Florida "Santa Claus" arrested in undercover child sex sting, sheriff says
Thomas Hicks, 68, of Lakeland, faces numerous charges including human trafficking and using a computer to seduce a child.
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Thomas Hicks, 68, of Lakeland, faces numerous charges including human trafficking and using a computer to seduce a child.
Coty Streit, 31, from Bell, a town around 30 miles north of Gainesville, is facing 15 counts of possession of child sexual abuse material, one count of transmission of child sexual abuse material by electronic device, and one count of unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
Shaya Lunger, a rabbi and counselor from North Miami Beach, ran from the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and into a waiting car without comment.
A man from India, a former Disney employee and a school bus driver were along those who were arrested.
Police say Daniel Spencer abused and killed 5-year-old Melissa "Missy" Mogle in 2025 while he was out on bail.
The next court date is set for April 10.
The judge granted bond to one suspect while another remains held without bond; police are seeking a third teen in the 2025 Miami assault case.
Joseph Duggar's arrest comes almost five years after his older brother Josh Duggar was convicted of downloading child sexual abuse images.
The testimony happened as attorneys for 13-year-old Nelson Nuñez and 12-year-old Jusiah Jones requested that the youngsters be released on bond.
The office issued a subpoena for information relating to the marketing of children, enforcing age-verification requirements, content moderation, parental control features, and reporting of exploitative activity, according to the press release.
According to court records, Daniel James Riggs, 33, worked as a tennis coach for Team Riggs at a tennis center in Fort Lauderdale, where he used social media accounts to send sexually explicit messages to two of his students.
13-year-old Nelson Nuñez and 12-year-old Jushia Jones are being charged as adults for the June 2025 rape, with another 15 year old having a warrant out for his arrest.
Another allegation against Busfield was reported to law enforcement the same day he turned himself in, according to a court filing.
In a video provided to TMZ on Tuesday, Timothy Busfield said the allegations "are all lies."
Elvin Daniel Ortiz-Cruz, 23, is facing multiple charges, including promoting sexual performance by a child, police said.
According to a news release, the subpoenas will investigate whether Roblox's actions aid child predators in gaining easy access to children who use the gaming site.
A man is in custody facing dozens of charges after police say he molested an 8-year-old girl and was later found with more than 100 images of child sexual abuse material.
Operation Grayskull helped shutter four heavily trafficked dark web sites where violent child sexual abuse materials were traded and housed.
After a Miami-Dade Sheriff's deputy was accused of receiving and producing child sex abuse material, a federal indictment unsealed Thursday has revealed new disturbing details surrounding the case.
Morgan Rynor reports Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said the deputy's behavior as outlined in the indictment is unacceptable and tarnishes the badge.
The 45-year-old was arrested and charged earlier this week after Miami Police
According to the arrest documents, the man was a staff member of Pinecrest Cove Preparatory Academy.
It was revealed that the same man had an open sexual battery case against him concerning a 14-year-old in Indian River County.
Bobby Riggs was the former tennis player best known for losing against Billie Jean King in the 1973 "Battle of the Sexes" match.
The Martin County Sheriff's Office is putting all of Florida on high alert for Jesus Tamanis Peralta, 37, who has been on the run since December.
The fire has since been extinguished, according to fire authorities, and crews remained on scene conducting overhaul and ensuring the area is safe.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue was alerted to the blaze, which started shortly after 3 p.m. on a private farming property.
The South Florida-based airline, which had been operating for 34 years, advised customers not to go to the airport.
A suspect was arrested in the shooting where both men were found by officers with multiple gunshot wounds.
As of Saturday evening, there had been 8 total threats reported, from bomb threats to unspecified threatening calls, where police did a sweep and found no danger to the public.
The fire has since been extinguished, according to fire authorities, and crews remained on scene conducting overhaul and ensuring the area is safe.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue was alerted to the blaze, which started shortly after 3 p.m. on a private farming property.
The South Florida-based airline, which had been operating for 34 years, advised customers not to go to the airport.
A suspect was arrested in the shooting where both men were found by officers with multiple gunshot wounds.
As of Saturday evening, there had been 8 total threats reported, from bomb threats to unspecified threatening calls, where police did a sweep and found no danger to the public.
In courtroom testimony, Shandelle Maycock recounted the harrowing night her daughter was abandoned in the Everglades, describing the horrors they endured.
A former prison guard trainee has been sentenced to death for the 2019 execution-style killings of five women inside a Florida bank.
Florida coach Billy Napier is getting a fourth season to try to get the Gators back to their winning ways.
A Florida man has filed a federal lawsuit against Jacksonville sheriff's officers who severely beat him last year after he ran from a traffic stop.
The Marion County Sheriff's deputy told authorities that he accidentally shot and killed his girlfriend while cleaning his gun.
State lawmakers approved the new map, which deeply affects both Wasserman Schultz and fellow Democratic congressman Jared Moskowitz.
The Republican governors of Tennessee and Alabama called state lawmakers into special sessions on Friday, initial steps in what could be a scramble to redraw congressional maps after the Supreme Court narrowed the Voting Rights Act.
The new measures increase pressure on foreign financial institutions by threatening their access to U.S. markets if they continue to work with Cuban government entities.
A federal judge scolded prosecutors for pushing to move forward with detention proceedings for accused correspondents' dinner gunman Cole Allen, even though Allen agreed to remain in custody.
President Trump said earlier this week he was reviewing the possible reduction of troops in Germany, which hosts more than 35,000 U.S. service members.
In an interview on Facing South Florida, Wasserman Schultz said the Governor's efforts to redraw the maps will almost certainly violate the Fair Districts constitutional amendment voters in Florida passed in 2010.
Several commissioners have raised questions about how the center would be funded in future years.
The center – which was promised to voters back in 2004 – would take mentally ill individuals out of the jail and move them into a place where they can receive comprehensive treatment and support.
Luna said she expects Florida Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick to be the next member who either resigns or gets expelled.
Uthmeier was asked several times during a press conference in Miami this week if he had formally requested the judge overseeing the grand jury to keep the findings secret.
Seventy-three percent of Americans say delays and denials of medical treatment by healthcare insurers are a major problem. Now, a company called Sheer Health says they will fight insurance battles on behalf of their clients.
An unlicensed cosmetologist from Florida has been found guilty in a California court for providing an injection that killed a model who was known as a Kim Kardashian lookalike, prosecutors said.
Food containing norovirus may smell and taste normal but still cause serious illness if consumed, FDA warns.
HHS Secretary RFK Jr. wants the popular coffee chains to prove their surgery drinks are safe for teens and suggested the Trump administration could place limits on your cup of coffee.
Tests of dozens of baby formulas by Consumer Reports found that nearly half contained potentially dangerous chemicals.
AARP is sounding the alarm because it is so easy to fall for these schemes, but there are simple things everyone can do to protect themselves.
A lawsuit filed late last month took Chicago-based McDonald's to task over the McRib sandwich, calling its name a form of false advertising.
Florida insurance policyholders could be seeing some form of relief in their wallets thanks to market reforms made statewide, Gov. Ron DeSantis said.
The company said Tuesday that 85% of its retail products and "nearly all" of its school offerings are already made without "certified colors."
Less than two days after Delta Air Lines offered $30,000 to each passenger on board the flight that crashed and flipped in Toronto on Monday afternoon, the company is facing its first two lawsuits in the incident — and they likely won't be the last.
Attending this year's Kentucky Derby meant more for thoroughbred expert Mark Toothaker, who suffered a seizure from laughing at a whiffed NFL field goal attempt that led to a lifesaving diagnosis.
David Allan Coe also had hits with "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" and "The Ride" among others.
Jake was at the funeral for one of his closest friends when he learned of his parents' deaths, he said.
Michael Tilson Thomas, the 12-time Grammy Award winning composer and famed conductor who led the San Francisco Symphony for a quarter century, has died.
Afrika Bambaataa, a rapper and producer, was best known for breakthrough tracks like 1982's "Planet Rock" and for founding the Universal Zulu Nation art collective.