TALLAHASSEE, FL — A Polk County woman has become Florida’s newest multimillionaire after winning the $5 million top prize in the Florida Lottery’s GOLD RUSH LIMITED Scratch-Off game, officials announced…
FREEHOLD, N.J. — A 23-year-old Millstone Township man has been charged with vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a crash that killed a 19-year-old Asbury Park resident last month,…
Federal Jury Convicts Florida Man of Mail Fraud
**Central Islip, NY** – A federal jury in Central Islip, New York, has found Phillip Priolo, 61, a resident of Hallandale Beach, Florida, guilty of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and four counts of mail fraud. Priolo was charged in November 2021 for running a mass mailing fraud scheme that defrauded thousands, mostly elderly individuals, by promising them false prizes.
During the trial, evidence demonstrated that from March 2015 to December 2016, Priolo and his partners mailed millions of misleading prize notices. These notices falsely claimed recipients had been chosen for a significant cash prize, contingent upon paying a fee. Instead of the promised reward, payees received nothing, confirming that the mailings were mass-produced and not personalized.
Both the Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service emphasized their commitment to protecting elderly citizens from such fraudulent schemes. Acting Assistant Attorney General Yaakov Roth acknowledged the thorough investigation by the Postal Inspection Service, and Inspector in Charge Eric Shen stressed the vulnerability of older demographics to financial exploitation.
Priolo will face sentencing later this year before U.S. District Judge Nusrat Jahan Choudh
FORT MYERS, FL — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is demanding immediate action from the Fort Myers City Council, warning that their recent vote against a federal immigration enforcement program…
HOUSTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported a Mexican national Thursday who had been removed from the U.S. six times and amassed multiple convictions for driving while intoxicated…
MIAMI — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested a 71-year-old Cuban national in Florida for allegedly obtaining legal status in the U.S. through fraudulent means, officials announced Thursday. Tomas…
FORT MYERS, Fla. — A Mexican national with multiple prior deportations and two previous convictions for illegal reentry has been sentenced to more than a year in federal prison. Tomas…
LAKE CITY, Fla. — A corrections officer trainee at Suwannee Correctional Institution has been arrested on drug charges after a multi-agency investigation uncovered an alleged plan to smuggle narcotics into…
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A grand jury has indicted a suspect in the fatal drive-by shooting of 3-year-old Rylo Yancy, who was killed at a Fort Lauderdale park last July,…
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A 16-year-old girl was kidnapped, beaten, and killed after being lured by a man she met on social media, according to police. Authorities said Miranda Corsette…
WASHINGTON – A Florida construction business owner was sentenced on Feb. 20 to four years in prison and ordered to forfeit more than $5.5 million after pleading guilty to conspiracy…
MIAMI – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) removed Edgar Batista Matos, a Dominican national wanted for human smuggling that led to the deaths of three minors, on March 4.…
PENSACOLA, Fla. — An active shooter situation is unfolding at Corry Station, a training facility associated with Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola, as military security forces and local law enforcement…
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A 14-year-old student at Lincoln Middle School has been arrested after allegedly posting an online threat to carry out a school shooting, the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office…
Florida Dentist Sentenced for Threatening Public Figures
**Tampa, FL** – A Florida dentist was sentenced to two years in prison for making threats to public figures, an election official, and others over several years. Richard Glenn Kantwill, 61, from Tampa, initially made these threats between September 2019 and July 2020.
Court documents reveal Kantwill sent over 100 threats via social media, email, and text, targeting individuals based on their political commentary. The targets included an author, a religious figure, and a television personality. From April 2022 to April 2024, Kantwill sent additional threats to four public figures, including an election official in another state in February.
In November, Kantwill pleaded guilty to four counts of interstate transmission of a threat. The case was announced by officials from the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and the FBI.
The FBI conducted the investigation, while the prosecution was led by Trial Attorney Aaron L. Jennen of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Abigail K. King for the Middle District of Florida, with support from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado.
LAKE WALES, Fla. — A Lake Wales woman was arrested Tuesday after allegedly attacking a sheriff’s deputy with her dog and racking up multiple charges, according to the Polk County…
ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida man accused of stabbing his childhood friend and boss to death after a political argument was found not guilty by reason of insanity, according to…
Florida Man Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud Scheme
**Jackson, MS** – A Florida resident has admitted guilt in a case involving a decade-long scheme promoting an illicit tax shelter and committing wire fraud. The individual also confessed to aiding in the preparation of false tax returns for clients using the shelter.
Stephen T. Mellinger III of Delray Beach worked as a financial advisor, insurance salesman, and securities broker in various states. Since late 2013, he and his accomplices marketed an illegal tax shelter, encouraging clients to claim inappropriate deductions for “royalty payments” to unlawfully minimize their taxes.
Court documents reveal these royalty payments constituted a deceptive money flow, creating the facade of legitimate business expenses. Clients would transfer funds to accounts managed by Mellinger and his partners, who would return the sum—minus their fee—to an account controlled by the client, allowing them to claim false deductions.
Through the scheme, clients claimed over $106 million in misleading tax deductions, leading to a $37 million tax loss for the IRS. Mellinger and one unnamed co-conspirator reportedly earned approximately $3 million from the operations. They also misappropriated over $2.1 million from clients under investigation, some of which M
TAMPA, Fla. — A Florida man who was reported missing in January was found dismembered and buried in the backyard of a suspect now accused of murdering him and stealing…
WALTON COUNTY, Fla. — A fugitive from Virginia accused of brutally attacking his child’s mother and abandoning a 13-day-old infant in the snow has been arrested in Florida, authorities said.…
TAMARAC, F.L. — A man is in custody after allegedly killing three people in Tamarac early Sunday morning and briefly abducting his four-year-old daughter, authorities said. The Broward Sheriff’s Office…
STUART, FL — A woman and her three-year-old child were forced off the road and into a pond after a hit-and-run crash involving a semi-truck Thursday morning, authorities said. The…
WALTON COUNTY, FL — A 21-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly stabbing a juvenile multiple times at a party in Freeport, while his mother faces charges for tampering with…
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — A Florida man has been arrested in connection with a 2023 homicide at an after-hours club in Allentown and is awaiting extradition to Lehigh County, authorities announced.…
OSCEOLA COUNTY, FL — Florida law enforcement assisted federal agents in the arrests of two criminal aliens over the weekend, including a suspected member of the Tren de Aragua (TdA)…