MARIANNA – A convicted sex offender who was nearing his release from prison has instead been ordered to the Florida Civil Commitment Center as a Sexually Violent Predator under the Jimmy Ryce Act, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Eddie Caldwell, 63, has a long history of arrests and spent the bulk of the last 30 years in prison – most recently for Sexual Battery. He was set for release, but Assistant State Attorney Zach Taylor proved to 6 jurors in a civil trial Tuesday that the defendant had been to prison 11 times, did not take long to reoffend upon each release, was “unusually persistent” in repeating his behavior despite the repercussions, and was likely to offend again.

The jury took 42 minutes to find that the defendant was a Sexually Violent Offender under the Ryce Act and Chief Circuit Court Judge Christopher Patterson ordered him to be held at the Florida Civil Commitment Center where he can receive treatment. He will be re-evaluated at least once a year.

“He’s been offending and committing serious crimes, the evidence will show, since “M*A*S*H” was on television and “Dynasty” was popular and before there were cell phones,” Taylor told jurors. “It’s hard to (overlook) these 11 incarcerations and this most recent case.

“We wouldn’t be here today if not for his history of similar crimes,” Taylor continued. “What we have here is a pattern of disrespect and violence toward female victims.”

The Jimmy Ryce Act is a civil commitment process, after a prison sentence, for the most dangerous sexual offenders in the state. The State most prove the offender has been convicted of a sexually violent offense, that he suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder, and that the disorder makes it likely he would offend again.

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Dr. Gregory Prichard, a clinical and forensic psychologist, was one of two experts to testify that the defendant met the criteria.

“For Mr. Caldwell it’s been an exceptional number of sexually motivated crimes and an exceptional number of general crimes,” Prichard told jurors, referring to 9 of the previous offenses. “I really cannot emphasize enough how extremely rare that is.

 

 

“When he gets back into the community he generally offends again,” he continued. “He’s very, very persistent, which is unusual.”

Prichard testified that is a “strong indicator” the defendant would offend again.

“He doesn’t have any qualms about breaking the law, hurting other people, taking peoples’ things,” Prichard said. “It doesn’t deter him like most other people that he might be arrested and imprisoned again.”

The defendant’s most recent offense that sent him to prison was in 2010 when he was charged with Sexual Battery and Lewd and Lascivious Offense on a Disabled Adult. Previous arrests going back to 1985 include 2 charges of Sexual Battery, committing a Lewd and Lascivious Act, and charges involving prostitution.

Basford thanked the experts for their work on the case as well as Taylor, who handles all of the Sexually Violent Predator Commitment cases in the 14^th Judicial Circuit.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.

PORT ST. JOE – A man already serving 15 years for one escape is now serving a total of 30 years after pleading no contest to a second escape charge, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Rex Aaron Veasey, 31, and another inmate escaped from the Gulf County Detention Facility Sept. 7, 2021, after beating a correctional officer, dragging him into their cell and locking him inside. On Friday, Circuit Court Judge Devin Collier accepted the defendant’s plea to Principal to Escape and Principal to Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer. The defendant will begin serving this 15-year sentence when he completes the 15-year sentence from his 2020 escape from the same facility.

The first escape came on Oct. 27, 2020, when the defendant scaled two fences to escape from the detention facility’s recreational yard. He was captured about 4 hours later by Bay County the sheriff’s deputies acting on tips law enforcement received. The defendant was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading no contest that escape charge.

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Gulf County Chief Prosecutor Tracy Smith was prepared to call witnesses and present evidence that the defendant, who had been arrested for Sexual Battery, False Imprisonment, and Aggravated Assault, and a co-defendant were inmates at the facility when they attacked a correctional officer and dragged him into their cell, where they continued to strike him. The two locked the officer in the cell and ultimately made their way into the jail’s kitchen, prying the AC unit from the wall and escaping through the hole that created. Officers from multiple agencies converged and through the use of tips, drones, helicopters, tracking dogs from law enforcement and the Department of Corrections, the defendant was captured in Franklin County about 10 hours after his escape.

“The outpouring of assistance from multiple agencies across the region resulted in the defendant being caught the same day.  This demonstrates that our law enforcement agencies put the public’s safety first,” Smith said. “Our prosecution and resulting prison sentences on those cases show our support for that mission. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to keep our neighborhoods safe.”

Basford thanked all of the law enforcement agencies involved for their collaborative efforts in capturing the defendant and the evidence they gathered that helped lead to a plea.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.

MARIANNA –Trayvon Leon Dorsey, set for trial this week for the 2020 shooting death of Shannon Weatherington, pled to the charge Monday morning, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, State
Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Dorsey, 21, of Dothan, Ala., pled no contest to Second Degree Murder with a Firearm and was adjudicated guilty by Circuit Court Judge Ana Maria Garcia. Judge Garcia accepted the plea agreement of 30 years in prison with the first 25 years being minimum-mandatory.

Jackson County Chief Prosecutor Shalla Jefcoat was prepared to present witnesses and evidence proving that the defendant shot the victim twice when something went wrong during an arranged marijuana buy in the restroom of a local fast-food business on Nov. 21, 2020.

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The defendant, who the evidence showed had paid for a haircut earlier in the day with counterfeit money, was supposed to be buying marijuana from the victim. Graceville Police found counterfeit bills in the victim’s possession, in the car the defendant fled in and in his home, where they also recovered the .38-caliber pistol used in the shooting.

Based on witnesses and video evidence, Jefcoat said the state’s theory pointed toward the defendant using counterfeit money to try to pay for the drugs, the victim noticing the bills were not real as the defendant started to leave, and the defendant reacting by turning back and shooting the victim twice.

“This is a significant case, as any homicide is, but it happened in public in a place where people have a right to feel safe,” Jefcoat said. “And it shows that whatever the circumstances, verbal disputes cannot be settled by gunfire and deadly force. And when that happens, justice will be served.”

Jefcoat said the evidence gathered by Graceville Police, former State Attorney’s Office Investigator Jeremy Pelfrey, and witnesses showed that a co-defendant helped set up a marijuana purchase between the victim and the defendant, who did not know each other.

The victim and friends arrived at the business, with the victim and defendant heading to the restroom for the drug deal. The evidence showed that as they left the restroom, the victim appeared to say something to the defendant, who turned around shot him twice before fleeing in a car driven by the co-defendant.

Basford thanked the Graceville Police Department and other agencies for their work and noted SAO Inv. Pelfrey responded from another county to assist and played a key role in the case.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.

CHIPLEY – A Chipley man found guilty earlier this year of possessing and trafficking in methamphetamine has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

William Lowell Rogers, 51, of Chipley, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by Chief Circuit Court Judge Christopher Patterson, who also ordered a $100,000 fine.

Under Florida’s drug trafficking laws, Rogers was facing a minimum-mandatory sentence of at least 7 years because of the amount of methamphetamine involved (37 grams).

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Washington County Chief Prosecutor Megan Ford called four witnesses and presented evidence at the defendant’s Feb. 14 trial proving that the Washington County Drug Task Force and Washington County Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant on the defendant’s home Sept. 12, 2021. The search warrant came after a series of controlled buys at the home by law enforcement.

Testimony and evidence showed that the defendant – the only person in the home – denied there were any drugs there. But the search turned up 37 grams of methamphetamine.

Basford thanked Washington County authorities for the task force’s work and the strong case put together for prosecution.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.

 

 

 

A U.S. Army veteran, former Marianna prosecutor, and private practice attorney is now the State Attorney’s Office newest Bay County prosecutor.

State Attorney Larry Basford swore in Zachary VanDyke Monday morning and announced his return to the SAO effective today.

“This office has a great reputation and out of all my years of practicing law, the State Attorney’s Office in Marianna was the coolest job that I ever had,” VanDyke said, adding, “Up until I got to sit in this chair in Panama City.”

VanDyke ran a private practice law firm the last 10 years in Panama City, serving as lead counsel in about 10-12 trials each year. From 2005-2007 he served as a prosecutor in the SAO Marianna office where he carried a load of about 200 misdemeanor and felony cases.

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VanDyke joined the U.S. Army in 1988 and became a commissioned officer in 1996 after a break in service for college. VanDyke graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law in 2004 and served in the Alabama Army National Guard from 2006-2014, retiring with the rank of Major and a combined 22 years of active and guard service

Originally from Birmingham, Ala., VanDyke said he has long felt the pull of living in Bay County.

“My family lives here and I love this place, and I want to contribute to making it safer by protecting the people of the community,” he said.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.

 

 

 

A jury that heard four days of testimony took 22 minutes Friday to find a woman guilty of causing the death of her 7-week-old infant by leaving her in a car for hours while she was on methamphetamine, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Megan Elizabeth Dauphin, 32, of Panama City, was taken into custody and ordered held without bond after being found guilty of Aggravated Manslaughter of a Child. Circuit Court Judge Dustin Stephenson set sentencing for May 3. Dauphin faces up to 30 years in prison for the first-degree felony.

Prosecutor Peter Overstreet called more than a dozen witnesses and presented evidence proving the defendant left her home with the infant the morning of Sept. 2, 2020, and forgot to get her out of the car when she returned around 9 a.m. It wasn’t until about four and a half hours later that a young teen in the home, who had been asleep, asked where the baby was. At first the defendant said the living room, but when told the infant was not there, testimony was that she froze for a few seconds before screaming and running to her vehicle.

Testimony from medical experts showed the level of methamphetamine in the defendant’s blood, and her behavior, proved she was under the influence at the time her infant died.

“Every child deserves a chance, and every child deserves love and care,” Overstreet said after the verdict. “Even though this infant did not get that in her 7 weeks of life with her mother, this verdict shows that the people of Bay County care.”

The defendant, who told Bay County Sheriff’s Department investigators that day that she had not used drugs, testified on her own behalf. She initially denied using methamphetamine and said the doctors and tests on her blood were wrong. Under cross examination she admitted to using methamphetamine, but said it was two days before her daughter’s death.

Overstreet reiterated to jurors the defendant’s denial of drug use despite it being found in her blood and her denial of overdosing and being given Narcan by police to revive her a week after her baby was born.

In particular, he attacked her claims that when she did use methamphetamine, it was because it helped her focus and that the drug did not have any “negative” effects on her.

“So is that why you elected to use methamphetamine, because it gives you all these positive results? Is that what you’re telling this jury?” Overstreet asked. “You don’t think your use of this illicit drug over this period of time affected the way your brain worked; you don’t think it affects your ability to remember things?”

The defendant said no, adding that it “helped” her stay on task and focus.

At the end of his closing argument, Overstreet told jurors that the defendant’s claims that methamphetamine had no negative affects on her spoke volumes and her version of events did not match other testimony or the evidence.

“Megan Dauphin came into this courtroom Monday wearing the cloak of innocent-until-proven guilty,” he said. “And now it’s been removed, and you’ve seen her exposed for what she truly is: a person guilty of Aggravated Manslaughter of a Child.”

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Basford thanked the Sheriff’s Office deputies and investigators for their work, the Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center, as well as experts from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Dr. Bruce Goldberger, a forensic toxicologist at the University of Florida.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.

A man found guilty Wednesday of sexually assaulting a young girl over a period of years faces Life in prison at his May sentencing, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Sean Michael Talkington, 45, was found guilty as charged of 2 counts of Sexual Battery on a Person Less than 12 Years of Age, and 1 count each of Lewd or Lascivious Battery, and Lewd or Lascivious Molestation. Circuit Court Judge Brantley Clark set his sentencing for May 17.

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Prosecutor Nicole Reed called four witnesses and presented evidence that proved the defendant repeatedly sexually assaulted the victim between 2005 and 2012.

“I’m thankful that this victim was able to find the strength to tell her story in 2021 when she was ready to speak her truth and that we were able to seek justice,” Reed said. “We got a swift verdict, showing the jury believed her testimony.”

The jury deliberated for just over 30 minutes before finding the defendant guilty on all four counts.

Among the state witnesses were Bay County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Jake Roberts and Lawrence, Kansas, Police Department Sgt. Jamie Lawson, who traveled to Bay County to testify. Roberts was the case agent. Sgt. Lawson conducted an interview with the defendant in Kansas during which the defendant made admissions.

Basford thanked the BCSO and Lawrence, Kansas police for their collaborative work on a case that spanned years and nearly 1,000 miles.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.

Three new prosecutors formally joined the SAO team Wednesday after being sworn in as members of the Florida Bar, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Alexa Brockell, JP Ferreira, and Madeline Roney were sworn into the Florida Bar Wednesday morning by County Court Judge Shane Vann. Following that, Basford swore in all three as prosecutors for the 14^th Judicial Circuit.

“Alexa, JP and Madeline have been working as legal interns for us and have demonstrated their commitment to doing their best to keep our community safe,” Basford said. “They bring with them a level of energy and enthusiasm that will serve our residents well.”

In the first proceedings of the morning, Judge Vann, a former assistant state attorney, congratulated the three on their accomplishments and decisions to work for the public good as prosecutors.

“Today is the culmination of a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifices that you have made,” Vann said. “Today is the end of that part of your life and the beginning of your legal career. I admire the choices you have made and I will also tell you that being an assistant state attorney will be the most exciting part of your career.”

Brockell majored in Criminology/Criminal Justice at Florida State University before obtaining her law degree from the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

 

“I’m excited to be in a position where I can help people by doing what I think is right,” Brockell said. “The teamwork and respect at the State Attorney’s Office makes it a great environment to learn how I can best contribute to the community as a whole.”

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Ferreira received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Rollins College and subsequently his law degree from the Florida State University College of Law.

 “Becoming an Assistant State Attorney isn’t just about achieving a title; it’s about using your skill to serve justice, improve your community, and aid the common good,” Ferreira said. “For me, success is about the collective impact of the entire team at the State Attorney’s Office. I look forward to learning from them and serving the people of Bay County.”

Roney received her Bachelor of Science, Political Science, from Oklahoma State University and her law degree from the Florida State University College of Law.

“I have always had a strong desire to work in the State Attorney’s Office and am especially passionate about prosecuting sex crimes,” Roney said. “I have strong ties to the Panama City area and am committed to seeking justice for victims of crime in our circuit.”

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.

A woman who admitted possessing and selling Methamphetamine after a search warrant was served on her home was found guilty as charged Tuesday and faces up to 30 years in prison, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Jacqueline Michelle Long, 48, of Panama City was found guilty of Trafficking in Methamphetamine (28 grams or more) and Possession of Paraphernalia after jurors deliberated for about 15 minutes. Circuit Court Judge Devin Collier set sentencing for May 1. The offense is a first-degree felony punishable by a minimum/mandatory 7 years and up to 30 years in prison.

Prosecutor Josh James presented witnesses and evidence proving that deputies found about 34 grams of Methamphetamine in the defendant’s home when they served a search warrant May 7, 2021.

“Thanks to the hard work and diligent investigation of Bay County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Doug Cummings and Sgt. Jeremy Head, a confessed narcotics dealer will now be held accountable for her actions,” James said. “Methamphetamine is a particularly dangerous drug, and because it is highly addictive and cheap, its prevalence has been a plague in Bay County.

“We appreciate the jury’s verdict because it sends a message to the drug traffickers and dealers endangering our residents that their actions will not be tolerated and they will answer for their crimes.”

Testimony showed a Sheriff’s Office investigation generated enough evidence for them to obtain a search warrant, which they served on May 7, 2021. The defendant and a male co-defendant were present.

Investigators found two baggies of Methamphetamine totaling about 34 grams, hundreds of smaller baggies for distributing the drug, cash, and digital scales.

In Head’s bodycam footage, the defendant states the drugs are hers and. “there ain’t no more to find, you found it all.” She further explains that although she had originally bought a larger quantity, some of it had already been sold.

 

Basford thanked the BCSO investigators for the thoroughness of their case and the strong evidence they gathered.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.

An investigation that started with a planned $20 crack cocaine buy last year ended Thursday with a Panama City man being found guilty of Trafficking in Fentanyl and Cocaine, as well as other charges, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

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A jury found Stanley Ashe, 38, guilty of Trafficking in Fentanyl, Trafficking in Cocaine, Possession of Methamphetamine, Unlawful Use of a Two-Way Communications Device, and two misdemeanors.

Lead Prosecutor Nichole Pieper referenced the defendant’s lengthy criminal history and the rash of Fentanyl-related overdoses across the state while asking Circuit Court Judge Timothy Register for the maximum sentence. The Fentanyl weighed between 14-28 grams, so under Florida’s drug trafficking laws the defendant faced a minimum 15-year sentence and up to 30 years on that charge alone.

Register agreed, noting the defendant had multiple previous convictions, and sentenced him to 30 years on that charge. His prison time on the other charges will run concurrent with the 30-year sentence.

“As long as traffickers continue to bring these poisons into our communities, our law enforcement agencies will continue to pursue them and our office will continue to put them away for as long as possible,” Pieper said. “The Panama City Police Department put together a strong case for prosecution and their actions kept a large number of deadly drugs from ever reaching the streets.”

Pieper and co-Prosecutor Morgan McAfee called 5 witnesses and introduced evidence showing that Panama City police carried out a “controlled phone call” between a confidential informant and the defendant on April 5, 2022.

Testimony showed that the defendant met with the person at a location near U.S. 231 and Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard, to sell $20 worth of crack cocaine. Capt. Kristain Shaw, Inv. Ray McNeil and Sgt. Joshua Seigler set up surveillance, but the deal was not consummated.

Officers knew the defendant did not have a valid driver’s license and conducted a traffic stop. They smelled the odor of marijuana and found methamphetamine in the defendant’s wallet. Inside was a backpack with 22 grams of Fentanyl, about 30 grams of Cocaine, 18 multi-colored pills containing Fentanyl, and Methamphetamine. They also found a loaded .38-caliber revolver and a digital scale.

Basford thanked Panama City police for their work on the case that prevented a large quantity of drugs from being sold on the street.

For more information, contact Mike Cazalas at mike.cazalas@sa14.fl.gov, or call 850-381-7454.