Fourth suspect arrested for ambush shooting of Orange Park High student

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – A fourth person was charged with the ambush murder of a 17-year-old Orange Park High student to settle a dispute between the victim and one of the four teens accused in participating in the shooting.
Deashaun Green, 18, of Orange Park, was charged with second-degree murder after detectives used surveillance video, text messages and other interviews to connect him to the Jan. 2 killing of Jandel Rodriguez while he walked on Claremont Avenue in Orange Park.
Christopher Walters, 18, was charged with second-degree murder last week after he told investigators he was supposed to be the “lookout” during the shooting.
According to arrest reports obtained by Clay Today, Andrew Desmond Neeper, Dejerrick Gillum and Green organized a plan to shoot Rodriguez. They met at a fast-food restaurant on Blanding Boulevard to put bullets in a handgun before laying in wait for Rodriquez. Walters told the sheriff’s office Neeper was the triggerman.
Neeper also was charged with second-degree murder last week. Gillum was arrested for second-degree murder on Jan. 19.
All four are being held at the Clay County Jail without bond.

Middleburg man goes to trial on child pornography charges

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – The trail for Rodney Thomas Ternovsky, 44, who faces 20 charges of possessing child pornography and one count of transmitting child pornography in 2018, is underway at the Clay County Courthouse.
Working along with the Department of Homeland Security, deputies arrested Ternovsky and seized various electronics devices such as flash drives he used to store the illicit material. Each file had more than 10 images on it, according to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies served Ternovsky with a search warrant at his Ibis Drive home at 9:20 a.m. on Feb. 15, 2018.
According to the police report, Ternovsky stored the flash drives in a locked box he had inside a larger locked safe. Police said the flash drive contained both videos and still images of child pornography.
“Numerous files were of prepubescent female children being sexually exploited some of which show the children being sexually battered by men,” according to the arrest report.
The case is being prosecuted by Tonya Patterson-Barge and Randi Daugustinis, with Judge Steven B.Whittington presiding.

Probation revoked for sexual predator following fraudulent car insurance application

JACKSONVILLE – A man accused of filing a false insurance application form was arrested for violating his probation following a 2007 conviction of sexual battery of a child who was younger than 12.
Christopher Devon Britt, 34, of Jacksonville, was charged with violation of community control and he was returned to the Clay County Jail without bond.
According to a report from the Florida Department of Corrections, Britt’s offender probation states: “You shall live without violating any law. A conviction in a court of law is not necessary for such a violation to constitute a violation of your probation, community control, or any other form of court ordered supervision.”
Corrections said Britt’s car insurance was canceled for nonpayment on June 2, 2020 – a month after he established a policy with an insurance company. He tried to reinstate the policy on June 9, 2020 and was asked to sign a “No Loss Statement” which verified he hadn’t suffered a loss or being involved in a car accident during the seven days he wasn’t covered. The insurance company notified on June 9 Britt had been involved in an accident on June 8, 2020 and was given a citation for driving without insurance.
The insurance company reported what appeared to be a fraudulent application to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. Britt was arrested on Dec. 2, 2021 by JSO.
Britt was convicted in 2007 for sexual battery on a child younger than 12 and now is a registered sex offender. The crime was committed when he lived in Orange Park, but he’s since moved to Jacksonville. His original sentence was to serve eight years in prison, followed by 10 years of sex offender probation. He also was to register as a sexual predator.

Green Cove Springs man pleads guilty to two federal child sex crimes

JACKSONVILLE – U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Edward Alan Hardin, 35, has pleaded guilty to one count of attempted production of child sex abuse material and one count of possession of such material. Hardin faces a minimum mandatory term of 15 years, and up to 40 years, in federal prison and a potential lifetime term of supervised release. His sentencing hearing has not yet been set.
According to the plea agreement, at various times in 2018, 2019, and 2020, Hardin had access to three female children who were in his custody. One of those children – referred to as Minor Victim 1 – had known Hardin since she was a toddler and considered Hardin to be a father figure. Beginning when Minor Victim 1 was about 12 or 13 years old, Hardin provided money and gifts to Minor Victim 1 in exchange for the sexual abuse of Minor Victim 1.
On May 8, 2020, a deputy with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office observed Hardin’s truck parked at a shopping center in Orange Park. As the deputy approached Hardin’s truck on foot, he observed Hardin in the driver’s seat of the truck, and then observed Minor Victim 1 sit up in the passenger seat of the truck. The deputy smelled the aroma of marijuana emanating from the truck. As the deputy approached the passenger door of the truck, he could see that Hardin’s pants were unzipped.
Hardin’s phone was searched and contained photos of Minor Victim 2 engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Additionally, Hardin’s phone contained text messages to Minor Victim 1 in which Hardin repeatedly requested that Minor Victim 1 produce pornographic images of herself.
In all, Hardin was accused of having sex with three minor girls.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Clay County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Asst. U.S. Attorney Laura Cofer Taylor.
This is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States 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 and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

Man wanting shower arrested for forcing his way into home

ORANGE PARK – A man was arrested after the Clay County Sheriff’s Office said he forced his way into a woman’s home after she declined to let him take a shower.
Ronald Edward Poynor, 39, of Orange Park, was charged on Feb. 17 with assault and battery during a burglary after a woman called the sheriff’s office after Poynor reportedly was banging loudly on her front door and windows. When she opened the door, he said he wanted to take a shower and he “pushed his way into the home and pushed the victim by her neck into the wall.” The woman pushed back, and Poynor’s Rottweiler then bit Poynor on both arms and his left leg.
When deputies arrived, Poynor was sitting on the front porch and cursing at everyone on the scene, according to the arrest report.
The woman knew Poynor’s brother, b
The woman told deputies she used to be friends with Poynor’s brother and that she never invited him into her home.

Wanted man caught with methamphetamine in Middleburg

MIDDLEBURG – A Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputy spotted a man he recognized as being wanted in a convenience store parking lot on Feb. 16, and during the arrest he uncovered two grams of methamphetamine in his pocket.
Joshua David Jenkins, 30, now faces addition charged of possession. He was wanted for contempt of court violations for three counts of possessing controlled substances and two counts for possessing drug paraphernalia. That warrant was issued on Oct. 13, 2021.
Jenkins’ bond was set at $50,003.