark colored SUV fail to stop at 107th Street and 6th Avenue shortly after 10 p.m. When he pulled the car over, he found 22 year old  Giuseppe Melia of Marathon driving and 20 year old John Kornetti of Marathon riding as his passenger.

When Melia rolled down his window, Deputy Whiteman smelled the odor of marijuana coming from inside. He called back up officers to the scene. When Melia was confronted with the odor, he admitted to having marijuana in his vehicle.

At first, Melia handed over a  mason jar with one bud of marijuana inside; when the officers asked if he had any more, he admitted to having plastic bags of the illegal substance under the back seat. The bags were located, Inside were 472 grams of marijuana. A digital scale was also found in the truck. Kornetti admitted the scale was his.

Melia was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana and possession of marijuana with intent to sell. Kornetti was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.

They were both taken to jail.

A 26 year old Cudjoe Key resident drove his vehicle into the water early Tuesday; he was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol.

A witness told Deputy Andrew Hudson and Sgt. Tom Walker he followed Colby Covington’s truck from Big Pine Key, fearing he was impaired. He said as he approached the Kemp Channel Bridge at 12:30 a.m., the truck he was following disappeared. He slowed to see what happened and he saw a vehicle’s headlights in the water. Minutes later, he saw Covington climb out of the water.

When the officers arrived, Covington refused to give them any information. When told to stand up, he refused. On his way to Deputy Hudson’s patrol car, he stumbled and had to have help getting into the car. He refused field sobriety exercises and, once at the jail, refused to take a breath test for alcohol content. Sitting in a chair at the jail, he wet his pants and refused to cooperate with jail booking officers.

Finally, when confronted with threats of being put in a restraint chair at the jail, he began to cooperate with booking procedures. He was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, driving with a suspended driver’s license and failure to maintain a single lane.

Stock Island Firefighters rescued two dogs from inside a burned trailer Wednesday on Stock Island.

Deputies and firefighters responded to Jerome Trailer park at 6633 Maloney Avenue at 1 p.m. to reports of a trailer on fire. When they arrived, residents of the park told them they thought there were dogs inside the trailer.

Firefighters were able to pull the two dogs out of the smoke filled structure, still alive. They administered first aid to them and, as of this afternoon, it appears the dogs will be fine. The trailer was severely damaged by fire and the Fire Marshalls Office is investigating the cause of the fire.

Sheriff’s deputies and detectives have captured a Monroe County jail inmate who walked away from a trusty job he was working for Monroe County Public Works at the Marathon Government Center.

48 year Donald Cook was in jail on charges of battery and resisting arrest. He was arrested on December 12. He was last seen at 2:45 p.m. at the Government Center.  His inmate uniform was located a short distance away so it was unknown what he might be wearing, although he may have on the pair of blue shorts and a light blue t-shirt he had on under the uniform.

He was captured Tuesday near 26th Street in Marathon. He was returned to jail and charged with escape.

A Big Coppitt resident saw a crime taking place on his street Tuesday afternoon and called the Sheriff’s office. Two men are now in jail for burglary.

The man who reported the crime lives on Dolphin Road. He told Deputy Richard Wang he was walking by an lot at #2 Dolphin Road at 12:45 p.m. when he saw two men carrying large rolls of copper wire from a storage shed on the property. When they saw him, they dropped the wire and fled. The witness said he saw them get into a grey colored Ford Escape and flee southbound. He was able to describe the vehicle in detail, and gave dispatchers the vehicle’s license tag number as well.

Deputy Wang contacted the owner of the storage shed, who told him she did not give anyone permission to be in her shed or to take the copper wire.

The vehicle was located at U.S. One and Cross Street on Stock Island by Detective Dave Chavka. Inside the vehicle were 29 year old Fernando Lopez and 31 year old Tommy Morales, both of Key West. The witness identified both the vehicle and its occupants as the ones he saw at the crime scene.

Both men were charged with burglary and grand theft and they were booked into jail.

A Marathon man has been charged with manslaughter for allegedly being instrumental in the death of a homeless man, whose body was found in a wooded area near 62nd Street January 20.

45 year old Fredrick “Fritz” Berndt admitted to fighting with the victim, 41 year old Kenneth Anderson, the day before Anderson’s body was found. He told Detective Mark Coleman he hit Anderson with his elbow and Anderson fell to the ground. He said the fight took place near Dion’s convenience store. He said after the fight, Anderson fell, got up and then began staggering toward the wooded area. Berndt said he walked with the victim and helped him find a place to lie down. He said, “you found him in the woods, I know, I left him there.”

An autopsy showed Anderson died of blunt trauma to the head.

During the course of their investigation, detectives interviewed numerous people who saw the two together. Several witnesses said they saw Berndt hitting Anderson; one said she saw Berndt dragging Anderson on the ground. Two others said Berndt was talking about the fight and about Anderson’s death after the fact.

When he was charged with manslaughter, Berndt was already in jail, charged with grand theft. He was arrested on January 30 after a friend let him use his shower and then caught him stealing cash from a drawer in his bedroom.

A man wanted on multiple felony drug related charges was arrested last Thursday in Miami.

A tip came in to Lower Keys detectives that fugitive Ernesto Cabrera-Rodriguez was hiding out in a residence in Miami Dade County. The information was passed along to the Special Investigations Unit. The unit sent narcotics detectives to Miami to coordinate the apprehension with Miami-Dade County Police.

Surveillance was conducted on the residence to confirm he was there; detectives followed him when he left the home, taking him into custody at a nearby shopping center near 184th Avenue and the Florida Turnpike. At the time of his arrest, Cabrera-Rodriguez was in possession of 16 grams of powdered cocaine.

Cabrera-Rodriguez faces charges of failure to appear in court for possession of cocaine and distribution of synthetic narcotics; possession of cocaine, possession of a controlled substance and possession of marijuana; trafficking in oxycodone; sale of oxycodone, sale of cocaine and use of a two way communication device to facilitate a felony.

His girlfriend, Thea Phillips, was with him and was also arrested after 8 grams of marijuana were found in her possession. Detectives say more charges are pending against her.

Both suspects are currently in custody in Miami-Dade County and will be returned to Monroe County to face charges.

A man is in custody, charged with attempting to rob the First State Bank on Stock Island last Friday.

43 year old Eli Escalera walked in to the bank at 12:30 p.m. He had a pair of shorts on his head and he handed one of the bank tellers a note which said “give me what are 20s and 50s”. The manager was nearby watching, and the teller asked “what do you want?” At that point, Escalera said “never mind” and walked out of the bank.

The manager of the bank called Detective Donald Catala and relayed descriptive information to him. Detective Catala was close by and responded; he also issued the descriptive information over police radios to deputies in the area. Deputies were looking for a Hispanic male wearing a blue shirt, dark colored cargo pants, with scars on his face.

Deputy Matt Dowling was nearby as well and, as he approached 5th Street and MacDonald Avenue, he looked down 5th Street and saw a man fitting Escalera’s description who was taking a pair of dark colored pants off. When he saw Deputy Dowling he jumped on his bike and fled. He was caught near 3rd Avenue and 5th Street and was taken into custody. The discarded clothing was taken as evidence.

Detective Catala transported a witness to the area and she identified Escalera as the man who had tried to rob the bank. She also identified the clothing he had discarded as the clothing he was wearing at the time of the robbery.

Escalera was charged with robbery. He was booked into jail.