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FORT LAUDERDALE — Vero Beach spine surgeon Dr. Johnny Benjamin was convicted on five of the seven felony counts against him in federal court. A jury reached its verdict Friday. Benjamin was accused of illegal drug distribution and providing the fentanyl-laced pain killer that caused a Palm Beach woman’s 2016 overdose death.
The case hinged on the testimony from Kevan Slater and Zachary Stewart, two DEA informants whom prosecutors said sold prescription and counterfeit pain pills on the street for Dr. Benjamin. They also assisted in a scheme to build the surgeon’s inventory of illegal pills as the illicit operation spread throughout the Treasure Coast. Both men plead guilty and testified for the prosecution at Benjamin’s trial. Read more here.
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FORT LAUDERDALE – One by one, prosecutors paraded witnesses into a federal courtroom this past week to build their case against a Vero Beach spine surgeon accused of illegal drug distribution and providing the fentanyl-laced pain killer that caused a Palm Beach woman’s 2016 overdose death.
Dr. Johnny Benjamin sat calmly in court, sandwiched between his lawyers, as testimony was taken on Monday, the second day of the trial. He wore glasses, a dark suit and tie. His mother watched from the pew behind him. If convicted, he faces life in prison. The case hinges on the testimony of Kevan Slater and Zachary Stewart, two DEA informants whom prosecutors say sold prescription and counterfeit pain pills on the street for Dr. Benjamin and assisted in a scheme to build the surgeon’s inventory of illegal pills as the illicit operation spread throughout the Treasure Coast. Read more here. The man who has been serving a life sentence for the murder of Brian Simpson during the 2011 burglary of the Central Beach resident’s home will represent himself as he prepares for a new trial. Henry Lee Jones, 29, requested to be his own attorney in April just weeks after Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Cox refused to allow him a new public defender. His decision came despite the judge’s repeated warnings that such a move could prove dangerous and disadvantageous to his case.
Jones, who was convicted of first-degree murder and burglary, was granted a second trial in 2017 after the Fourth District Court of Appeals overturned his earlier conviction. Justices argued a new trial was warranted because Jones’ public defender was not allowed to question potential jurors about racial prejudice or bias. Jones is black. Simpson, 41 at the time of his death, was white. Read more here. It was just after 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning when I woke to screams of “Help.” I roused my husband, and ran downstairs to see someone banging frantically on our sliding glass door. Panicked, I couldn’t get it unlocked so I ran out the front entrance and called 911.
“Someone is screaming for help at my back door,” I said to the dispatcher. “I don’t know what is going on.” It was then I saw a plume of smoke billowing from my neighbor’s roof. Our homes shared a wall at the Oak Villas Condominiums. A man, whose name I can never remember, was lying motionless on the grass. “There’s a fire!” I told the woman on the phone. “Someone is badly hurt.” Read more here. An island resident has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for defrauding investors of $64 million in a real estate and financing scheme on the Connecticut Gold Coast. John DiMenna, 75, pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud in September and was ordered to report to prison July 9.
The Bermuda Club resident has been called a “mini-Madoff” for his dishonest business practices in Connecticut from 2001-2015. Court documents show DiMenna and two associates used various entities such as Seaboard Realty, Seaboard Stamford Investment Group and Seaboard Properties Group to secure millions of dollars in capital for the purchase, renovation and construction of hotel and large multi-tenant apartment projects. Read more here. Croce Giambanco and Brennan Baker were like father and son. The owner of Nino’s Café, a popular beachside pizzeria that has mainland locations as well, hired Baker when he was just a boy, impressed by his work ethic.
The two worked together for more than a decade, as Giambanco taught Baker the ins and outs of the restaurant industry. He co-signed on a car loan for Baker and eventually promoted him to manager of the Easter Lily Lane pizzeria, across from Humiston Park. Then, one day, the business owner was forced to notify police that his long-time employee was stealing from the business. It was a call Giambanco said he never wanted to make. Read more here. A Vero Beach construction worker found guilty of stealing from his employer while working on Cache Cay Drive had his sentence reduced last week despite the objection of his former boss.
William Jones, 42, had no comment as he stood somberly in front of Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Cox Wednesday wearing a jail-issued jumpsuit and handcuffs. A jury found Jones guilty of felony second-degree grand theft in March 2016 after a three-day trial. Police say Jones stole and defrauded John Wayne Construction of nearly $27,000 from May through August 2014 while he was working on a 5-bedroom island home off the bank of Bethel Creek. Read more here. Opponents of Brightline’s high-speed rail line hope an upcoming study of planned and existing railroad operations in Florida will give state officials second thoughts about allowing passenger trains to run north and south through St. Lucie County at 110 miles an hour.
The state currently has no laws or regulations addressing the safety of high-speed trains like All Aboard Florida’s Brightline, which now runs between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale and is slated to extend north to Cocoa and west to Orlando in the next couple of years. Included in the $88.7 billion General Appropriations Act, passed by the legislature and approved March 16 by Gov. Rick Scott, is a directive for the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability to conduct an overview study of the Florida rail system. Read more here. Detectives on Monday were still looking for suspects in two island break-ins that rattled the nerves of oceanside residents last week. An unknown person smashed the front display window of Estate Jewelry of Orchid Island around 3 a.m. on Tuesday, March 27, and made off with 25 pieces of sterling silver jewelry, valued at around $4,000.
The store is located at 3115 Ocean Drive in the heart of the upscale Central Beach shopping and dining district, across the street from the historic Driftwood Resort. Some of the jewelry was later found by a maintenance worker on the grounds of the Driftwood, according to Estate Jewelry manager Tom Grimshaw. “I feel bad this happened to this city, to the town of Vero – not that it was just our store – but that it happened here, because it doesn’t feel quite as safe now,” Grimshaw said. “It is upsetting that they would have the audacity to do this to anybody on this street.” Read more here. A plea for mercy by the victims of an Indian River Shores home burglary has spared their neighbor, a 33-year-old opioid addict, from spending years of his life in prison. The Hon. Cynthia Cox sentenced Christopher Lockwood to just one year in the county jail followed by two years of probation. He had been facing between 4 and 125 years in prison for his crime.
Lockwood pled no contest in December to burglarizing his neighbors’ Island Club home when they were out of town. He stole an estimated $9,000 worth of jewelry, fine cutlery and cash, pawning the items throughout the Treasure Coast and lying about their origins. Read more here. |
Beth WaltonWriter, World Traveler, Mother. These are my stories. Archives
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