Tag Archives: Seminole County Sheriff Office

$33,000 spent on sequestered jurors

About $33,000 was spent to sequester the six female jurors who acquitted George Zimmerman of any crime for the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin.

According to details released Wednesday by the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, jurors took an excursion to St. Augustine, Fla., watched the movies “The Lone Ranger” and “World War Z” and saw Fourth of July fireworks during the three weeks they were sequestered.

Jurors deliberated for more than 15 hours over two days before finding Zimmerman not guilty of either second-degree murder or manslaughter last Saturday.

The verdict has inspired protests nationwide, including episodes of violence in California.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

Florida teachers among 50 charged in online child-sex sting

Two teachers and two other school employees were among 50 people arrested as part of an online child-sex sting in central Florida, MyFoxOrlando.com reports.

Operation Cardea” targeted people who use the Internet to sexually exploit children, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office said, and the suspects were arrested over the past week, including four men arrested late Sunday night.

The list of those arrested includes two local school teachers and two other employees at local schools.

Jorge Daniel Ferreira, a science teacher at Ocoee Middle School, was one of those arrested. Orange County Schools officials tell Fox 35 that Ferreira has been with the school district since 2002 and passed a Florida Department of Law Enforcement background check when he was hired.

Also arrested were David Miller, a translator with Orange County Schools; Duncan St. Gelais, a teacher at New Smyrna Beach High School in Volusia County; and Anthony Wilks, a janitor with Seminole County Schools.

Investigators posed online as teens or parents and had communications with the suspects. Several suspects sent photos of a sexual nature. Detectives say all 50 men traveled to a home in Seminole County thinking they were going to have sex with teens between the ages of 11 and 15.

All suspects will be charged with traveling to meet a minor for sex and soliciting a minor for sex.

The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office used 200 investigators and worked with more than a dozen law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and FDLE, to make the arrests.

Operation Cardea” was named after a Roman goddess who protected homes.

Click for more from MyFoxOrlando.com.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News