Clearwater Criminal Defense Law Blog

Patrick Jay Banks, the founder of a St. Petersburg halfway house, was arrested last week on charges of defrauding investors and a federal substance abuse treatment program out of as much as $50,000. Police allege Banks cooked up an elaborate scheme to obtain federal funds for Agape House in 2011, despite the fact that he has convictions for robbery and forgery.Banks, who referred to himself "Pastor Banks," purportedly took improper advantage of Access to Recovery, a federal program that pays for transitional housing and treatment for recovering addicts and alcoholics, on two separate...

In a relatively unusual situation, Khadafy Mullens pleaded guilty this week to two charges of first-degree murder. The plea appears to have been made without any sort of plea agreement with the prosecution. A judge will now decide whether Mullens should be sentenced to life in prison without parole or to death.Mullens admitted he killed a St. Petersburg convenience store owner and a customer in 2008. He also admitted that he attempted to kill another customer. The shootings were all captured on high-quality surveillance video.Mullens' co-defendant Spencer Peeples still awaits trial.According...

Christopher Gamel, a social studies teacher at James W. Mitchell High School in New Port Richey, was arrested and charged with multiple counts of DUI property damage and personal injury after the car he was driving collided with a patrol car and tow truck on SR-54 last week.A Florida Highway Patrol trooper was investigating a crash on SR-54 west of Little Road. The tow truck was removing the vehicle involved in the crash and the patrol car was in the center lane while the patrolman assisted in traffic control. A sheriff's office vehicle was also struck. The tow truck and patrol cars had...

Sylvester Johnson, a resident of Palace Mobile Home Park in Lealman, has been charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of his neighbor last week.According to Pinellas County sheriff's detectives, Johnson went to Unit 447, where William David Casey lived, and stabbed him multiple times in the upper body. Casey's body was found later by a friend who stopped by to deliver food to Casey. Detectives allege the victim and the suspect knew each other as neighbors. They also claim they were able to link Johnson to the crime scene via fingerprints. No weapon was found.Robbery may have...

Authorities allege Raynaldo Figueroa-Sanabria stabbed and killed an 75-year-old man and 74-year-old woman on their 72-foot-long houseboat last week in the Loggerhead Marina in St. Petersburg. He has been charged with first-degree murder in Pinellas County.The bodies of John Travlos and Germana Morin were discovered by a massage therapist who arrived for a regularly scheduled appointment and an electrician who was there to do some work on the boat.Police said Figueroa-Sanabria had worked for Travlos and Morin for at least six months doing odd jobs, painting and cleaning up around the boat....

A 22-year-old airman first class, stationed at MacDill Air Force Base, has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of her boyfriend. Last weekend, officers responded to the Coves of Brighton Bay apartment complex after receiving a 911 call from airman Rashida Williams. In the call, she allegedly said that she had just stabbed her boyfriend.Wayne Charles-Marion Drummer was found dead inside the apartment with a stab wound to the chest, according to police reports. Drummer is a civilian.The couple had allegedly been arguing about money prior to the stabbing. Police found a knife...

The body of Joseph M. Coney was discovered earlier this week facedown in a Lake Wales yard at about 4 a.m. Homicide detectives from the Polk County sheriff's office and Lake Wales police opened a homicide investigation after determining that Coney had been shot.During the investigation, sheriff's detectives interviewed Ben Furman, who reportedly lives at the address where the body was found. Furman admitted to shooting Coney, but claimed it was in self defense, according to detectives.After being advised of his constitutional rights, Furman apparently told detectives that he and Coney were...

According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, Charles Anthony Foster of Seffner was charged with the murder of two Seffner roommates last week in a mobile home park near Interstate 4. Foster has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of robbery with a weapon.Foster was reportedly a friend and frequently visited the victims, Joshua Deas and Kenneth Simmons.Deas' mother discovered the bodies in the mobile home where they lived. Both victims allegedly had injuries to their upper bodies. The sheriff's office indicated that these wounds apparently came from an...

Karen Biraghi shot and killed her husband Alan Biraghi as he lay asleep on the couch in their home on Christmas Eve 2011. Hernando Circuit Judge Daniel B. Merritt Jr. recently sentenced Biraghi to life in prison for the murder. Originally charged with first-degree murder, Biraghi pleaded guilty earlier this year to a reduced charge of murder in the second degree. The reduction in charge was likely the result of plea negotiations between Biraghi's defense attorneys and prosecutors. Sentencing guidelines called for a minimum prison term of 25 years and a maximum of life. If she had been...

After three weeks of trial, testimony continues in a Tampa federal courtroom in the Medicaid fraud trial of four former WellCare executives. Former executives at the Tampa-based health care plan company, Todd Farha, Paul Behrens, William Kale and Peter Clay are all accused of defrauding the Medicaid program of more than $30 million. Their defense attorneys argue that the men did not break the law, blaming Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration for misreading state law, failing to specify what it wanted on WellCare's expense reports and concealing information on how it calculated...