Woman shot by CCSO deputies  charged with battery on cops

FLEMING ISLAND – The woman who was shot by two Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputies after she pointed a gun at them was charged with two counts of aggravated battery on law enforcement on April 29, after she was released from the hospital.

Heather Kathleen Tipton, 54, of Fleming Island, was arrested as she was being discharged from HCA Florida Orange Park Hospital when she was discharged after deputies Tyler Elias and Justin Mosley shot her on April 8. They were responding to a suicide by law enforcement call, according to Sheriff Michelle Cook.

According to the affidavit for arrest report, Tipton’s daughter called the sheriff’s office and said her mother was “making statements of harming herself and was live on FaceTime with a gun to her chest. She also made utterances on the phone about ‘making the cops shoot me’ when they arrived.”

When Elias and Mosley arrived at the Cobblestone at Eagle Harbor apartment complex at 1717 County Road 220, they ordered Tipton to drop her weapon, but she moved toward them and they each fired one shot, striking her.

In the affidavit, Elias advised dispatch, “shots fired.”

After shooting, Elias and Mosley approached Tipton, secured her gun, and started life-saving measures. She stated she was sorry several times and said, “I want to die. I don’t want to live,” according to the affidavit.

The report also states there was an “odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating” from Tipton.

Her next court appearance is scheduled for June 2. Until then, she will remain in the Clay County Jail with a $500,006 bond.

Traffic stop leads to drug charges  for Jacksonville man

 ORANGE PARK – A traffic stop quickly transformed into a drug bust on May 5 when a Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputy noticed a baggie with a “powdery substance” in the armrest as he approached the car in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant.

Billy Dee Leon Bivins, 43, of Jacksonville, was charged with possession of methamphetamine, fentanyl and drug paraphernalia and driving with a suspended license. He was stopped after the deputy saw him driving eastbound on Blairmore Boulevard in the westbound lane.

According to the arrest report, when the deputy approached the car, he saw Bivins try to put his left hand over the armrest to hide the baggie. The deputy also saw another baggie in the center console and a digital scale on the driver’s floorboard.

CCSO K-9 Mak alerted deputies to the likely presence of narcotics inside the car. A search uncovered the methamphetamine and fentanyl.

Bivins, whose next court appearance will be on June 9, has a bond of $33,510.

K-9 Mak helps sheriff’s office  catch pair with meth, Xanax

MIDDLEBURG – Two people from Jacksonville were arrested on drug charges on May 5 after a Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputy noticed a car swerving in traffic on Blanding Boulevard at 2:22 a.m.

Bailyn Taylor Vinson, 27, was charged with possession of Xanax. In contrast, Ryan Menard Villarosa Rumfelt, 48, was charged with possession of methamphetamine after deputies noticed four people inside the car “appeared nervous” and Vinson reaching inside a blue bag after they were stopped. All four were ordered out of the car, and CCSO K-9 Mak eventually alerted deputies to the likely presence of narcotics inside the car.

A search of the car uncovered seven Xanax pills, while, according to the arrest report, deputies found methamphetamine and a straw in Rumfelt’s right-front pants pocket when he was searched.

Vinson’s bond is $10,003; Rumfelt’s bond is $11,003.

The other two people, including the driver, were not charged.