Author Archive

Police are searching for a man suspected of sexually assaulting an eleven year-old girl, in Palm Bay.  William M. Clark, (81), of Okeechobee,  is accused of touching the child’s genitals inside her clothing, December 17th, while seated next to her in his vehicle.

The child disclosed the abuse to her mother several hours after the alleged incident. The next day, specialists with Brevard’s Child Protection Team, recorded a statement in which the child identified Clark as her abuser.

Palm Bay Detective David Coulter, confirmed that the matter is under investigation, but would not say whether a warrant has been issued for Clark’s arrest.

The child’s mother told The Guardian-Brevard that police have been unable to locate the retired railroad worker.  They said his home in Okeechobee appears to be vacant and his whereabouts are unknown.  She said Clark has acquaintances in Cleveland Ohio;  Indianapolis, Indiana; and Davie, Florida.  He is said to be an active member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Clark may be driving the large, brown and white van, in which the assault allegedly occurred.

The Amber Alert ticker which crawls atop this page, is a big part of the resume Wayne Ivey offers in his bid for Sheriff.

The AMBER alert was instituted in 2002 as a system to notify the public after a child has been abducted.  Following the 2004 kidnapping and murder of Sarasota girl, Carlie Bruscia, police realized that alerting the public rapidly, through media and other means, was not enough. Ivey was part of the group that developed the Child Abduction Response Team (C.A.R.T.).  The system marshals specially-trained professionals, including police and other first responders, who react instantly to the alert.  The program has been adopted nationwide through the Department of Justice.

A former Resident Agent in Charge with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and over thirty-one years of law enforcement experience, Ivey is one of six candidates running for the job of Sheriff of Brevard County.  Ivey, a Republican, has been endorsed by Sheriff Jack Parker as well as a number of Brevard Police Chiefs. Parker is retiring at the end of his term.

Joining Ivey on the Republican ticket is Sgt. Gary Harrel, an eighteen-year veteran of the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office and fellow Deputy, Lt. Todd Maddox, who has performed a variety of roles in his twenty-one years with the Sheriff’s Office.

Corrections officer Mark Orndoff is running as a Democrat.  Orndoff has served as a municipal police officer for West Melbourne and Melbourne Beach Police Departments.  Deputy Sheriff Adrian Moss Beasley, also a Democrat, has also announced for the top cop post.  A  fourteen-year, veteran Deputy, Ernest Cathy, is running as an independent.

A local man serving time for molesting a ten year-old girl, has lost his bid to have his conviction overturned. Joe Smithwick IV, was ordered back to prison, January 4th, after Judge Charles Roberts denied his claim that he was improperly defended by his court-appointed attorney.

Smithwick, (31), took the stand wearing shackles and handcuffs, during the three-hour hearing, in Viera. He said Public Defender Andrew E. Reid did an inadequate job of representing him.

Smithwick was found guilty of committing a Lewd Act on a Child Under 12, in a 2009 jury trial.  Judge John Earp, sentenced him to serve 25 years in prison, followed by a lifetime on probation. He was acquitted on a second count of Providing Obscene Material to a Minor.

During the hearing Wednesday, defense attorney Charles Nervine asked the judge for a dismissal on the grounds that Reid failed to cross-examine key witnesses.  He also said Reid erred when he made his summation to the jury. Assistant State Attorney Kari Mackay said the evidence in the case was so strong, that minor mistakes made by the defense, would not have affected the outcome.

Smithwick rejected a plea agreement offered by the State Attorney and opted to take his chances with a jury.  During the three day trial, jurors heard an audio recording of a telephone conversation between between Smithwick and the father of the victim.   In the call, which was  secretly recorded by police, Smithwick admitted to improperly touching the child. The State’s case was also supported by video recordings, of statements made to police, by both Smithwick and his victim.

Since his conviction, Smithwick has vigorously pressed the courts for relief.  In 2010, the Fifth District Court of Appeals, in Daytona, denied his request to have his sentence reduced.

Judge Roberts ordered Smithwick returned to Walton Correctional Institution in Defuniac Springs. He will remain in prison until 2032.

Volunteer court monitors with Protect Our Children were on hand for the hearing.

Polk County, Florida, December 17, 2011

Undercover agents with the Polk County  Sheriff’s Office are packed into a rented house in an upscale subdivision near Davenport, Florida. Upstairs and down, cops in “T” shirts and jeans, sit cross-legged on beds, balancing  computers on their knees.

Arrayed around the dining room table, they scowl as they type. The look on their faces is made even more intense by the wierd glow of the LCD screens. The glossy, plastic lids of their laptops square off across the table: Viao vs Apple, Toshiba vs HP.

The week-long internet sting has not been as productive as they had hoped:  “Another one bites the dust…” a veteran detective complained.  Seated on the living room sofa, hunched over a laptop computer on the coffee table, he shakes his head and makes a sour face.  “As soon as they realize the house is in Polk County, they break off.”

One man, chatting online with a detective posing as a teen girl, offered to pay cab fare, if the child would travel to a neighboring county to meet him. Polk County, it seems, has gained a reputation as a “speed trap” for child molesters.

At 8:30 PM there are sounds other than the tapping of keyboards. Suddenly,  booming footsteps are heard from the second floor and creaking sounds emanate from the popcorn cieling above us. Heavy units from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office are on the move. It has been a seven-hour, shut-out. Now, they are restless and hungry for action.

The suspect has been traveling for hours from St.Augustine, and he is due to arrive around 9 PM.  Black vests are slipped over shoulders. and the menacing ornaments of law enforcement are hung from their bodies: Pepper spray canisters, stun guns, tasers and cuffs.  Hand guns are holstered, unholstered, checked and rechecked.

Agents move to positions near the front door. All eyes are on the single laptop set on its own table.  The screen  displays a grid of boxes, each frames the view of a different camera.  One pans the cul-de-sac street that stretches out before the sting house, others combine to cover he entire yard, front and back.

The call comes in from a patrol unit.  He’s blocks away now, and soon headlights swing around toward the street camera and slide slowly forward.  There is a flash behind he curtains of the front window as he pulls into he driveway. In the silence, someone’s knee pops.

On the first knock, the door is yanked open and agents charge forward.  From our protected place, we can hear shouted commands: “Get on the ground…Don’t move!”  There is a pile-up on the front lawn.

The suspect tried to run, and swung his fists at the officers.  One man points the stun gun at his belly and launches two darts with their coiled leads spiraling out from his hand.  He is grabbed from behind and falls backward on top of an officer.  Now he will be charged with Resisting Arrest and Battery on Law Enforcement as well as Soliciting a Child for Sex.

He flops around for a moment with the beefy forearm of an agent still wrapped around his neck.

Ten minutes later, they bring him in.  He is Richard Newell, a thirty-five, year-old man who has travelled 180 miles to meet a thirteen year-old girl.  As he is searched, plastic cuffs are attached to his ankles forming a makeshift set of shackles.  A detective waves his hands in front of his face: “Why did you resist… are you stupid?”

Newell, looking groggy and confused, will be taken to the hospital for a medical check-up before being booked into the Polk County Jail.  He is one of only seven suspects taken in this operation - a mere fraction of the numbers pulled in on previous stings.

Word is out.  Pedophiles willing to travel to have sex with a child, are steering clear of Polk County, Florida.

Nathan Williams, 38, of Lakeland, contemplates his fate.  Sheriff Grady Judd’s Cyber Crime Unit, roped him in on December 15.