Florida Hospital Closed As Officials Assess Hurricane Damage
ORMOND BEACH, Fla. (AP) — A beachside hospital on Florida’s Atlantic Coast remains closed as officials evaluate the damage done to the building by Hurricane Irma.
The 80-bed Florida Hospital Oceanside in Ormond Beach was evacuated as Hurricane Irma approached the state earlier this month.
Hospital spokeswoman Beverly Ivey tells The Daytona Beach News-Journal that Irma damaged the exterior wall of the building, which will remain closed until at least next week.
Patients are being cared for at Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center in Daytona Beach, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) away.
Rapist Living Under Assumed Name Gets 8 Years In Prison
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — A sex offender who was living under an assumed name in southern Oregon has been sentenced to more than eight years in prison after being found guilty of raping his girlfriend.
The Mail Tribune reports (https://is.gd/HVK9oH ) that 53-year-old Martin Quintero continues to deny wrongdoing. At Tuesday’s sentencing, he submitted a 16-page letter to Jackson County Judge Tim Barnack.
The judge said he didn’t read the letter because it concerns facts that should have been addressed during the recent non-jury trial in which he found Quintero guilty.
Court records show Quintero is a convicted sex offender in Florida who was out of compliance with his registration requirements.
The victim knew Quintero as Juan Lopez. She did not attend the hearing because she was at work.
10 Arrested In Florida Patient-Brokering Scheme
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Five Florida attorneys and five of their accomplices are accused in a patient-brokering scheme that brought in more than a half-million dollars in profits.
Broward Sheriff’s officials said in a news release that the arrests were made Sept. 6 following a two-year investigation by the Organized Crime Unit.
The investigation revealed that several personal injury attorneys were paying people to unlawfully solicit unsuspecting vehicle accident victims to make insurance claims for damages or personal injury benefits.
Investigators say the attorneys paid the solicitors on a per-client basis, and then referred the accident victims to a health care facility in exchange for cash kickbacks of $1,500 to $2,500 per patient.
Each suspect faces numerous charges, including organized fraud, criminal solicitation and patient brokering.
Officials say the group received more than $521,000.
Girl, 4, Shoots Self While Grabbing Candy In Grandma’s Purse
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A 4-year-old Florida girl has died after accidentally pulling the trigger of a gun when she reached into her grandmother’s purse for candy.
Yanelly “Nelly” Zoller died Sept. 14 at the Tampa home of her grandparents, Michael and Christie Zoller.
Her 22-year-old father Shane Zoller told the Tampa Bay Times on Wednesday that she just wanted candy.
Tampa police told the newspaper they are investigating the case, but have no reason to doubt Zoller’s story.
Shane Zoller says he was in high school when he became a father, and if his parents had not helped with Nelly, he would have had to drop out of school. He says Nelly was “attached to her nana’s hip” and loved staying at her grandparents’ house.
Zoller shared custody with the girl’s mother.
Teenager Found Shot To Death At Apartment Building
MIRAMAR, Fla. (AP) — A teenager has been found shot to death at an apartment building in Florida.
Miramar police spokeswoman Tania Rues says 17-year-old Kumasi Kareem was found lying face down on the ground early Wednesday.
News outlets report paramedics arrived and pronounced Kareem dead at the scene.
Further details have not been released.
