Woman kidnapped, beaten, left at bridge

Story by Mark Chapman on January 24th, 2012 at 7:35 am

A woman told Sara­sota Sheriff’s Office deputies she was forced into a pickup truck late Mon­day night, beaten and left near the Man­a­sota Beach Road bridge.

Accord­ing to a sheriff’s report, the woman said she had been forced into a green Dodge Ram pickup in the vicin­ity of Baf­fin and Ster­ling roads in Venice by three peo­ple, a man and two women, all described as being in their early 30s. After beat­ing her, she said, she was left near the bridge, and she called for help from the bridge ten­der about 10:20 p.m.

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Charlotte detectives need help ID’ing suspect

Story by Mark Chapman on January 24th, 2012 at 7:30 am,
with photos by courtesy CCSO

An ID theft sus­pect is shown in a sur­veil­lance cam­era photo using an ATM.

Updated Tues­day, 7:30 a.m., new photos.

Char­lotte County Sheriff’s detec­tives are again ask­ing the pub­lic to help iden­tify sur­veil­lance pho­tos of a credit card fraud and grand theft suspect.

The woman opened a credit card in a Port Char­lotte victim’s name, then used it at var­i­ous stores and bank ATM’s from Port Char­lotte to Braden­ton. Detec­tives have received new sur­veil­lance pho­tos in this ongo­ing case. One is from a Wells Fargo ATM in Port Char­lotte, another at a Braden­ton Well Fargo ATM, and she is dri­ving a Ford van as shown.

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Woman airlifted, man charged in Rotonda crash

Story by Mark Chapman on January 23rd, 2012 at 6:19 am

A Port Char­lotte woman was air­lifted to Lee Memo­r­ial Hos­pi­tal in Fort Myers Fri­day night after the car in which she was rid­ing struck a palm tree.

Accord­ing to the Florida High­way  Patrol report, the woman, 71, suf­fered crit­i­cal injuries when the 2005 Dodge Van trav­el­ing east on Rotonda Boule­vard East near Gas­par­illa Road left the road and drove into the median, strik­ing a palm tree, The dri­ver, Frank Harold Paul­son, 73, of Port Char­lotte, backed the car off the median and resumed dri­ving, the report said.

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Help locate missing man

Story by Mark Chapman on January 21st, 2012 at 9:46 pm,
with photos by courtesy SCSO

Richard Van­de­walle

A 54-year-old South Venice man is miss­ing and may be endan­gered, and the Sara­sota County Sheriff’s Office is seek­ing the community’s help in locat­ing him.

Richard Van­de­walle, 6 feet tall, 150 pounds, white with brown hair, left his Loy­ola Road home Fri­day morn­ing and has not returned. He was last seen dri­ving a 2006 tan Ford F150 pickup truck with Florida tag 453L-R-L. He may be wear­ing a brown Artistree Land­scape shirt.

Van­de­walle has gone miss­ing before and was found in need of med­ical atten­tion and dehy­drated. His men­tal capac­i­ties may be deteriorating.

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Englewood woman accused of being a drug dealer

Story by Mark Chapman on January 20th, 2012 at 3:08 pm,
with photos by courtesy CCSO

Melissa R. Lanier

Sub­mit­ted by Char­lotte County Sheriff’s Office

An engle­wood woman was among four peo­ple arrested Thurs­day and charged with deal­ing drugs in Novem­ber or December.

Melissa Rochel Lanier, 43, of Ebro Road remains in jail on $15,000 bond in con­nec­tion with a Novem­ber drug sale of Oxy­codone. She is charged with Sale and Deliv­ery of Oxy­codone and Pos­ses­sion of Oxycodone.

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Englewood man charged with dealing drugs

Story by Mark Chapman on January 20th, 2012 at 1:53 pm,
with photos by courtesy CCSO

Don­ald H. Scott Jr.

Sub­mit­ted by Char­lotte County Sheriff’s Office.

An Engle­wood man was among five sus­pected drug deal­ers rounded up Tues­day by Char­lotte County Sheriff’s Nar­cotics Unit detec­tives and road patrol deputies.

Don­ald Hayes Scott Jr., 31, of Shadow Lane, was arrested based on a months-long inves­ti­ga­tion that included pre­vi­ous drug stings.

Also arrested:

Nicole Alli­son Broad­well, 26, Dal­ton Boule­vard, Port Charlotte

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LBHS softball announces team roster

Story by Mark Chapman on January 20th, 2012 at 11:01 am,
with photos by courtesy LBHS softball

The Lemon Bay High School var­sity soft­ball team: Andreena Hei­neck, Nikki Woodard, Lau­risa Fisher, Robyn Blais, Courtlin Hol­land, Hunter Mars, Sab­rina Schroeder, Baleigh Clemens, Brooke Clemens, Brooke Carvey.

The Lemon Bay High School var­sity soft­ball sea­son begins Wednes­day, Feb. 1 and Thurs­day, Feb. 2, with pre­sea­son games at Char­lotte High School. Both games start at 5 p.m.

The team sched­ule is avail­able at http://www.c2cschools.com

The team includes:

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