GCS mother, daughter killed in Bradford County crash
LAWTEY – The Florida Highway Patrol spent nearly six hours last Saturday investigating a horrific crash on U.S. Highway 301 that resulted in the death of a 40-year-old mother and her 3-year-old child. The rollover crash also resulted in three other children being hospitalized in serious condition.
All were from Green Cove Springs.
The crash happened around 10:45, according to FHP, when Angela Sippel apparently lost control of her SUV and ran through a ditch, causing the vehicle to become airborne and flip. The SUV rolled across NW 246th St. through a small grassy parking lot and ended up on its roof near the back of a house on the corner. The highway patrol said none of the children, whose ages ranged from 1 to 10, were in car seats or wearing seatbelts. Many of the children were ejected during the rollover.
A GoFundMe page was created to help the family pay for medical costs, for the three survivors, including surgery and rehabilitation for 10-year-old Niyah Sippel, and the funerals for the mother and Eden Sippel. As of Tuesday, more than $70,000 had been donated to the family.
To help, visit GoFundMe, Sippel Family Car Accident.

Middleburg man charged with secretly recording women
MIDDLEBURG – A man was jailed after two women said he secretly recorded them with his cellphone.
Casey Lee Clark, 41, of Middleburg, was charged with six counts of sexual video voyeurism and using a cellphone to facilitate a crime. The Clay County Sheriff’s Office’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit interviewed two women, one 22, the other 48, were part of “numerous” voyeuristic files found on Clark’s cellphone.
According to the affidavit for an arrest report, files included videos taken under a bathroom door when they got out of the shower or through a window while undressing between Oct. 18, 2021, and Jan. 16. Neither woman said they weren’t aware they were being recorded.
Clark’s bond is $175,021. His next court appearance will be on April 4.

Arrest made after guitar taken during restroom break
MIDDLEBURG – A 56-year-old man was arrested on March 2 after a guitar was taken at a show during a restroom break.
Jeffery Herman Bennett, of Middleburg, was charged with grand theft after Bill Ricci took a break during a set while playing at V’s Pizza on Fleming Island and returned to find his guitar missing on Oct. 14.
Bennett’s bond was set at $2,503.

Man jailed after breaking into shed, running from CCSO
MIDDLEBURG – A man seen rummaging through a “little house” on the back of a woman’s house was arrested on March 1 following a short high-speed chase that ended on Blanding Boulevard.
William Allen Strawn Jr., 35, of Middleburg, was charged with burglary, possession of ammo and a firearm by a convicted felon, resisting arrest and attempting to flee sheriff’s office deputies after a woman said she spotted a man with an “unknown” weapon behind a shed she called her “little house.”
When Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived, the found Strawn’s truck down a trail with duct tape covering the license tag.
When they searched the wood line near the shed, they heard his truck pull away at a high rate of speed. The chase started on County Road 215 and ended a short time later in a convenience store parking lot. Strawn struggled with deputies before he was finally detained.
The woman said ammunition, a computer tablet, a paper towel holder, bullet casing, a cigarette roller and a toy train were staged to be removed from the shed.
Strawn’s bond was set at $91,011.

Man charged with setting fires at acquaintance’s house
GREEN COVE SPRINGS – The Clay County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man on March 3 after deputies determined he set fires in and around a previous acquaintance.
John Anthony Wheeler Jr., 33, of Green Cove Springs, was charged with arson of an occupied dwelling, burglary and resisting deputies after they were called to the 2000 block of State Road 16 after a fire was reported. Clay County Fire Rescue put out a fire along a fence line, and the victim said Wheeler broke into her house and while he was leaving, he set fire to “multiple things.”
The victim said a rope hanging from a tree near her car was set ablaze and the fire damaged her hood.
Another victim said Wheeler set fire to a milk carton near his pickup truck, damaging his bumper.
Deputies found Wheeler at his home on Stauffer Road. They said he became combative and tried to escape after being handcuffed and placed in the back seat of the patrol car.
His bond was set at $270.018.