Woman charged with shooting at CCSO deputies 

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – A woman was charged with firing “four or five” shots at two Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputies on Sunday, Nov. 2, as they walked away from a home after nobody answered following a call for service. 

Barbara Jean Cartwright, 55, of Green Cove Springs, was charged with two counts of aggravated assault on law enforcement officers, one count of assault on an EMT and resisting law enforcement after CCSO was called about a disturbance on Calming Waters Drive. 

Two deputies knocked several times on the door without anyone answering, and as they walked away, Cartwright opened the door and muttered something and started shooting at the deputies, according to the arrest report. 

Cartwright then barricaded herself in her house for more than an hour before she was arrested. She was placed in the back of an ambulance as a precaution, and she attempted to bite the technician. 

Cartwright’s bond was set at $350,011. 

Step-grandson charged with fraudulently obtaining credit cards 

LAKE CITY – A Maxville man was transferred from the Columbia Correctional Institution to the Clay County Jail to face charges that he fraudulently successfully applied for at least two credit cards and spent $6,971.99. 

Joshua Charles Davis, 38, of Maxville, was charged with impersonation of another person without their consent and illegal use of credit cards after he used the cards to gamble and purchase items from local stores and cellphone games. 

Davis and his wife lived in a camper trailer for six months at her step-grandmother’s house when he applied for the credit cards between January and June 2024. 

Davis told CCSO investigators he struggled with a narcotics addiction when he used the fraudulently obtained cards. 

His next court appearance will be on Dec. 2. Until then, he will remain in jail with a $100,006 bond. 

Cybertip leads to arrest of man with child porn on cellphone 

ORANGE PARK – A 32-year-old man was arrested after the Orange Park Police Department and Clay County Sheriff’s Office determined he created five cellphone accounts to download and store child pornography. 

Sean Michael Kennedy, of Jacksonville, was arrested in Orange Park on Thursday, Oct. 30, and charged with five counts of possession or viewing obscene child pornography and using a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony after CCSO, while working with the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit and Homeland Security Investigations, got a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 

NCMEC said it viewed transmitted child sexual abuse material on a Google IP address assigned to Kennedy. 

The sheriff’s office and Orange Park interviewed Kennedy at his apartment on Loring Avenue and reviewed files on his cellphone before he was arrested. 

His bond was set at $400,018. His next court appearance will be on Nov. 24. 

CCSO: Man arrested for selling fentanyl to CCSO informant 

MIDDLEBURG – With the help of a confidential informant, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man they suspected of “distributing fentanyl on a daily basis” on Thursday, Oct. 30. 

Mark Lewis Mayerlen, 34, of Middleburg, was charged with selling fentanyl after CCSO set up the purchase of 2.18 grams of fentanyl for $280 at a predetermined location on Sept. 9. 

Following further testing and an investigation, investigators returned to his home on Oct. 30 and arrested him. 

His bond was set at $100,003. He is scheduled to return to court on Dec. 1. 

11-year-old girl hospitalized after being hit by school bus 

MIDDLEBURG – An 11-year-old girl on an electric scooter was hospitalized with serious injuries after she was struck by a school bus on Friday, Oct. 31. 

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the bus was driven by a 70-year-old man. It was traveling east on Pine Ridge Parkway and making a left turn onto Creek Bluff Lane when the girl crossed Creek Bluff in front of the bus when she was struck. 

Although she got up and ran to the side of the street, she was taken to Wolfson Children’s Hospital, according to the accident report. FHP said she wasn’t wearing a helmet. 

There was a 61-year-old passenger and seven children on the bus, but they weren’t injured. 

The highway patrol doesn’t release the identities of anyone involved in accidents.