Bradford July 19 misdemeanor dispositions
BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Monitor Editor
STARKE—Warren Matrice Lee, 31, was sentenced to 12 months’ probation, ordered to undergo anger management classes and pay $2,814.20 in restitution to a victim after pleading to battery.
According to an arrest report, on March 12 around 4:10 p.m. Lee and the victim got into an argument at Starke’s Burger King over the victim’s use of a food container. Witnesses, including the defendant, said Lee punched the victim in the face, knocking him out.
“(The victim) advised he and Lee exchanged words for a few moments, then Lee struck him in the face,” wrote arresting officer Frank W. Krol in an arrest report. “(The victim) said he woke up and was on the floor and his face hurt.”
Krol wrote that the defendant told him: “He was talking (expletive deleted), so I laid him out.”
In other misdemeanor dispositions in Bradford County Court on July 19:
Probation for selling alcohol and tobacco to 19-year-old
Karen Ann Art, 60, of Ocala was sentenced to six months’ probation after pleading to serving an intoxicating beverage to a minor and selling a tobacco product to a person under 18.
County Judge D. Tatum Davis also ordered Art to make a $500 contribution to a food pantry and pay court costs of $50.
According to court papers, Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco agents sent an undercover 19-year-old into the Starke Shell on June 17, where the investigative aid purchased a 24 oz. can of Modelo Chelada malt beverage and Newport cigarettes. The clerk did not ask the customer for proof of age before completing the $12.18 transaction.
Weekend jail for disturbing neighbors
David Byon Brauchle, 34, was sentenced to 30 days in weekend jail after pleading to the June 6 offense of disorderly conduct.
According to an arrest report, Starke police responded to a reported disturbance at Pine Forest Apartments on Madison Street.
There they found the defendant sitting in a chair in front of his apartment, yelling loud obscenities.
Arresting officer Moses C. Bellamy wrote in the report that after Brauchle refused his orders to go inside the apartment, the officer arrested the intoxicated defendant.
Probation for McDonald’s drive-through DUI
Tonda Renee Crews, 54, of Starke was arrested by Starke police on June 4 for DUI.
On Wednesday, July 19, Crews pleaded to DUI of 0.15 or higher with a person under 18 in the vehicle. She was sentenced to 12 months’ probation.
According to an arrest report, while in the drive-through at McDonald’s the defendant rear-ended another vehicle while the driver was waiting to get her food from the restaurant. Crews told arresting officer Jason Green that she was unaware she hit the vehicle ahead of her until notified by another party.
Threw car seat, punched door, struck car
Hiram Michael DiCandio, 34, was sentenced to 18 months’ probation after pleading to criminal mischief with property damage and contributing to the dependency of a child.
The defendant was also ordered to undergo a 12 -hour substance abuse and parenting class, and the court said it would consider terminating probation after nine months.
According to a sworn complaint, the victim was at the defendant’s home when the defendant began acting belligerently, throwing a car seat across the home, yelling profanities at the woman and punching his own front door.
After the victim gathered her belongings and got into her car to leave, the defendant punched the vehicle, causing dents and damaging the victim’s ability to close and open the vehicle’s window and door.
Refused to comply with police orders
Terrell Eugene Gilmore was sentenced to time served: 54 days after pleading to resisting an officer without violence.
According to an arrest report, the defendant was a passenger in a vehicle that Starke police clocked at 92 mph in a 25-mph zone.
After the vehicle stopped near Southside Elementary School, Gilmore exited the vehicle and started walking away.
Arresting officer Michael Rooney wrote in a report that the defendant initially refused to get on the ground after Rooney ordered him to do so and only showed his hands to the lawman after Rooney pointed his weapon at the defendant. Rooney also wrote that the defendant initially refused to get into his patrol vehicle and had to be physically removed from the vehicle after arriving at the jail.
Weekend jail for swing-and-a-miss
Earl Johnson III, 29, of Hampton was sentenced to 30 days in weekend jail and three months’ probation after pleading to attempt to commit battery.
According to an arrest report, on Feb. 26, Johnson approached a vehicle at the MJM Convenience store near Hampton Lake and yelled obscenities at a female in the car. He then walked around the vehicle several times and tried to punch the occupant but missed.
The defendant told Deputy Jacob Desue that the victim was the primary aggressor, and he did not swing at her.
Begged for money outside liquor store
Joseph Lee Mitchell, 53, was sentenced to 90 days in jail after pleading to trespassing and disorderly intoxication.
According to a Nov. 11, 2021, sworn complaint an employee of Sam’s Discount Beverage reported to Starke police that the defendant was on the property after receiving a trespass warning. The employee claimed the defendant was standing outside the business’s front door asking customers for money.
Mitchell told police he only walked through the parking lot. However, reporting officer Taylor C. Sanders said the defendant gave conflicting accounts of his activity.
In a separate sworn complaint dated March 31, 2022, a witness at S&M Discount Beverage said he saw the defendant expose himself and urinate outside the establishment.
After reviewing store video, reporting officer David Clancy Jr. wrote that he interviewed the defendant whom he said was incoherent and could not remember his actions. Clancy wrote that he called Bradford Fire Rescue to transport the defendant to a hospital due to extreme intoxication.
Provided police with video evidence
David Lee Nazworth, 38, was sentenced to two days’ time served in jail and 12 months’ probation after pleading to domestic battery.
According to an arrest report, the victim told Bradford deputies the defendant kicked a tumbler cup toward her which struck her in the chest.
Nazworth admitted to kicking the tumbler but said the cup missed the victim. He then offered deputies video evidence of the encounter which verified the victim’s account of the events.
Stole lamps from motel room
Marc Aaron Overton, 43, of Alachua was sentenced to three days in jail and 12 months’ probation for the Oct. 27, 2020, offense of petit theft.
According to a sworn complaint, a worker at the Red Carpet Inn told Starke police that the defendant rented a room at the establishment and afterward, the worker found that two wall lamps had been replaced with two wall hangings.
The motel worker told reporting officer David Bukowski that if he could get the lamps back, he would not pursue charges. However, after police could not reach the defendant, the case was forwarded to the State Attorney’s Office.
