This is Marcia Lane, your roving reporter.
Putnam County Sheriff’s Office got an attaboy from the felon they ended up arresting Wednesday after a seven-hour standoff in Interlachen. Following a tip, deputies went to a house on Second Avenue in Interlachen to arrest Angel Acosta, 42, on warrants from Volusia County for written threats to kill, aggravated stalking and several other charges. Acosta, a convicted felon, told them he was armed and “there will be a shootout.” For hours the Sheriff’s Office Crisis Intervention Team worked to calm Acosta man down. Once that was accomplished and knowing no one else was in the house, an irritant gas was launched into the structure and Acosta surrendered without incident. That’s when he commented he has been on the wrong side of the law in several other Florida counties but has never been treated as professionally as he was during the standoff and congratulated the deputies on a job well done, reported the Sheriff’s Office Facebook site. Acosta is in Putnam County jail awaiting extradition to Volusia.
Florida Highway Patrol was working a vehicle crash with injuries this morning in St. Johns County. The accident was at 7660 U.S. 1 South and Highway 1 South in St. Augustine. No roadblocks were reported.
Traffic on Memorial Bridge in Palatka was slowed Wednesday afternoon following a crash on the Palatka side shortly after 4 p.m. Nearly a dozen emergency vehicles including Palatka Police, the Putnam Sheriff’s Office, EMS and Florida Highway Patrol were on scene after a truck pulling an older silver Airsteam was involved in a crash that backed up westbound traffic on the bridge and into East Palatka.
St. Augustine’s Historic Architectural Review Board will hear a proposal from developer Kanti Patel today at 1 p.m. to turn 24 Cathedral Place into a 100-room upscale Hilton. He’s seeking an opinion of appropriateness for that and other plans including a 100 car parking garage and a three-story commercial building in the heart of the old downtown. 24 Cathedral is the eight-story Spanish style building built in the 1920s.
A now former Department of Children and Families child protective investigator has been charged with fraud and theft, according to the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office. Spenser Trinkle turned himself in seven days after a warrant was issued and has now bailed out on a $3,000 bond. Trinkle allegedly stole $3,857 from a woman over 60, taking money from her bank account. He told the victim he was using the money for medical bills for his child and “just saw funds in his account.” He told detectives he “hardly had any money in his bank account and didn’t know how thousands of dollars were transferred to him,” according to the report. Nine Zelle transactions put the money into his account, say Flagler detectives.
Neil Simon’s comedy Rumors opens tonight at Florida School of the Arts on the campus of St. Johns River State College in Palatka. Performances are today through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Cost is $10.
In St. Augustine Concerts in the Plaza is tonight and features the Dewey Via Band. The free concert is from 7-9 p.m. in the Plaza de la Constitucion.
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