Jax man charged with illegal dumping
GREEN COVE SPRINGS – A Jacksonville man turned himself in to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office on Sept. 11 on charges of illegal dumping that created a public health hazard.
Police charged Robert George Sands Jr., 49, with one count each of improper disposal of solid waste and creating a nuisance that is injurious to health, both misdemeanors.
According to the warrant obtained by the Sheriff’s Office Environmental Crimes Investigator, Sands illegally dumped 531 automobile tires on a plot of land where he used to live in Clay County and abandoned them. The warrant said Sands was hired from May through June this year to collect the tires and properly dispose of them at a solid waste facility.
“The defendant instead [redacted] several loads of tires to a residence without making any attempt to properly dispose of the tires,” states the warrant.
Clay County’s Mosquito Control contractor sampled standing water from within the tires and “found to be disease capable and a threat to humans and animals.”
The tires were later removed when Sands’ family contracted with a state-permitted company to properly dispose of the tires.
Sands is free on bond.

Bank robber pleads guilty
GREEN COVE SPRINGS – An elderly Fort White man pleaded guilty to bank robbery Tuesday in a Clay County courtroom.
State Attorney’s Office Public Information Officer David Chapman said Noel Arthur Johnson, 75, will be sentenced Oct. 22 for robbing the Bank of America at Wells Road and Blanding Boulevard near Orange Park on July 23. Florida Highway Patrol officers later captured Johnson in Jacksonville that morning and recovered $1,760 from his vehicle.
Johnson’s Sept. 11 plea comes just weeks after the State Attorney’s Office, on Aug. 20, filed an information, a document that functions like an indictment, officially charging him with the crime.
At press time, Johnson remained in the Clay County Jail.

Cellmates face drug charges for possession in jail
GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Two women in the Clay County Jail on previous charges now face new charges of bringing drugs into their shared jail cell.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office charged Emily Kate Nordlum, 25, and Britney Dawn Sigmon, 31, both of Jacksonville, with one count each of introducing contraband into a county detention facility.
According to police reports, the case began Aug. 31 when corrections officers received a tip that there was “hazardous contraband” in the E-wing of the county jail. A search uncovered 11 Clonidine pills, a prescription drug used to treat hypertension and ADHD.
Sigmon was already in the county jail serving a 12-month sentence for conspiracy to produce methamphetamine, a charge stemming from November 2017 when she was living at the InTown Suites extended-stay motel at 442 Blanding Blvd. She remains in jail without bond.
Nordlum, who was already in the county jail for violating probation on four separate felony charges, remains in jail without bond.

Pedestrian killed in early morning crash
MIDDLEBURG – The Florida Highway Patrol said charges are pending in a one-vehicle accident in which a pedestrian died early Monday morning.
FHP said Thomas D. Tucker Jr., 35, of Middleburg was traveling northbound in a 2005 GMC Envoy on Baxley Road at 5:42 a.m. on Sept. 10 when he struck Cody James Kinney, 34, of a Knowles Road address in Green Cove Springs.
FHP said Kinney was walking southbound on Baxley Road in the northbound lane when the front of GMC Envoy collided with him. Rescue workers said Kinney was dead at the scene of the crash.

Suspicious vehicle call ends in drug trafficking charge
DOCTORS INLET – A Middleburg man is facing several charges including possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, armed trafficking, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office arrested Timothy Michael Hughes, 33, on Sept. 7 at 10:46 a.m. in a Winn-Dixie parking lot at 1339 Blanding Blvd. at Knight Boxx Road.
According to the arrest report, CCSO responded to a suspicious vehicle call and were met by a crew from the Clay County Fire and Rescue Department. Police told the rescue crew that they found Hughes slouched in a black 2018 Dodge Journey.
During the search, police found Hughes had a loaded handgun in his waistband. According to the arrest report, several other weapons, including a shotgun, were found in the vehicle as well as drug paraphernalia and more than 14 grams of methamphetamine – the standard for trafficking charges under Florida law.
At press time, Hughes remained in the Clay County Jail where his bond is set at $135,009. Court records show Hughes has several felony convictions from December 2013.

Child neglect charge for Penney Farms woman
PENNEY FARMS – A Penney Farms woman faces charges after a child under her care was found unsupervised outside for the second time within five days.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office arrested Sara Amanda Mullins, 25, on Sept. 7 at 12:34 p.m. in a parking lot at 1726 Kingsley Ave. for one count of child neglect without great bodily harm.
According to the arrest report, on Aug. 24, a witness saw the child walking unsupervised along Haymon Avenue, “approximately 1,500 feet from” State Road 16 in Penney Farms.
On Aug. 29, a witness found the child walking down a street unsupervised. When police went to Mullins’ home, the deputy knocked several times before Mullins answered the door. When she answered, Mullins appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance, states the police report.
Mullins was booked into the Clay County Jail but has since been released on an undisclosed bond.