News Roundup: Police and Courts

Eight Locations Generate the Most Crime Reports

Neighbors Describe Victims of Murder-Suicide

Community Assisting Children Removed After Murder-Suicide

3 Die, 4 Children Safe After Murder-Suicide off Edgewood

Grand Jury Indicts Mills in 1981 Homicide of Linda Slaten

Video: News Conference on Arrest in Murder Cold Case

DNA Evidence Leads to Arrest in 1981 Murder

No Charges Expected in South Lakeland Fatal Shooting

High-Level Lakeland Electric Engineer Accused of Credentials Fraud

Crime / Justice

News Roundup: Police and Courts

Eight Locations Generate the Most Crime Reports

Neighbors Describe Victims of Murder-Suicide

Community Assisting Children Removed After Murder-Suicide

3 Die, 4 Children Safe After Murder-Suicide off Edgewood

Grand Jury Indicts Mills in 1981 Homicide of Linda Slaten

Video: News Conference on Arrest in Murder Cold Case

DNA Evidence Leads to Arrest in 1981 Murder

No Charges Expected in South Lakeland Fatal Shooting

High-Level Lakeland Electric Engineer Accused of Credentials Fraud

Janet Siegel Rogers: The Mystery of Color

EMERGE Lakeland – Volunteer at Lakeland Pigfest for Camp Fire!

Lakeland Pigfest

Olympic Development Program

Sunshine State Athletic Conference Basketball State Quarter Final

Jan 10, 2020 at 8:47 am

Thursday was extremely busy on the police and criminal courts beat in Lakeland. In addition to the death of an LPD officer, these stories were reported:

HOMICIDE: Deputies are searching for Celso Omar Sanchez Acosta, 29, in the shooting death of Henry Fernandez-Soto, 24; the two had a dispute involving a horse theft | ABC Action News
CHILD DEATH: Kyle Reese, 26, faces aggravated child abuse charges in the death of a 2-month-old infant in his care | 10 News
DUI FATALITY ARREST: Rodney Wimberly, 53, was charged with DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide in the April 2019 crash on Bartow Road that killed his girlfriend, Shannon Oglesby, 47 | Fox 13 News
HIT-AND-RUN CONVICTION: A jury convicted William Hull, 36, of failing to remain at the scene of a crash with serious bodily injuries in a September 2017 incident that knocked an 11-year-old girl into a ditch near Lake Parker | The Ledger
LPN ARREST: Tammy Konkol-Townsend of Lakeland was arrested on drug charges after a Ring camera caught images of her taking fentanyl and hydrocodone meant for a Good Shepherd Hospice patient, according to a Polk Sheriff’s arrest report. In addition, her licensed practical nurse and radiologic technician licenses have been placed on emergency restriction | The Miami Herald

Crime / Justice/ Public Safety

Jan 1, 2020 at 6:54 am News Channel 8

News Channel 8 looks at the eight addresses in Lakeland where crimes are reported most often. The locations and explanations offered by LPD Assistant Chief Sam Taylor: Lakeland Regional Health (many victims end up there); five retail locations, including both Walmarts, Lakeland Square Mall, Circle K at Florida and 14th; and McDonald’s on Memorial Boulevard (shoplifting and parking lot accidents dominate); Lakewood Terrace Apartments on 14th Street; and Talbot House (homeless people are often victims and the organization “facilitates the reporting.”) Overall crime continues declining, Taylor says.

Crime / Justice/ People

Dec 27, 2019 at 8:27 am The Ledger

Neighbors describe the three people who died in a Christmas Eve murder-suicide at the 3009 Atlanta Ave. house where police found four children after the shootings took place. Two of the children were daughters of Leighton Josephs, 30, who police say was the gunman, and victim Rachel Ramsey, 30. The other two, a boy and a girl, were the children of the other victim, 27-year-old Christopher Pine, a friend of Ramsey. ALSO: Bay News 9 coverage

Activism/ Crime / Justice

Dec 26, 2019 at 10:31 am News Channel 8

Community organizations are reaching out to help the four children who were removed from a home on Atlanta Avenue where three adults died in a murder-suicide Christmas Eve. Police released the name of the gunman but not the other two victims; however, WFLA reports the identities after talking with relatives and the Medical Examiner’s Office.

Crime / Justice

Dec 24, 2019 at 10:12 pm

4 P.M. WEDNESDAY UPDATE: Three adults died of gunshot wounds in a murder-suicide before 5:30 p.m. Christmas Eve in a house on Atlanta Avenue near Edgewood Drive, and four children under age 10 were safely removed, Lakeland Police report. More

Crime / Justice

Dec 21, 2019 at 4:01 pm News Channel 8

Joseph Clinton Mills, 58, of Lakeland, has been indicted by a grand jury on six charges, including first-degree murder, in the 1981 cold case homicide of Linda Slaten that was cracked by the use of genetic evidence. A judge ordered him held in jail without bail.

Crime / Justice

Dec 19, 2019 at 4:54 pm

Law enforcement officials and the sons of the victim commented to reporters today about the arrest of Joseph Clinton Mills, 58, of Lakeland, in the 1981 murder of Linda Slaten, who was 31 at the time. The murder took place at her apartment off Brunnell Parkway. Scroll past the video for links to more news coverage and a shorter video of the two sons’ comments about the man who was arrested. More

Crime / Justice

Dec 19, 2019 at 8:30 am News Channel 8

After genetic evidence pointed to a likely killer in the 1981 murder of 31-year-old Linda Patterson Slaten in her Brunnell Parkway apartment, Lakeland police last week arrested Joseph Clinton Mills, 58, of 12013 Bailey Road, Lakeland. Mills, who had been football coach to one of Slaten’s sons, had been interviewed by police days after the homicide | ALSO: Ledger coverage

Crime / Justice

Nov 23, 2019 at 9:03 am News Channel 8

Showing surveillance video to back up his point, Sheriff Grady Judd said that the Gainesville man who was shot and killed while picking up his toddler son from a Ewell Road house on Thursday was the aggressor and the man who shot him was defending his home from somebody who had trespassed and battered him.

City Hall/ Crime / Justice

Oct 30, 2019 at 1:15 pm

A city employee recently promoted to manage Lakeland Electric’s McIntosh Power Plant lied about his academic and professional credentials, and once discovered fled the state, the Lakeland Police Department reported. More

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