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‘It was pretty shocking’: Customer claims moving company held belongings hostageVOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla — A local woman thou...
09/04/2025

‘It was pretty shocking’: Customer claims moving company held belongings hostage

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla — A local woman thought she hired the right movers, then got hit with a huge bill.

Ashley Rogers said, “We’re not the kind of people that have thousands and thousands of dollars just sitting around. So, it was definitely stressful.”

Rogers claims the moving company threatened to hold their belongings hostage unless they paid up. This is the same type of scenario Action 9 has exposed before and the company involved appears to be connected to other companies that aren’t even allowed to do moves in Florida. Rogers told Action 9 Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal, the company let Rogers and her husband know about the new inflated price after their belongings were already loaded on the truck.

Disturbance becoming better organized, expected to develop by this weekendA tropical wave over the eastern Atlantic – de...
09/04/2025

Disturbance becoming better organized, expected to develop by this weekend

A tropical wave over the eastern Atlantic – designated Invest 91L by the National Hurricane Center early Thursday – is becoming better organized and will likely develop into a tropical depression or named storm by this weekend as it moves slowly west.

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Although it’s still about a week out from reaching the area around the eastern Caribbean, including the islands that border it, interests in these areas – including the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands – should monitor the forecast and progress of 91L this weekend into early next week.

Watching to see where it comes together

Until the disturbance becomes better defined – with its broad, elongated area of spin and disorganized storminess turning more circular, concentrated, and organized – forecast models are going to struggle nailing down its future track and strength.

It’s in the process of doing this today, but it’ll happen gradually, not necessarily overnight. So we need to give this another few days to shake out before we know whether it will be a bona fide threat to the islands.

The model camps have held steady in their general trajectories.

The American GFS favors a track just north of the eastern Caribbean, the European model is advertising a path into the Lesser Antilles and Leeward Islands, and Google’s machine learning-based DeepMind model remains on the southern side of the guidance, suggesting a path directly into the eastern Caribbean by late next week.

Overtown shooting victim describes how he survived ruthless gunman, Miami police records showMIAMI — A 40-year-old survi...
09/04/2025

Overtown shooting victim describes how he survived ruthless gunman, Miami police records show

MIAMI — A 40-year-old survivor told a Miami detective how he had survived a ruthless gunman who he said had aimed to kill him in the Overtown neighborhood, records show.

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The detective identified the shooting suspect as Lenorris Blash, a convicted felon on probation who was arrested on Wednesday in Miami’s Liberty City and appeared in bond court on Thursday.

Blash, 33, of Opa-locka, shouted -- “I am going to kill you!” -- before he “retrieved a gun from his waistband and a fight ensued” on July 12, the detective wrote in the arrest report in the case.

During a struggle at Northwest First Place and 11th Terrace, Blash “was attempting to aim the gun to the victim’s head, but the victim was able to grab the slide of the gun,” the detective wrote.

“You are dead,” Blash said, according to the victim, records show.

The victim told the detective he then heard the gunshots and felt his arm go numb, and to prevent Blash from firing again, he “pretended to be dead,” according to the detective.

At Jackson Memorial Hospital, staff reported the victim had suffered two gunshot wounds to his right shoulder and a fractured right arm, according to the detective’s report.

During the investigation, police officers searched the apartment where Blash was living with his mother and found two guns, a G***k 19 and a G***k 17, inside a shoebox, records show.

“The G***k 17 had a spent casing lodged in the barrel, a firearm malfunction,” the detective wrote, adding they had also found the clothing that surveillance video showed he had worn during the crime, according to the arrest report.

Miami-Dade correctional deputies booked Blash at 2:55 a.m. on Thursday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on two new cases and a warrant case.

After two 2020 weapons-related convictions, a judge sentenced him to three years of probation, and it was set to end on Aug. 13, 2026, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.

For the July shooting, prosecutors filed a new case against Blash on Thursday for three felonies: Attempted murder with a deadly weapon, possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, and use of a weapon by a felon.

A judge ordered Blash to stay away from the shooting victim, denied him bond on the attempted murder charge, and granted the prosecution’s motion for pre-trial detention. His bond on the other charges was $10,000.

For alleged crimes during his arrest, prosecutors also filed a case for co***ne possession, a felony, and resisting arrest, a misdemeanor. His bond was $3,000.

Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Laura Maria Gonzalez-Marques was set to preside over the two new cases.

Florida City man admits to stealing nearly $25K in Keys charity checks, deputies sayMONROE COUNTY, Fla. — A Florida City...
09/04/2025

Florida City man admits to stealing nearly $25K in Keys charity checks, deputies say

MONROE COUNTY, Fla. — A Florida City man was arrested Wednesday after authorities said he admitted to stealing a pouch containing nearly $25,000 in checks meant for a Florida Keys charity.

Tarrell Traeon Collins, 42, is facing one count each of burglary and grand theft, according to jail records.

Deputies with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said surveillance video showed Collins parking a pickup truck along Ocean Reef Drive around 12:10 p.m. and pulling up next to a golf cart where the bag of checks had been left.

They said the video then showed him reaching into the cart and taking the pouch.

Collins was confronted a short time later and handed the bag to deputies after admitting to the theft, according to investigators.

They said the pouch contained about $24,990 in checks made out to a charity from multiple donors.

Records show Collins is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 7 at 9 a.m. His bond information wasn’t immediately available.

Deputies accuse convicted fraudster of pretending to be a corrupt immigration officer while on probation in Miami-DadeMI...
09/04/2025

Deputies accuse convicted fraudster of pretending to be a corrupt immigration officer while on probation in Miami-Dade

MIAMI — A 50-year-old woman on probation for fraud faced new accusations that she pretended to be a corrupt immigration officer to defraud migrants in Miami-Dade County.

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Maria Van-Caneghem, who was born in Cuba and lives in Miami-Dade’s Princeton neighborhood, defrauded at least two women this year, according to Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office deputies.

“It’s victimizing very vulnerable people ... It’s terrible,” Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Mindy S. Glazer said during a bond court hearing.

Deputies arrested Van-Caneghem -- who has had over a dozen fraud cases in Miami-Dade since 2019 -- on Wednesday at a corrections probation office near Kendall.

Court records show Van-Caneghem was sentenced to probation from Feb. 14, 2024, to Feb. 14, 2034, after she was convicted in a 2023 Hialeah Police Department case for grand theft.

In 2022, Van-Caneghem was accused of stealing about $119,000 from her customers at Hello Cuba Travel, who paid for airline tickets that didn’t exist, records show.

Most recently, a migrant victim in Redland, an agricultural community in southwestern Miami-Dade, learned about her past and demanded a refund, according to deputies.

Van-Caneghem allegedly threatened to have her deported. Detectives suspect there are more victims.

“She is representing herself as an immigration officer that can have immigration papers processed and a green card immediately for a fee,” Glazer said about cases involving two women on March 22 and on March 17.

On Thursday, prosecutors filed the two cases. Van Caneghem faced two counts of third-degree grand theft and two counts of organized scheme to defraud. Glazer ordered her to stay away from the victims and set her bond at $12,500.

“You have to show the money you use to post the bond is from a legitimate source of funds,” Glazer said.

Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Laura Maria Gonzalez-Marques is set to preside over the cases.

Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 to remain anonymous.

09/04/2025

Florida’s vaccine mandate removal: What it means for public health

DeSantis calls this ‘medical freedom’
While states traditionally follow federal vaccine guidance, school mandates are set by state health departments. Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo announced Wednesday that the Health Department would take steps to eliminate these mandates, calling them “immoral” intrusions that hamper parents’ ability to make health decisions for their children.

“We’re going to end it,” Ladapo said, without providing details or a timeline.

The Health Department also did not immediately respond to questions about other vaccine requirements, such as for certain workplaces. Many such requirements are enshrined in state law and would require legislative approval. DeSantis appointed Ladapo and his wife Casey DeSantis to a commission that’s drafting a broader “medical freedom” measure expected to be introduced in the next legislative session.

School nurses sound alarm
“If they’re able to go through with it, they’re just opening a door to a health crisis that’s 100% preventable,” said Lynn Nelson, president of the National Association of School Nurses.

Schools are a microcosm of society, and when students go home, they can bring diseases to vulnerable people such as infants and the elderly, Nelson said.

Measles, mumps and pertussis – also known as whooping cough -- are among the preventable diseases Nelson is most concerned about if Florida’s plan succeeds. Measles, a highly contagious illness, can create life-threatening situations for infants and small children, she said.

“There are outbreaks all over the country right now, and they will spread in any state or community where the vaccine rate drops,” she said.

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