A Bay County man found guilty of repeatedly sexually battering and molesting a child was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Jacob Lee Hudson, 40, was found guilty Tuesday of 4 counts of Sexual Battery on a Child under the age of 12, 10 counts of Lewd or Lascivious Molestation, and 1 count of Lewd or Lascivious Conduct. Circuit Judge Shonna Young Gay gave the defendant Life in prison on each of the Sexual Battery charges, 25 years minimum-mandatory on each of the Lewd or Lascivious Molestation charges, and 5 years on the final offense.

The 4 Life sentences are to be served consecutively, while the remaining charges will be served concurrently with the first Life sentence. Hudson had previously been sentenced to 7 years in prison for a 2004 Lewd and Lascivious Conduct conviction.

Prosecutor Barbara Beasley presented witnesses and evidence proving that Bay County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called on Aug. 1, 2019, after a woman found out the defendant had been buying the victim gifts.

Deputy Sean Simonson, who responded to the call, talked to the woman about her suspicions and then made contact with the defendant. Simonson testified the defendant stated, “I’m not admitting or denying anything.”

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The child was interviewed and examined by members of the Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center Child Protection Team the same day and it was determined she had been sexually assaulted on multiple occasions. The defendant was arrested that night.

“This was really good work by Deputy Simonson because when he asked the defendant if he had anything to say, and got that response, he immediately put that in his report and documented it and was able to testify to it,” Beasley said. “It helped give credibility to the allegations both early in the investigation and during trial.”

Basford thanked the Bay County Sheriff’s Office for its handling of the initial call and investigation, and the GCCAC for its role and handling of the victim’s interview.

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

A Parker man who witnesses heard muttering he set a house on fire because his gas can “was his only weapon” was found guilty as charged Thursday, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Lance Allan Johnson, 64, was found guilty of Second-Degree Arson, Resisting an Officer with Violence, and Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer after about an hour of deliberations. Circuit Court Judge Brantley Clark set sentencing for March 1.

 

 

Prosecutor Dustin Miller said the day of the arson started with the defendant calling a news outlet and making a threat to commit violence.

“He followed that up later in the day by setting his residence on fire and striking a deputy who was attempting to arrest him,” Miller said. “Thursday, a Bay County jury held him accountable for his actions.

“The State takes these crimes seriously, and I am proud of all the work from the multiple agencies on this case,” Miller continued. “A guilty verdict wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of law enforcement.”

Miller called 9 witnesses, including Parker and Springfield police as well as Bay County Sheriff’s Office deputies who were involved in the arrest and investigation. The evidence included pictures of the structure, which was destroyed by the fire.

The testimony and evidence proved the defendant started a fire in the rear bedroom of the Ethlyn Road structure on March 11. Two witnesses saw the defendant leaving the residence at the time of the fire and heard him saying, “the gas can was his only weapon, to let (the structure) burn.”

A BCSO deputy testified he tried to take the defendant, who had an outstanding warrant, into custody but he resisted, pulled away, and then struck him in the chest with his elbow.

Basford pointed out the collaboration between the various agencies is an example of the area’s public safety work ethic, and results in prosecutors having a stronger case to prosecute.

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

CHIPLEY – A man snared by the Washington County Drug Task Force in 2021 was found guilty Tuesday of possessing and trafficking in methamphetamine, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

A Washington County jury needed only 17 minutes to find William Lowell Rogers, 50, of Chipley, guilty as charged of Trafficking in Methamphetamine (more than 28 grams) and Possession of Methamphetamine with Intent to Sell.

Chief Circuit Court Judge Christopher Patterson set sentencing for March 27.

Under Florida’s drug sentencing laws, the defendant faces a minimum-mandatory 7-year sentence – and up to 30 years – in addition to a $100,000 find on the Trafficking conviction.

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Washington County Chief Prosecutor Megan Ford called four witnesses and presented evidence 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.

The State put on 2 witnesses and entered 18 pieces of evidence, but it was a few minutes of video and the defendant’s own statements that helped a jury reach a guilty verdict in only 7 minutes Thursday, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Charles Kevin Dawson, Jr., was found guilty of Trafficking in Fentanyl (4 grams or more but less than 14 grams), Possession of Oxycodone, Possession of Amphetamines/Methamphetamine, Possession of a Controlled Substance, and Possession of Paraphernalia.

Sentencing followed the verdict, and Prosecutor Frank Sullivan noted the defendant’s criminal record, which includes a Sexual Battery in 2008 and Failure to Register as a Sexual Predator.

“I would point out obviously that the defendant has a criminal history that includes a previous capital offense,” Sullivan said to Circuit Court Judge Brantley Clark. “The State is asking for the maximum on the Trafficking in Fentanyl.”

 

 

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Judge Clark agreed, sentencing the defendant to 30 years on the Trafficking charge and 5 years each on the other drug charges, to be served concurrently with the Trafficking sentence. The defendant was given time served on the paraphernalia charge.

Sullivan presented witnesses and evidence that proved the defendant was in possession of a variety of drugs when Bay County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Jeremy Head led a team serving a search warrant on his room at a Youngstown hotel Feb. 18, 2021.

Video from a GoPro camera showed the entry into the room, where deputies could see 2 Crown Royal bags in plain sight on the bed. The defendant and a woman were in the room, and the defendant quickly told deputies the woman “doesn’t know anything about this.”

The two were taken out of the room and during a search deputies found drugs in the Crown Royal bags and other places, including a plate underneath the bed. They also found mail addressed to the defendant at that address.

“What this case is going to come down to is did the defendant possess the drugs? It’s as simple as that,” Sullivan told jurors in his closing argument. “Ladies and gentlemen, this isn’t a complex case. There isn’t a lot of different pieces of evidence. But what there is proves the defendant is guilty.”

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

A Bay County jury took 19 minutes Friday to find a woman guilty as charged of trafficking in fentanyl and heroin, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Stephanie Anne Hoskins, 55, of Panama City Beach, was found guilty of Trafficking in Fentanyl (4 grams or more), Trafficking in Illegal Drugs (4 grams or more), and Possession of Paraphernalia. Circuit Court Judge Brantley Clark sentenced the defendant to 10 years in prison, with a minimum-mandatory 3 years under Florida’s drug sentencing statutes. She was also fined $100,000.

Prosecutor Josh James called three witnesses and put on evidence proving the defendant and her roommate were under investigation for selling drugs by the Bay County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Division in June, 2021.  A Department of Corrections probation officer conducted a walk-through of the home June 28, 2021, and found a methamphetamine pipe.

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The defendant and co-defendant both consented to a search, and Deputy Gage Cowart testified they recovered 6.02 grams of a heroin/fentanyl mixture. The defendant admitted to deputies that they were “cutting” the heroin with fentanyl – which is cheaper and stronger – and dividing it into 20 packages of 1/3 gram each to increase their profit.

“This is one of those cases where people think they are buying heroin but without their knowledge it’s laced with fentanyl,” James said. “And that’s extremely dangerous because fentanyl is a lot more potent and deadly than heroin and that is where the overdoses are happening.”

The Centers for Disease Control lists fentanyl overdoses as the leading cause of death for Americans between 18-45 years of age.

“A lot of those overdose deaths are a result of people thinking they’re buying heroin or meth when it’s secretly laced with fentanyl,” James said. “Dealers do it for a larger profit margin while putting people at risk.”

Basford credited the Sheriff’s Office for its work seeking out fentanyl dealers and helping to get them off the streets.

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

For the second time in 13 years, Matthew Lee Caylor was sentenced to death Thursday for the 2008 murder and sexual battery of a 13-year-old girl in a Panama City motel, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Chief Circuit Judge Christopher Patterson issued the sentence with a 13-page Sentencing Order that concluded, “The Court finds that the aggravating factors in this case far outweigh the mitigating circumstances.”

The defendant was convicted of First-Degree Murder, Sexual Battery Involving Great Physical Force, and Aggravated Child Abuse in Oct., 2009, and sentenced to death by an 8-4 jury vote. The case was one of dozens across the state where new sentencing hearings were ordered after a 2016 Florida Supreme Court ruling that death sentences required unanimous votes.

“I originally prosecuted and convicted the defendant 13 and a half years ago and I remember well the agony caused by his horrific actions,” Basford said. “I also remember the tireless efforts of the Panama City Police Department and others to investigate and solve this case. In 2009 a Bay County jury and Judge Dedee Costello decided that death was the appropriate sentence for sexually battering and killing this child.

“Judge Patterson, after reviewing the records and hearing all the other relevant evidence has also found that the death sentence was and is proper in this case,” Basford continued. “I agree.”

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The victim, 13, and her family were living in a westside hotel where the defendant also was staying. Evidence and witnesses at the 2009 trial proved Caylor sexually battered the victim in his room and then strangled her to death. He hid her body under the bed, where it was found 2 days later.

The defendant was already in custody on an unrelated charge and admitted to the crimes.

The defendant was granted a new sentencing hearing in 2017. Prior to the second penalty phase, the defendant waived his right to a jury for the sentencing hearing, meaning the judge would determine the sentence based on the evidence.

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

A Panama City man found guilty at trial of Trafficking in Fentanyl (28 grams or more) was sentenced to 25 years in prison and fined $500,000 Monday, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Walter Jim Roberson, 32, was found guilty Jan. 20 by a jury that deliberated for less than an hour.

 

 

 

 

“Fentanyl is deadly in such small amounts that it has created an epidemic in terms of overdoses and deaths both locally, statewide and across our country,” said Jacob Cook, who prosecuted the case. “This is another step toward getting it off our streets, and those who make the choice to traffic this poison in our community will continue to face the maximum penalty under law. We want drug traffickers to know that if you bring fentanyl to Bay County that our office will do our very best to make sure they go to prison for a long, long time.”

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Because of the amount of Fentanyl the defendant possessed – 47 grams in total, or enough to cause about 23,000 overdoses – Florida’s drug statutes called for a minimum-mandatory 25-year sentence once he was found guilty.

Fentanyl has become the leading cause of narcotics overdose deaths in the country, in part because it is much stronger than other opioids, not as expensive, and varies in strength. Illegally produced Fentanyl available on the streets can vary wildly in potency, which leads to overdoses. Two milligrams of Fentanyl is considered a lethal dose.

In this case, Panama City Police served a search warrant on a home June 23, 2022, and found approximately 47 grams of Fentanyl in the defendant’s room.

Officers from the City’s Street Crimes Unit testified they had the defendant under surveillance as part of an ongoing investigation and observed him selling Fentanyl on several occasions. They obtained a search warrant and served it the following day.

Basford thanked Panama City Police for the strong case it helped put together and for its proactive approach that stopped tens of thousands of doses of fentanyl from reaching the streets of Bay County.

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

Charles Wesley Strickland was sentenced to Life in prison Thursday for the brutal 2020 beating death of Clifford Matthew Lowrey at a homeless camp near the beach, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

A jury took about 90 minutes to return verdicts of guilty as charged against Strickland, 58, for Second-Degree Murder and Tampering with Physical Evidence. Evidence and testimony presented at the two-day trial showed Lowrey died from multiple blows to the head, face, and body with a steel rebar.

Bay County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark Graham asked Circuit Court Judge Brantley Clark to impose the maximum sentence, citing the defendant’s lengthy criminal history and the violent nature of the murder.

“He has been violent for a while,” Graham said at sentencing, noting 9 convictions of battery among his past charges. “This was, in my career, probably one of the most vicious beatings I’ve seen.”

Judge Clark agreed, sentencing the defendant to life.

During the trial, Graham noted for jurors the number of officers involved from the Panama City Beach Police Department and the hundreds of hours of video they reviewed, the three days they spent at the crime scene in the woods near a retention pond, and the mountains of evidence they gathered.

The evidence included a videotaped “walk-through” of the crime scene with Panama City Beach Police Chief J.R. Talamantez and the co-defendant who admitted to helping move the body. It was filmed the day she was picked up for questioning.

“It was all hands on deck, they took this seriously,” Graham said. “This case shows that the laws apply as equally to our homeless citizens as they do to our most affluent.”

Testimony and evidence at trial proved the defendant, the victim and co-defendant Samantha Booth were at a spot in the woods near a retention pond where several homeless people had set up tents and makeshift living quarters on Nov. 5, 2020.

Booth has already pled to Accessory After the Fact to Second-Degree Murder and Tampering with Physical Evidence. Her sentence will be determined by the judge and could range from 39 months to 20 years.

Booth testified there had been some arguing amongst the group and that was not unusual. She said when things had calmed, the defendant left his chair, went to an area set up to play horseshoes, and returned with a rebar that was used as a post in the game.

She testified the victim was sitting in a chair looking at his phone and “never saw it coming” when the defendant came up behind him and swung the metal rebar like a baseball bat, hitting him in the head.

Her testimony and the findings of Dr. Jay Radtke, Chief Medical Examiner for the 14^th Judicial Circuit, showed the beating continued with at least 10 blows to the head and more to the body.

Radtke testified the victim likely would have been dead or unconscious after the first blow.

Booth testified that afterward, the defendant threatened her and made her help him move the body, where he partially buried it.

The defendant took the stand and claimed it was Booth and another woman who beat the victim to death while he watched and he was helpless to stop them, but that was not supported by the evidence and discounted by jurors.

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

CHIPLEY – A man facing trial Monday for charges related to a 2019 kidnapping and sexual battery was sentenced to 30 years in prison after entering a plea as jury selection was set to begin, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Travis Dickson Wilson, 39, of Cottondale, was adjudicated guilty of Sexual Battery with a Deadly Weapon, Carjacking, Kidnapping, Robbery, Burglary of an Occupied Conveyance While Armed, and Aggravated Battery. Circuit Court Judge Dedee Costello sentenced the defendant to 30 years in prison to be followed by 10 years’ probation. He will not be eligible for gain time in prison.

Five of the crimes were committed in Washington County, while the Sexual Battery was committed in Jackson County.

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Prosecutor Shalla Jefcoat said the arrest of the defendant and the strong case against him were the result of “good old fashioned police work” by the Chipley Police Department and the strong working relationships between Chipley police, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and the Houston County, Ala., Sheriff’s Office where the defendant was a suspect in a different case.

“They identified the defendant by three means: good old fashioned police work, social media and forensics,” Jefcoat said, noting Chipley police conducted a door-to-door search for video along the defendant’s route following the kidnapping while Jackson County deputies found the crime scene where important evidence was recovered.

Jefcoat was prepared to call witnesses and produce evidence proving the defendant approached the victim in a parking lot April 3, 2019, pressed a gun into her side and forced her into her vehicle. Evidence would have shown the victim was forced to drive to a location in Jackson County where the sexual battery took place, then driven back close to the spot from where she was abducted. She immediately sought help and reported the attack.

Chipley police talked to the victim and witnesses and identified that a red SUV was involved. They then went to multiple businesses along the route the victim described, recovering surveillance video from several that confirmed the victim’s story and better identified the vehicle.

A local car dealer helped identify the make and model of the vehicle in the videos, and police used a state database to determine there were nearly 30 such vehicles in that area. But one of those belonged to a man who lived at an address central to the crimes, and that man was picked out of a lineup by the victim as well as being identified by others who saw the video.

Chipley police, knowing Dothan, Ala., deputies were working on a similar case, sent DNA samples from the attack and they matched the DNA samples in the Alabama crime. Those DNA samples both matched the defendant’s DNA, which was in a nationwide database for previous felony offenders.

Basford said the footwork put in by Chipley police and Jackson County deputies, along with the cooperative nature of the investigation between agencies across state lines and forensics by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, are strong examples of quality of law enforcement across the 14^th Judicial Circuit.

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