Top Miami Area Local News Stories
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<p> Miami-Dade police busted a marijuana grow house Wednesday night and seized about 100 pounds of pot. </p><p> Police broke down the door of a house located at 8517 SW 166 Pl. after receiving a call about shots fired in the area. Narcotics detectives said there were 24 plants found in two rooms of the full grow house. </p><p> They said people did or do live in the house, however no one was immediately arrested. </p>
Published: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 01:59:15 GMT
<p> Four Miamians, two men and two women, were arrested by Miami-Dade detectives Wednesday in connection with an elaborate and audacious scheme in which prosecutors said they pretended to sell homes in foreclosure or with unpaid property taxes.</p><p> "This was a fraud of absolute squandered trust," said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle at a news conference. "Today, we are announcing the arrest of four individuals who used sheer audacity to rip off unsuspecting investors to the tune of nearly $2.5 million over nearly two years."</p><p> READ: Suspect information</p><p> The four charged with racketeering, grand theft and forging documents were identified as Ayda Young, Yohany Garcia, Zoraida Abreu and Johnny Bou-Nassar, all of Miami-Dade. </p><p> The state attorney said they told prospective buyers they had insiders within Miami-Dade County government who could take homes in foreclosure off the auction list and sell them for deeply discounted prices. They also allegedly offered to provide tax certificates for homes in arrears on property taxes. Miami-Dade Inspector General Chris Mazella said no county employee was involved in the scheme.</p><p> The four suspects were in custody late Wednesday, awaiting bond hearings.</p>
Published: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:50:00 GMT
<p> Police said a teenage girl who said she was abducted while walking to a school bus stop Tuesday morning knew the man she was discovered with in a motel room eight hours later. </p><p> Jade Beneby, 17, was whisked inside her home by family members late Tuesday night, but whether she told them how or why she ended up in the motel room 55 miles away remains unclear. </p><p> Police said her run-in with a man at the bus stop early Tuesday morning wasn't a random encounter. </p><p> "I've been told by the detective sergeant that there is some type of link between the suspect and victim, and what we wanted the community to know is that there isn't a random person out there grabbing children when they are at the bus stops and putting them in the car," said Delray Beach police spokeswoman Sgt. Nicole Gurreiro. </p><p> Beneby set off a statewide search after she sent text messages to her mother saying she was in trouble and in the trunk of a silver car. Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents found her at about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at the El Paraiso motel on Okeechobee Road in Hialeah, from where they towed a silver Mercedes. </p><p> Police have interviewed the man she was with. They won't say who he is, how old he is or how the two knew each other, but they are calling him a suspect. </p><p> "We are investigating fully as an abduction. In that case we would consider him a suspect because of the allegations that she made," said Gurreiro.</p>
Published: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:03:25 GMT
<p> The fight over the multimillion-dollar fortune of slain Fontainebleau heir Ben Novack Jr. is heating up in Broward County court. </p><p> His blood relatives filed a petition in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, asking the court to determine the heirs of the fortune.</p><p> Novack's ex-wife, Narcy Novack, is accused of killing him in a New York Hotel in July 2009. She is set to go to trial in April. </p><p> Right now, Narcy Novack’s daughter, Ben Novack's stepdaughter, May Abad, stands to inherit his millions. Relatives feel that is an injustice, seeing that Abad's mother may be convicted of killing him and could benefit from the money her daughter gets it. </p><p> "The law as a matter of public policy does not want the murderess to benefit in any way under the will,” said attorney Mark Hanson on behalf of the petitioners. </p><p> The LaBovick Law Group is representing Ben Novack Jr.'s relatives -- three cousins and a maternal aunt. </p><p> Abad and two teenage sons stand to inherit the trust right now. </p><p> "They have no dignity whatsoever," Abad said. "All they're after is the money. Where have they been all these years?"</p>
Published: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:56:39 GMT
<p> Police are searching for a man who attempted to rob a southwest Miami-Dade County liquor store Wednesday. </p><p> Miami-Dade police said a man went into Kendall Liquors at 9510 S. Dixie Highway just before 2 p.m. and tried to rob the store. </p><p> The store owner shot at the would-be robber, who escaped, police said. </p><p> "We heard two gunshots earlier. A few seconds, actually, after that, we heard four more gunshots," said Alex Rodriguez, who works at a business next door.</p><p> Rodriguez called 911.</p><p> "We saw the owner of the liquor store coming out, and he was just saying, he was screaming at us, 'They tried to hold me up,'" Rodriguez said. "He was very nervous. You could tell from here. We were looking at him from across, and he was very pale. He was very scared."</p><p> Investigators said it is unknown whether the robber was shot. </p><p> Investigators covered the store owner's hand until crime scene technicians could take gunshot residue from it as part of the investigation.</p><p> No arrests have been made.</p>
Published: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:03:05 GMT
<p> As tensions in Syria rise and explosions continue to rock the city of Homs, thousands are leaving the country. </p><p> The Sibai family escaped Syria and came to Sunny Isles Beach. Imad Sibai owned a luxury car dealership in Homs, the site of what has been called the bloodiest offensive since the regime's crackdown on its own people began almost a year ago. </p><p> INTERVIEW: Imad Sibai describes escape</p><p> Sibai was living there with his wife, Lois, who is from Miami, and their four children. </p><p> "I was happy when it started because it was peaceful and everybody was feeling this freedom for the first time," Lois Sibai said. </p><p> But the call for reform quickly turned violent. The Sibais had just left a protest when they said military forces surrounded the group and opened fire. </p><p> "These are unarmed men, women, children. The security forces got around the city center and just moved in and mowing them down like sheep to slaughter," Lois Sibai said. "Then come out and start grabbing the bodies and throwing them into the back garbage trucks, just throwing them in like garage, filling up garbage trucks." </p><p> The security intelligence team then began harassing Imad Sibai, detaining him and making threats, while his wife and children dodged gunfire at home. </p><p> "It is very scary. It's nightmarish, something that being an American I never thought I would be experiencing something like that," Lois Sibai said. The family decided to escape in the middle of the night. </p><p> "Because I saw mothers losing their children, friends of mine whose husband didn't come home," Lois Sibai said.</p><p> But even now, out of harm's way, their fight continues.</p><p> "We are fighting for freedom," Imad Sibai said.</p><p> They said they are rallying support for what they say their people need the most. </p><p> "Give us arms," Imad Sibai said. "At least if we die, we die fighting and not get slaughtered for nothing," </p><p> "If nothing is done, if the international community does not help the Syrian people fight, it will be genocide," Lois Sibai said. </p><p> A group of U.S. senators, including U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, has presented the Obama administration with a resolution asking it to intervene.</p>
Published: Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:00:52 GMT
<p> The parents of a 9-year-old boy at the center of a case involving allegations of abuse were back in a Miami courtroom Wednesday. </p><p> Marsee Strong and Edward Bernard Bailey are out of jail on bond after being charged with aggravated child abuse and child neglect. </p><p> The parents walked into the juvenile courtroom to hear the results of a medical report compiled on their 9-year-old son. </p><p> Last month, the boy climbed out of a window and was found naked and alone wandering in the street near his North Miami Beach home. He weighed just 35 pounds, about half of what doctors said a child his age should weigh. </p><p> Once at the hospital, doctors determined the boy was severely malnourished and told police he was begging nurses for food. More than a hundred marks and other scars could be seen all over his body. </p><p> The medical tests have finally come back on that severely malnourished boy.</p><p> The report concludes that the boy's injuries were both self-inflicted and inflicted by someone else. </p><p> "We still don't know who did this to this bo," said Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Cindy Lederman. </p><p> Department of Children and Families workers revealed to the judge that another sibling within the home was known to beat the 9-year-old. </p><p> "There's no evidence Mom or Dad did anything wrong," said an attorney representing the Department of Children and Families. "Could they have done more? Yes." </p><p> The medical tests were also inconclusive about the cause of the boy's chronic malnutrition. </p><p> Several doctors from Jackson Memorial Hospital, where the boy is being treated, were in the courtroom to deliver the report and testify on the boy's condition. All health care professional agreed that the boy suffers from a mental health disorder and is known to overeat to the point of vomiting. The court hearing was an arraignment where formal charges are presented to the judge. However, dependency cases in juvenile court are considered civil and are handled separately from criminal charges in state court. </p><p> Wednesday's hearing was aimed at determining the level of care and custody the family should have over all six of the couple's children. A worst-case scenario would involve the parents being stripped of all of their parental rights. This did not happen. </p><p> A plea was entered on the parents' behalf as the judge made it clear that she believed the parents had a greater responsibility of keeping their son safe. </p><p> Four of the six kids are in DCF care, including the 9-year old boy who is still recovering at Jackson Memorial Hospital. He will be released within a few days to a medical foster home. </p><p> All of the information collected in juvenile court is being presented to the State Attorney's Office, where prosecutors will have the option of reducing or dropping the criminal charges against the parents. </p><p> Another hearing has been set for March 7.</p>
Published: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:22:18 GMT
See this week's beautiful furry friends waiting at the Humane Society of Broward County to find a caring home.
Published: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 04:34:15 GMT
Laziness can be an addiction... just ask these people; some of the laziest on the planet!
Published: Thu, 24 Feb 2011 22:54:13 GMT
Singing sensation Adele gave the middle finger Tuesday night at the Brit Awards when she was cut off by producers during her acceptance speech. Here are other celebrities who weren't afraid to speak their minds during their moments in the spotlight.
Published: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:49:33 GMT
Local 10 staff Oscar picks: Best Actress
Published: Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:55:09 GMT
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