Orange Park Hospital employee charged with beating elderly patient  

ORANGE PARK – An employee at HCA Florida Orange Park Hospital was arrested on Friday, Nov. 14, after another employee said he saw him “intentionally” strike a 73-year-old patient several times in the face, push him into a wall and knock him to the ground. 

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office said Anthony Diaz, 52, of Jacksonville, was accused by hospital staff of striking a man on Nov. 14 who was admitted due to his age and mental deterioration. According to the affidavit for arrest report, the man suffered broken ribs and bruises on his wrist. 

Diaz was charged with aggravated abuse of an elderly or disabled adult. His bond was set at $150,003 and his next court appearance was set for Dec. 16. 

Crash leads to DUI arrest of man who tested twice past the limit 

ORANGE PARK – A man who crashed his SUV into the median at the intersection of Wells Road and Debarry Avenue on Thursday, Nov. 27, was arrested after the Clay County Sheriff’s Office determined he was more than twice the legal limit for intoxication. 

Larry Bruce McClain, 53, of Orange Park, was charged with DUI with a blood alcohol level of .15 or greater, along with possessing ecstasy and cocaine, after a CCSO deputy saw McClain spinning his tires while in reverse while trying to exit the vehicle. 

Once the deputy approached the SUV, McClain “stumbled” as he exited, according to the arrest report. The deputy smelled alcohol and noticed McClain needed to lean against his vehicle to keep from falling. When asked to produce his driver’s license, McClain reportedly handed the deputy his medical marijuana card. 

Since the car was about to be towed, another deputy searched the vehicle, where he found .71 grams of cocaine, two ecstasy pills and three empty beer bottles. 

Once at the Clay County Jail, McClain’s blood alcohol level was tested at .192 and .199. The maximum legal limit in Florida is .08. 

His bond was set at $31,508. 

Clay County inmate charged with providing deadly dose of fentanyl 

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – A Clay County Jail inmate was charged with manslaughter on Tuesday, Nov. 25, after an investigation by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office revealed an inmate witnessed Clifford Ryan Stoberl provide Blake Everett Eckert fentanyl on two occasions in 2024, shortly before detention deputies found Eckert dead of fentanyl intoxication. 

According to the arrest warrant, a different inmate saw Eckert receive the fentanyl in a folded-up playing card. The same inmate said he saw Eckert have his girlfriend, Haleigh Parrish, send Stoberl’s girlfriend, Charissa Johnson, $50 through CashApp in exchange for the substance through the jail telephone system. That inmate then saw Eckert snort the substance. 

A CCSO detective contacted Parrish and Johnson and verified their relationships with Eckert and Stoberl. They also admitted to the $50 transaction. 

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement found a nine of clubs playing card near Eckert’s bunk, and it was covered with a powdered substance that was found to contain Xylazine and fentanyl. 

CCSO: Jacksonville man caught with meth, cocaine, fentanyl 

ORANGE PARK – A Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputy noticed a man walking in a parking lot as if he was under the influence of narcotics. After he struck up a conversation with him, another deputy noticed aluminum foil with burned residue in his car, which eventually led to his arrest for possession of multiple drugs. 

Joseph William Longwell, 30, of Jacksonville, was charged with possessing fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and drug paraphernalia after a search of his car uncovered 1.4 grams of meth, 1.7 grams of fentanyl and 16.2 grams of cocaine in the backseat area of his vehicle. 

Longwell’s bond was set at $50,011. 

CCSO assists in indicting man for possessing child porn 

JACKSONVILLE – U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announced Tyler Bruce McClure, 24, of Jacksonville, was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of distributing and possessing child sexual abuse materials using the internet. McClure faces a mandatory minimum of five years and a potential maximum of 40 years in federal prison, as well as a possible life term of supervised release. 

McClure was arrested on Nov. 17 by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and made his initial appearance in federal court in Jacksonville the next day. He was ordered to be detained pending trial. 

According to the indictment, on or about Sept. 26, McClure knowingly distributed over the internet the visual depiction of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. On Oct 7, the defendant possessed on a cellular telephone visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. 

An indictment is only an allegation, and every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty. 

This case was investigated by the Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force, to include Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Jacksonville, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office. U.S. Attorney D. Rodney Brown is prosecuting it.

It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify, rescue and seek justice for child victims. 

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit usdoj.gov/psc and click the "resources." tab. 

Starke man killed in early morning crash near Regional Sports Complex 

MIDDLEBURG – A 34-year-old man from Starke was killed on early Sunday, Nov. 30, when he crossed over the center line on State Road 21 at Santa Clara Avenue, approximately two miles north of the Clay County Regional Sports Complex, before striking the driver’s side door of an oncoming car. 

The man from Starke was driving northbound, and he came to rest on the grass shoulder, while the other vehicle, driven by a 29-year-old man from Orange Park, rolled over and came to rest on its side. That driver wasn’t injured, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. 

FHP doesn’t release the names of anyone involved in accidents.