Middleburg man caught with child porn on his cellphone

MIDDLEBURG – A Cybertip triggered an investigation that resulted in the arrest on July 17 of a 24-year-old for having at least five files of child pornography on his cellphone.

Tra Charles Jon Kolitz, of Middleburg, was charged with five counts of possessing, viewing or controlling material depicting child sexual acts.

The investigation revealed the IP address used to receive the images belonged to Kolitz’s mother. That led Internet Crimes Against Children Unit detectives to the son.

His bond was set at $375,015. His next court appearance will be on Aug. 7.

Man wanted for carjacking finally behind cars in Clay County

MIDDLEBURG – A man suspected of carjacking a car on Nov. 4, 2021, was transported from the Suwannee Correctional Institution to face charges.

Michael Shane Beeman Hatch, 31, of Keystone Heights, was charged with armed carjacking after three people took his blue truck at knifepoint.

According to the affidavit for an arrest warrant, the victim met Amber Marie Caudill, 30, in Melrose. The victim agreed to give her a ride to a convenience store and on the way, she asked him to turn into the High Ridge Estates to look for a camper she said was stolen from her a week earlier.

Caudill left the truck and disappeared into a wooded area. The victim said he saw Caudill hiding in the tree line, but Clarissa Thomas approached him from the front and Hatch from behind before he could get back into his truck. Both brandished knives, the affidavit said.

Caudill and Hatch were arrested in Putnam County nearly five hours later.

Caudill pleaded guilty to armed carjacking and was sentenced to time served (274 days) and a year of probation.

According to the affidavit, the original plan was for Hatch and Thomas to distract the victim long enough for Caudill to take the truck. According to records at the Clay County Courthouse, Thomas wasn’t charged for the carjacking.

Hatch’s bond is $150,003. His next court appearance is Aug.7.

Man wanted for passing bad check arrested following fight with CCSO

KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – A pair of Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputies overwhelmed a man with an outstanding warrant following a fight on July 16.

Deputies recognized Christopher Carl Fuller, 31, of Keystone Heights, while he was in the roadway on Colgate Road and Yale Street with another woman. An affidavit for an arrest warrant was signed earlier that day for Fuller for uttering, passing or altering a false bank note.

When deputies tried to arrest Fuller, they said he became combative. His left hand was already in cuffs, Fuller wrestled with both deputies to keep them from putting his right hand in handcuffs. The struggle required one deputy to punch Fuller to distract him long enough for the second deputy to detain him finally.

One deputy suffered minor cuts on both hands.

Fuller’s bond was set at $50,012.

Starke man pleads guilt to stealing mail in Keystone Heights

JACKSONVILLE – U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced Connor Lee Austin, 31, of Starke, has pleaded guilty to mail theft. Austin faces up to five years in federal prison and payment of restitution to the victims in the case. No sentencing date has been set.   

According to court documents and public records, in late April 2022, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office received multiple reports of mail being stolen from the Keystone Heights area mailboxes. Surveillance footage from homes in that area captured a truck driving down roads with the passenger, later identified as Austin, and his co-defendant, Maranda Ann Stewart, 26, of Starke, stealing mail from mailboxes.

On May 6, 2022, the Baker County Sheriff’s Office arrested Austin and Stewart for their involvement with a fraudulent check. During the arrest, the BCSO conducted an inventory search of the truck they used and located more than 100 pieces of mail stolen from various addresses in Clay County.

Further investigation determined that after stealing mail, Austin and Stewart used Austin’s phone to deposit stolen checks into their bank accounts through mobile deposit. Law enforcement recovered mail that Austin and Stewart had stolen from Baker, Bradford, Clay, Duval and Putnam counties. 

Austin appeared in federal court on April 19, according to a writ bringing him to Jacksonville from the Florida State Prison, where he is serving a prison sentence of 36 months for grand theft, grand theft from a dwelling and burglary.

On June 27, Stewart pled guilty to one count of mail theft. She faces up to five years imprisonment and restitution payment to the case’s victims. A sentencing date hasn’t been set. 

This case was investigated by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office and the United States Postal Inspection Service, with valuable assistance from the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin C. Frein is prosecuting it.

Clay man’s arrest included in Project Safe Neighborhoods’ success

TAMPA – U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced the results of the third quarter of fiscal year 2023 Project Safe Neighborhoods strategy last week. During the third quarter, ending on June 30, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida has prosecuted 107 defendants for federal firearms and violent crime offenses, removing 147 firearms from the streets. The prosecutions include defendants who have been indicted, pleaded guilty, convicted at trial, or sentenced.

The agency’s results included Edwin Sherwood Gustafson of Green Cove Springs. He was arrested on Jan. 21 on U.S. Highway 17 after a Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputy recognized him and pulled him over for an outstanding warrant.

CCSO found drug paraphernalia, marijuana and hydrocodone, buprenorphine, Xanax, cocaine, methamphetamine and morphine He also was charged with three counts of possession of a firearm or ammo by a convicted felon, use or display of a firearm during a felony, resisting law enforcement, violation of an injunction for protection against domestic violence and violating of probation.

If convicted, Gustafson faces a maximum sentence of 20 years for each illegal drug and 15 years for the weapons violation.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has also engaged in community outreach efforts aimed at violent crime prevention throughout the year. Those efforts in the third quarter involved approximately 200 individuals. These community outreach efforts included presentations to elementary, middle and high school students, meetings with community leaders and re-entry programs. Middle District of Florida re-entry presentations included federal prosecutors visiting state prisons to speak with inmates nearing their release dates.  

“Our office is committed to reducing violent crime throughout the Middle District of Florida,” said U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg. “We will continue working with our law enforcement partners and community stakeholders as part of our joint effort to make our communities safer.”

PSN is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. This evidence-based program has proven effective at reducing violent crime by engaging a broad spectrum of stakeholders working together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in communities and developing comprehensive solutions that reduce crime. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses on prevention and intervention efforts through community engagement and problem-solving partnerships, strategic enforcement of the most violent offenders, and locally based re-entry programs to reduce recidivism.

Middleburg man part of U.S. Attorney’s sweep of COVID-19 fraud

TAMPA – U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced the results achieved by the Middle District of Florida’s efforts to combat fraud related to COVID-19. Those efforts have included complementary actions by the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Criminal, Asset Recovery, Appellate and Civil Divisions and federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

The attorney’s office specifically highlighted Middleburg’s Christopher Daragjati.

According to the indictment, Daragjati obtained the personal identifiable information, including the SSNs of multiple victims. Using the victims’ PII, Daragjati went to the Lake County Tax Collector and the Orange County Tax Collector and obtained Florida Identification cards in the identity of the two victims. Using the two Florida Identification cards, he then applied for three different Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans in the identity of the two victims. When applying for the three PPP loans Daragjati allegedly submitted numerous fraudulent tax-related documents and repeatedly made false statements when completing the Small Business Administration loan application for each of the loans. Relating on this false information, lenders approved the loan applications and Daragjati received approximately $150,000 in PPP loan proceeds for the three approved loans. As part of the scheme, he also set up bank accounts in the identities of the victims to receive the PPP loan proceeds.

In another fraud scheme, Daragjati opened four commercial lines of credit with Sunbelt Rentals, using the PII of four victims. After being approved for the lines of commercial credit under the victims’ identities, he rented thousands of dollars of equipment. Rather than return the rented equipment, Daragjati pawned some of the items using the identities of various victims or otherwise disposed of the stolen equipment. In at least one incident, this resulted in a felony arrest warrant being issued and entered into the National Crime Information Center for a victim of identity theft.

In yet another scheme, in January 2022, Daragjati filed a false tax return using the identity of a victim. In reliance on the false documents and use of the stolen identity by Daragjati, the Internal Revenue Service approved a tax refund in which he received a tax refund of more than $1,000 under the assumed victim’s identity. Daragjati arranged to have the fraudulently obtained tax refund deposited directly into a bank account that was in the victim’s name but controlled by Daragjati.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

If convicted, Daragjati faces up to 20 years in federal prison on each wire fraud count, a consecutive minimum mandatory penalty of two years imprisonment for each aggravated identity theft count, up to 5 years on each false SSN representation count, up to 10 years in prison on the charge of theft of government property, and payment of restitution to the victims he defrauded.

“The Middle District of Florida United States Attorney’s Office continues to pursue, investigate, prosecute, and recover money from those who were engaged in major or sophisticated fraud schemes designed to steal benefits intended for Americans coping with the myriad impacts of the pandemic,” said U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg.

Trial for man accused of killing Daytona Beach cop moved the Clay County

DAYTONA BEACH – The Seventh Judicial Circuit officials will seek the death penalty for a man accused of shooting a Daytona Beach Police Department officer at the Clay County Courthouse.

The trial for Orthal Wallace will start with jury selections on Sept. 5.

Wallace is accused of shooting officer Jason Raynor in the head, who was investigating a suspicious person call on June 23, 2021, after residents complained of criminal activity in the area. When Raynor asked Wallace if he lived at the apartment complex, the two struggled before Raynor was shot. He lived for two months before dying of his injuries. Three days after the shooting, Wallace was found hiding in a treehouse in DeKalb County, Georgia.

In April, Judge Raul Zambrano ruled the trial be moved from Volusia County following extensive coverage.

The state is seeking the death penalty.