Sheriff’s Office Rejoins Partnerships With US Marshals, FBI
December 17, 2015
After a meeting between the new Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida, Christoper Carnova, and Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan. the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office will be rejoining the Regional Fugitive Task Force with the U.S. Marshal’s Office as well as the Joint Terrorism Task Force with the FBI. The sheriff and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had continued to work together under a memo of agreement on a local “Gun Crime Task Force”.
In the meeting, Carnova assured the sheriff that joint coordination and communication would be paramount in future relationships. The previous U.S. Attorney ignored repeated contacts made by the Sheriff’s Office to address issues that were occurring between agencies, according to an ECSO press release.
Joining the JTTF requires a deputy to be detached to work with the FBI. In the past, security clearances prevented management at the ECSO to be briefed as to what cases the deputy was working. Carnova has offered to have a member of the Sheriff’s command staff receive the same clearances so the ECSO can be assured that the cases being worked are beneficial to the local taxpayers, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Molino Park Elementary Students Build Birdhouses
December 17, 2015
Students at Molino Park Elementary School built birdhouses this week with the help of parents and volunteers from Lowest on Nine Mile Road, a MPES Partner in Education. Organizers said the students and parents enjoyed working together toward a common end goal.
Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Cool Down Begins
December 17, 2015
Here is your official North Escambia area forecast:
Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 41. Northwest wind around 5 mph.
Friday: Sunny, with a high near 56. North wind 5 to 10 mph.
Friday Night: Clear, with a low around 30. North wind around 5 mph.
Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 57. Northeast wind around 5 mph.
Saturday Night: Clear, with a low around 32. East wind around 5 mph.
Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 63. Southeast wind around 5 mph.
Sunday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 52. East wind around 5 mph.
Monday: A 40 percent chance of showers. Cloudy, with a high near 70. Southeast wind around 5 mph.
Monday Night: Showers likely. Cloudy, with a low around 61. Southeast wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Tuesday: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Cloudy, with a high near 71. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Tuesday Night: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Cloudy, with a low around 62. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Wednesday: Showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Cloudy, with a high near 73. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
Wednesday Night: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy, with a low around 63.
Thursday: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 74.
Northview Grad Neiko Robinson Signs With South Alabama Jaguars
December 17, 2015
Northview High School graduate Neiko Robinson signed Wednesday with the South Alabama Jaguars.
All total, six junior-college transfers — all but one on the defensive side of the ball — signed National Letters-of-Intent with the University of South Alabama football program on Wednesday and will enroll in school in January.
Cornerback Robinson played the last two seasons at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, where he helped the Bulldogs finish in the top-10 of the final NJCAA poll each year while winning eight contests.
As a sophomore, Robinson posted a total of 44 tackles and broke up six passes, with the latter figure the second-best on the team, while recording 42 stops and five passes defended his first year with the program. In 2014 he was credited with a career-best eight stops in a Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges semifinal contest against No. 2 East Mississippi Community College with a season-high seven tackles in the Bulldogs’ win at Southwest Mississippi Community Colege.
Robinson — who is 6-foot, 175 pounds and from Century — was a first-team all-state selection each of his final two seasons at the high school level. Robinson was a member of the Northview Chief’s first-ever state championship team in 2012.
The South Alabama Jaguars finished 5-7 last season while facing a schedule that included seven opponents that would go on to earn an invitation to a postseason bowl, including a 34-27 overtime victory at eventual Mountain West Conference champion San Diego State.
Pictured top: Neiko Robinson (14) played the last two seasons with Mississippi Gulf Coast Community. Courtesy photo. PiIctured below; Robinson celebrates after the Northview Chiefs won the 2012 Class 1A station championship in Orlando. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.
First Baptist Century Youth Share Sounds Of Christmas Joy
December 17, 2015
Youth from the Century First Baptist Church went Christmas caroling Wednesday night for the sixth consecutive year. The group visited nine homes in Century and residents the Century Health and Rehabilitation Center, spreading the joyous news of the season. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Deadline Is Friday For FY2016 USDA NRCS Conservation Assistance Programs
December 17, 2015
Friday is the deadline to signup for fiscal year 2016 USDA NRCS conservation assistance programs.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) offers free help to Florida agricultural producers to prevent soil erosion, improve water quality, restore wetlands and provide habitat for wildlife. Working with our staff, you can develop a conservation plan, receive technical assistance and explore what conservation practices may be eligible for cost share funding. All NRCS programs are strictly voluntary.
The following programs are available:
Conservation Technical Assistance Program (CTA) is available to any group or individual interested in conserving their natural resources and sustaining agricultural production. Included in this program is a mutually agreed to conservation plan for your land.
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) provides financial and technical assistance to help plan and implement conservation practices to improve soil, water, plant, animal, air and related resources on agricultural land and non-industrial private forestland.
Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP) provides financial and technical assistance to help conserve agricultural lands and wetlands. This includes two components:
* Agricultural Land Easements help farmers and ranchers keep their land in agriculture. Eligible partners are Indian tribes, state and local governments and non-governmental organizations that have farmland or grassland protection programs.
* Wetland Reserve Easements offer technical and financial assistance directly to private landowners and Indian tribes to restore, protect and enhance wetlands through the purchase of a wetland easement.
Although applications are accepted on a continuous basis for all programs, Florida NRCS has established an application cut-off date of December 18, 2015, for the 2016 program year. Other programs may have different cut-off dates.
For more information, call (850) 587-5404 or stop by the USDA/NRCS office in Molino at 151 Highway 197.
Woman Convicted Of Elaborate Plan To Torture, Kill Ex, Burn House Down
December 17, 2015
State Attorney Bill Eddins announced that Nadine Sapp Harris, age 60, was convicted by an Escambia County jury for charges of attempted first degree murder, attempted false imprisonment, attempted arson, aggravated assault with a firearm, and battery. The charges stem from an elaborate plan to ambush, capture, torture and kill her ex-husband and to burn down the marital home.
Over a course of weeks Harris distributed hundreds of pounds of shredded or crumpled paper bundled into plastic grocery bags throughout the entirety of the three-story Escambia County home she had shared with her ex-husband. She placed paper in every dresser and cabinet drawer in the house, in cardboard boxes in every room, and inside the heating and cooling closets, return air vents and attic of the home. Some of the grocery bags were stacked in pyramid configurations placed into corners to maximize the intended fire’s intensity.
Harris planted over 115 drinking bottles that had been filled approximately one-third full with gasoline with the cap on. She also purchased thirteen bottles of charcoal lighter fluid from nearby Home Depot and Walmart stores on three separate trips, along with wooden dowels. She cut the wooden dowels down to 6-inch lengths and presoaked them in the lighter fluid to act as kindling for the fire. She also soaked the paper and all the mattresses in the home with lighter
fluid.
Then, on June 27th, 2014, Harris lured her ex-husband to the home. She parked her car three miles away and then sent him a text message that she was vacating the house – a condition of their divorce. Then she laid in wait. When the victim
came inside, she was waiting for him with a gun. She confronted him in the living room near the front door, and told him that she “was going to end it right here.” The evidence suggests she intended suicide as well as murder.
One fact saved the victim’s life. He had brought witnesses. The witnesses were outside at the time of the confrontation, but were within earshot. When Nadine Harris moved to close the open door, the victim desperately lunged for the gun. As they fought for control of the gun, Nadine Harris discharged one shot. The bullet missed the victim and buried itself in a wall.
After the discharge, the victim successfully disarmed the defendant and tossed the gun outside. He broke his hand in the process. After being disarmed of the handgun, Nadine Harris then produced a stun gun and attempted to shock the victim with it. He knocked the stun gun out of her hand. Then she pulled out a can of pepper spray and sprayed the victim. Nevertheless, after being sprayed with pepper spray, he wrestled the defendant to the ground and held her down until law enforcement arrived. While being held down, she also bit his forearm causing a significant wound.
The subsequent investigation conducted by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and the State Fire Marshal’s Office revealed the extent of the defendant, Nadine Harris’s plan. They discovered the arson preparations. They discovered that within arm’s reach of where Nadine Harris had confronted her ex-husband, she had planted zip ties fashioned to serve as handcuffs, a strip of duct tape precut and ready to grab, a rope tied with a noose, and a small black duffel bag. Inside the duffel bag, Nadine Harris had placed the accelerant-soaked dowel rods, a lighter, a box of safety matches, more zip-tie handcuffs, a roll of duct tape, a pair of socks potentially to be used as a gag, a screwdriver, a folding camping saw, a drywall saw, and two clear easy-access containers full of muriatic acid.
Nadine Harris will be sentenced by Circuit Judge Scott Duncan on January 12, 2016. She is facing a minimum mandatory sentence of 20 years and a maximum sentence of up to life in state prison. The minimum mandatory sentence of 20 years is to be served day for day without the possibility of parole or gain time.
Navy Federal Contributes To Toys For Tots Program
December 17, 2015
Members of the United States Marine Corps visited the Navy Federal Credit Union Heritage Oaks campus in Beulah Tuesday afternoon to collect donations for the annual Toys for Tots campaign.
“We have some very caring and generous team members in Pensacola,” said Debbie Calder, executive vice president of Navy Federal’s Greater Pensacola Operations. “We are committed to serving our members and the communities where we operate, and this is another example of the heart our employees have for this community.”
Navy Federal has been collecting the new, unwrapped gifts since November 11th. During that time, employees, along with visitors to the credit union’s branches in Beulah and Pace, have donated more than 1,500 toys plus an additional four bicycles.
“We have employees who begin their Toys for Tots planning in the spring,” said Donald Belcher, Navy Federal training supervisor. “This effort is the highlight of the Christmas season for some of our team members. The toys will help bring joy to needy children in our area and that helps bring me joy as well.”
In addition to the toys that were collected, Navy Federal donated $1,500 to the Toys for Tots foundation.
The primary goal of the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program is to help less fortunate children experience the joy of Christmas. Once they are collected by the Marines, the toys are then distributed to the communities where the toys were collected.
In addition to its support of Toys for Tots, Navy Federal Credit Union’s campus in Beulah is also supporting the Council on Aging’s Adopt a Senior program and recently expanded its “Adopt a Family” program though the Escambia County School District.
“The Pensacola community has been such a terrific partner for us,” Calder said, “and we are proud of how our employees and members have given back this holiday season.”
Pictured above and inset: The Toys for Toys campaign at Navy Federal Credit Union. Pictured below: (L-R) Donald Belcher, training supervisor at Navy Federal, Debbie Calder, executive vice president at Navy Federal, Corporal Stephanie Lawler and Corporal Amador Garcia (both from Marine Aviation Training Support Group 42). Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Cantonment Man Charged With Attempted Murder, Home Invasion
December 16, 2015
A Cantonment man has been charged with attempted homicide and home invasion.
Zanterrial DeJohn Carter, 22, and another suspect allegedly entered a home on Spink Lane in Escambia County last month and held a resident down on the bed while striking him repeatedly in the head with a knife or small hatchet. The victim suffered deep wounds to his scalp and a broken arm from attempts to block the blows.
The victim told deputies that he believed Carter intended to kill him, and the only reason he survived is because he played dead during the attack.
Several items, including a TV, laptop computer and desktop computer were stolen during the incident, according to an arrest report. The total value of stolen item was $1,734.
Carter was charged with attempted homicide, home invasion robbery and grand theft. He was booked into the Escambia County Jail with bond set at $302,500. Carter was arrested Tuesday during a traffic stop on Creighton Road.
The second suspect, identified as 18-year-old Damian Terell Bush, was arrested on November 21, 2015.
Escambia County Funds Criminal Justice, Firefighter Academies
December 16, 2015
The Escambia County School District will soon have two new programs designed to help train, recruit and employ local talent within Escambia County.
Tuesday, Escambia County District 5 Commissioner Steven Barry, on behalf of the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners, presented a $50,000 check to the Escambia County Public Schools Foundation for two public safety academies — the Escambia County Firefighter Academy at Pine Forest High School and the Escambia County Criminal Justice Academy at Escambia High School.
The presentation was made Tuesday night during an Escambia County School Board meeting.
Photos for NorthEscambia.coms, click to enlarge.
