A Georgia woman convicted of Vehicular Homicide in August was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday for hitting and killing a motorcyclist in 2022, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Tammi Michelle Hornsby, 50, of Senoia, Ga., was sentenced by Circuit Court Judge Shonna Young Gay after the judge heard from family members of the victim and the defendant. Gay also revoked Hornsby’s driver’s license for life and gave her 5 years’ probation following prison. The wreck occurred late Saturday night, April 30, 2022 during Thunder Beach.

“My son’s death has left a hole in my heart that can never be filled,” the victim’s mother said in a statement Circuit Chief Prosecutor Mark Graham read at sentencing. “The memory of that night we lost him is burned into my mind forever. No parent should have to experience this.”

She said her life, and her family’s will never be the same. “This is a life sentence for us.”

At trial in August, Graham and Prosecutor Jack Lyons called witnesses and presented evidence, including video surveillance from nearby businesses, proving Hornsby had been drinking and was driving about 29 mph over the 35 mph speed limit when she hit the motorcyclist in the westbound lane of Thomas Drive.

RELATED: Hornsby guilty in Thunder Beach biker’s death

RELATED: Largest fentanyl case in Circuit history lands 30-year sentence

The victim was attempting to turn left from Silver Sands Road when he was struck, causing the vehicles to erupt in flames.

Graham said the combination of Hornsby’s speed and delayed reactions from drinking led to the crash, which he said was a tragedy for all involved. Hornsby, 50, “really had no substantive criminal record, but she came down here on bike week, and she was drinking … and speeding and her decision making was clearly flawed,” Graham said.

Graham noted crash data showed the defendant did not hit the brakes until .8 seconds before impact.

“But for her slowed reaction due to some of the alcohol she drank and if she had been driving the speed limit, she and the victim never would’ve collided,” Graham said.

Basford thanked the Florida Highway Patrol for its work on the case.

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

 

(Left to right below: defendant Kevin McCray, 1 kilo of fentanyl, Prosecutor Frank Sullivan)

A man convicted of smuggling in enough Fentanyl to cause an overdose death in every resident of the 14^th Judicial Circuit was sentenced to the maximum 30 years in prison, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Kevin Matthew McCray, 33, was found guilty Oct. 1 of Trafficking in Fentanyl (more than 28 grams). The first 25 years of the sentence given by Circuit Court Judge Brantley Clark is minimum-mandatory under Florida’s enhanced drug trafficking penalties. Prosecutor Frank Sullivan said even if the defendant receives gain time for good behavior, he will still be in prison for more than 25 years.

Bay County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Division arrested McCray Dec. 6, 2022, hours after he got off his return flight from California. He had mailed himself about a kilo of fentanyl from there to a Bay County residence.

“The sheer amount of fentanyl Mr. McCray imported into the state of Florida is mind-boggling in this case,” Sullivan said to Judge Clark at Monday’s sentencing. “So I’m asking for the full 30 years.”

The first 25 years of the sentence given by Circuit Court Judge Brantley Clark is minimum-mandatory under Florida’s enhanced drug trafficking penalties. Prosecutor Frank Sullivan said even if the defendant receives gain time for good behavior, he will still be in prison for more than 25 years.

Bay County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Division arrested McCray Dec. 6, 2022, hours after he got off his return flight from California. He had mailed himself about a kilo of fentanyl from there to a Bay County residence.

“Arresting users is easier but doesn’t stop the problem,” Sullivan continued. “In this case the Sheriff’s Office worked its way to close to the top, and together we have made sure that person will not have a chance to harm our residents for decades.”

RELATED: McCray guilty in Fentanyl Trafficking case

RELATED: Man guilty of Manslaughter for selling fentanyl to teen who died

The fentanyl crisis is spawned by many factors, but there are three that make it particularly deadly to users and of concern to law enforcement and prosecutors.

One is the sheer potency of the drug – used legally in medical settings to control severe pain, as in cancer patients, and in surgeries as an anesthesia/analgesia. Prescription fentanyl is 50-100 times stronger than medical morphine or heroin, and 100 times more potent than Oxycodone.

The second is that because fentanyl can be made illegally at much less cost than heroin, Oxycodone, and other painkillers, drug dealers use it as a substitute to increase their profits and sell it to unwitting buyers.

The third is that because the main supply comes from clandestine labs operating south of the U.S. border with no legal controls, the amount of fentanyl and thus the potency of it varies from batch to batch. It even varies from samples taken from the same batch because the fentanyl is mixed in with benign powders.

Those combine to produce results like the Manslaughter conviction last week of a man who sold a pill with fentanyl disguised to look like Percocet to a 16-year-old who overdosed and died.

In McCray’s case, when picked up by Bay County Sheriff’s Office investigators, he admitted to getting the drugs in California and mailing them back here. He helped lead them to the drugs.

Basford thanked the Bay County Sheriff’s Office for its investigation that enabled it to track the drugs from California to Panama City and then make an arrest before it got into the hands of local dealers.

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

A 61-year-old Panama City woman was sentenced to 25 years in prison Friday for shooting and killing a 44-year-old Chipley man in a Holmes County hotel room 2 years ago, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Lois K. Merkel was facing trial for the May 29, 2023 shooting death when she entered an open plea to Manslaughter with a Firearm on Sept. 22. An open plea means there was no agreement on the sentence, it would be decided by Circuit Court Judge Russell Roberts. The charge is a 1^st-Degree Felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Prosecutor Peter Overstreet asked for a sentence at the upper end of the maximum. Judge Roberts, after hearing from both sides, handed down the 25-year sentence to the 61-year-old defendant.

“This was an unfortunate incident between two people where the defendant essentially lost her cool and shot and killed Mr. Hall,” Overstreet told the judge. “The victim may not have been a perfect man and may not have led a perfect life, but he did not deserve to die.”

RELATED: Man guilty in death of juvenile who OD’d on fentanyl

RELATED: JURY: Man, 49, snorted cocaine, had sex with juvenile

Overstreet was prepared to call witnesses and present evidence showing that Merkel, who was married to another man, was doing methamphetamine and having an affair with the victim. The night of the shooting the two were in a Bonifay hotel room and had been arguing and using drugs.

Texts from the victim earlier showed he was afraid Merkel was going to hurt him. Pictures he took secretly on his phone in the minutes leading up to his death showed Merkel appearing angry and pointing at him with one hand while hiding her other hand behind her back. Less than a minute after the last picture was taken, Hall was shot.

The evidence and the state’s case was that Merket was angry with the victim, the victim told others he feared she would hurt him, she was standing over an open gun safe with her hand behind her back arguing with him moments before the shot was fired, and that it was clear she fired the shot. Merkel admitted firing the shot but claimed it was an accident.

Basford thanked the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office for its work on the difficult case.

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

 

 

A 24-year-old man was found guilty of Manslaughter Wednesday for selling a fentanyl-laced pill to a 16-year-old who overdosed and died in 2022, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Elijah Tee McLeroy, who was 21 when he sold what the victim thought were pain pills at a beach party, was found guilty after more than 4 hours of deliberation. Prosecutor Peter Overstreet asked for the maximum sentence, and Circuit Court Judge Timothy Register agreed, giving McLeroy a total of 20 years in prison on the second-degree felony and a violation of probation charge.

Overstreet said the guilty verdict and sentence send a clear message to drug dealers as the country struggles with the deadly fentanyl epidemic.

“If you sell fentanyl in this Circuit, in this case by passing it off as a painkiller, and someone overdoses and dies, you are facing the possibility of ending up in prison for a long, long time,” he said. “It is a highly potent and dangerous drug that is taking innocent lives. We will not tolerate it.”

The overdose death of the 16-year-old victim in this case highlighted one of fentanyl’s many dangers – because it is cheap and potent, drug dealers often use it to make pills that appear to be authentic painkillers like Oxycodone or Percocet but are cheap knockoffs.

McLeroy’s victim thought he was buying Percocet, a painkiller, but he and some friends were instead given pills with fentanyl. One overdosed and survived after going to the hospital and another became ill. The victim’s mother found him dead in his bed the next morning.

“I want you to know the impact of what you’ve done,” the victim’s mother wrote to McElroy in a statement read before sentencing. “You didn’t just take Brayden from me – you took my future, my peace, and a part of my soul. You didn’t just end one life – you shattered so many others.

“Our family will never be the same,” she continued. “The pain and emptiness you caused will last for the rest of my life.”

Overstreet called witnesses ranging from the victim’s mother and friends who were with him that night, to Panama City Beach Police Department officers and investigators who handled the case.

The evidence compiled and shown to jurors by Overstreet proved the victim and his friends were on the sandy beach near Pier Park on July 21, 2022, when they purchased the pills in separate transactions from McLeroy. The victim was found dead in his bed the following morning by his mother.

His friends, using the same app (Snapchat) that they used to find McElroy when he posted “Shop Open” from his “Enokthegoat2” account during the beach party, warned the dozens of people who had been in the group chat not to buy or use McElroy’s drugs.

They posted screengrabs, which they later provided police, that included: a $120 payment for 6 of the pills that night, a picture of McLeroy, a picture of the pills, and a video of them flushing the remaining pills down the toilet.

Police retrieved that information and more from cellphone downloads.

“They were diming (McLeroy) out, telling people, ‘Don’t buy what he’s selling,’” Overstreet said. “Why? Because they knew they were deadly and had killed their friend.”

Overstreet asked jurors to use their common sense, not emotions, and to look at the evidence.

“We all did dumb things when we were kids,” he said. “Many of us have kids who do dumb things. But (the victim) didn’t deserve to die for his mistakes, he didn’t deserve the death penalty.”

Basford thanked the Panama City Beach Police Department for its work on the case, and the Bay County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for their collaboration.

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

A man who was 48 years old when he had sex with a 15-year-old after they snorted cocaine was found guilty Thursday of Lewd and Lascivious Battery, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

John C. Bradly, 49, who was living in Panama City at the time of the Jan. 13 offense, was found guilty by a jury that deliberated for about 20 minutes. Circuit Court Judge Shonna Young Gay set sentencing for Dec. 2.

Prosecutor Zach VanDyke called two witnesses – the victim, and Bay County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Jake Roberts. He also introduced numerous text messages between the defendant and the victim, and the defendant’s statement to Roberts where he admitted having sex with the girl.

“This is a defendant who not only refused to take responsibility for his actions, but who repeatedly lied and denied, and then attempted to put blame on the victim,” VanDyke said. “He tried to make her a victim again with his testimony, and I’m grateful the jurors saw through that. His behavior will send him where he belongs – prison.”

VanDyke told jurors during his opening statement and closing argument there might be things they did not like or disagreed with as to the behavior and actions of all involved – but the simple fact was that it is illegal for a 48-year-old man to have sex with a 15-year-old. And the defendant knew that, referencing it both in his statement to Roberts and his texts with the victim afterward.

The victim testified that the defendant went to high school with one of her relatives and it was through that connection that she met him. She said he picked her up at her residence Jan. 13, drove her around, and they stopped and used cocaine twice. She said after the second time, he initiated sex with her.

RELATED: Fentanyl dealer guilty of 1st Degree Murder in OD deaths

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That came to light later when investigators looking into another case found text messages on the victim’s phone to and from the defendant. In them, the defendant referenced doing drugs with the victim, attempted to meet up with the victim again, and on the night of the incident texted her to remember to take an after-sex birth control pill.

The defendant took the stand and denied having sex with the victim, despite his statement to BCSO investigators that he did have sex with her in the back of his car. When asked if he even kissed her, he claimed she tried to kiss him, “but I pushed her away.”

Basford thanked the Bay County Sheriff’s Office for its follow-up work that led to Bradly’s arrest and the thorough investigation that helped the case end successfully.

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

Prosecutor Frank Sullivan is one of only eight trial attorneys – and the only prosecutor – across the country to receive the 2025 President’s Award from the National Board of Trial Advocacy, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

The NBTA was formed “out of a strong conviction that both the law profession and its clients would benefit from an organization designed specifically to create an objective set of standards illustrating an attorney’s experience and expertise in the practice of trial law.”

The President’s Award is given annually to select members who stand out in both the legal community and in improving their communities.

“As a prosecutor you have big challenges,” a spokesperson for the NBTA said in Sullivan’s notification. “It is clear from the work that you are taking on and the successes you have had that your community is better because you are there.”

RELATED: Sullivan prosecutes larges fentanyl seizure in circuit history

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Sullivan has successfully prosecuted more than 80 jury trials, ranging from attempted murder and aggravated child abuse to drug trafficking and sexual battery. He is also involved in community efforts through the Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center and by overseeing the State Attorney’s Office’s participation in an “An Angel Tree” for the past several Christmas seasons.

The NBTA was founded in 1977 and has about 2,000 members – who undergo an “elaborate” process for selection – nationwide.

Sullivan joined the 14^th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office in November 2016. He is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law.

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

A fentanyl dealer whose drugs caused 2 overdose deaths was found guilty of two counts of 1^st Degree Murder (Death Caused by the Unlawful Distribution of Fentanyl) in the first case of its kind in the 14^th Judicial Circuit, State Attorney Larry Basford said.

George William Myers, 38, of Youngstown, was charged with delivering the fentanyl that caused the overdose deaths of Loreen C. LaPlant and Christopher J. Dempsey within hours of each other on April 12, 2022.

A jury deliberated for an hour Friday evening after Circuit Chief Assistant State Attorney Mark Graham gave his closing argument before returning verdicts of guilty as charged. Circuit Judge Brantley Clark gave the defendant the mandatory Life sentence on each charge and ordered they be served consecutively.

                                                   

 

 

“Selling fentanyl is a dangerous business and defendant George Myers learned that on April 12, 2022, when the fentanyl he distributed killed 2 people and almost killed a third,” Graham said after the verdict. “Fentanyl is the No. 1 drug in the country for overdose deaths. The law harshly penalizes people who sell fentanyl and they’ve made it a capital felony murder, and this defendant deserves these 2 Life sentences.”

There are a number of cases, mainly in South Florida, where defendants are awaiting trial on charges of murder with the death caused by unlawful distribution of fentanyl. In Marion, Lee, and Flagler counties three defendants were convicted under that statute in the last year.

In Myers’ case, he was charged with distributing fentanyl that resulted in two overdose deaths in one day, hours apart, and nearly killed a third person who overdosed but was saved.

Graham called 9 witnesses, ranging from a co-defendant who is facing sentencing for his role in the death, to an expert who testified about the toxic levels of fentanyl in the victims’ blood.

RELATED: Multi-state suspect guilty in $100k card theft

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Graham’s first witness testified he drove to the defendant’s home April 12, 2022, and bought $40 worth of fentanyl. He said he shared it with LaPlant, who was staying there, and he overdosed and passed out as he walked out the door. LaPlant also overdosed. Bay County Sheriff’s Office deputies received a 911 call at 3:18 p.m. and when they arrived, the witness was unconscious in the front yard, the victim was deceased in her bedroom, and the defendant had fled.

At about the same time, Sheriff’s Deputies were called to another suspected overdose on Bayhead Court where they found Christopher Dempsey, who was pronounced dead a short time later, unconscious.

A witness said defendant Myers provided the fentanyl that she and the victim used.

Dr. Thomas Coyne, Medical Examiner for the 8^th Judicial Circuit, testified he reviewed the autopsy findings from both deaths and determined LaPlant had 4-5 times the lethal amount of fentanyl in her blood, and Dempsey had about 3 times the lethal limit. Graham said Coyne’s testimony was crucial to the State’s case, since the defense brought its own expert.

One of the greatest dangers of fentanyl use is its potency, up to 50 times greater than heroin and 100 times greater than morphine. Fentanyl sold on the streets is most commonly made in illegal clandestine labs so the potency varies from package to package, sometimes from dose to dose.

The defendant admitted to investigators that he supplied the fentanyl and that he did not “cut it” like he “should have” and knew he was selling a more potent dosage.

Basford thanked the Sheriff’s Office deputies and investigators for their thorough work that helped lead to a successful prosecution, and Dr. Coyne for his testimony.

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

A woman arrested with about 43 grams of methamphetamine during a Bay County Sheriff’s Office investigation has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after entering a plea to trafficking, State Attorney Larry Basford said.

Catherine Denise Merritt, 54, of Panama City, was charged with Trafficking in Methamphetamine (between 28 and 200 grams). She must serve a minimum-mandatory 7 years under Florida’s enhanced drug trafficking Statutes. Circuit Court Judge Brantley Clark also levied a $100,000 fine.

Prosecutor Zachary VanDyke was prepared to call witnesses and present evidence proving the defendant was in possession of the methamphetamine when Bay County Sheriff’s Deputies served a search warrant on a South Jan Drive residence May 31, 2022.

The testimony would have shown that deputies found the defendant and a co-defendant in a small, debris-filled room in the rear of the residence. On the couch, underneath the defendant’s bag, deputies found 43 grams of methamphetamine.

Smaller amounts of the drug were found in the residence, along with numerous syringes and drug paraphernalia.

“The Sheriff’s Office gave us a good case to prosecute and also kept most of the drugs from making it to the streets,” VanDyke said. “The conditions inside the residence and the amount of trash and debris did not stop them from finding the drugs. The self-incriminating statements they obtained from the defendant were crucial to resolving this with a plea.”

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Deputies questioned the defendant, who admitted she had 3 ounces of methamphetamine delivered to the residence the night before in a Funyuns bag. That bag was found next to the seized drugs. She said they had already sold ¼ ounce.

Basford thanked the Sheriff’s Office for its proactive work and quick reaction that resulted in the arrests and seizure.

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

A Louisiana man who was part of a 4-man burglary crew that stole more than $100,000 in collectible baseball cards from a Panama City business in 2023 was found guilty of Grand Theft Over $100,000 Friday.

State Attorney Larry Basford said Leon Rowe Jr., 31, of Louisiana, is the first of the defendants to go to trial in any of the cases. A second defendant here pled to his charges and testified against Rowe at Friday’s trial. A third defendant is awaiting trial and the fourth has not been captured.

Prosecutor Zachary VanDyke said Rowe and was part of a burglary and theft spree involving gaming and collectible stores that stretched from Panama City west to Louisiana in late 2022 and early 2023. The three defendants in the Panama City case are from the same area of Louisiana.

In the Panama City case, the defendants took hundreds of collector’s cards ranging from a 1955 Sandy Koufax ($4,500) and 1963 Pete Rose ($4,000), to a 1954 Hank Aaron ($4,000) and a 1948 American Association Babe Ruth ($3,000). The collection included 65 Mickey Mantles, 34 Hank Aarons, 11 Whitey Fords, and cards from Tom Seaver, Roger Maris, Nolan Ryan, and Johnny Bench.

“Thirty-five years of work and more than $100,000 disappeared on the night of Feb. 16, 2023, when this defendant helped break into this store and steal these cards,” VanDyke said. “They were in and out in less than 3 minutes. Three minutes, and 35 years’ worth of work – gone.

“We are glad the jury held this defendant accountable, but there is nothing that will fill the hole left in the victim by the loss of his collectibles.”

The charge is a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison. The jury took 20 minutes to reach a verdict after VanDyke’s closing argument.

In the Panama City case, surveillance video showed a man swinging a large hammer at the glass entrance door and kicking a hole in it. Four men wearing gloves and with their faces covered rushed through the hole, with at least two grabbing collectible bats to smash the glass cases inside.

All four fled within 3 minutes.

      

Following that, there was a string of similar thefts across the Gulf Coast. DNA found at one crime scene in Alabama was matched to Rowe and Cedric Vondo, 37, also of Louisiana. Vondo gave a statement incriminating himself, Rowe, and another co-defendant.

Basford thanked the law enforcement network across the Gulf Coast that collaborated in connecting the cases, and the Bay County Sheriff’s Office for its work on a similar case that assisted the Panama City Police Department’s case.

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

A jury took 90 minutes Friday evening to find James Edward Mixon guilty as charged of two counts of Sexual Battery and two counts of Lewd or Lascivious Molestation, State Attorney Larry Basford announced.

Circuit Court Judge Dedee Costello set sentencing for Nov. 5, when the defendant, 42, faces up to Life in prison for 2 counts of Sexual Battery on a Victim Older than 12 and Younger than 18, and two counts of Lewd and Lascivious Molestation.

The 3-day trial, led by Prosecutor Morgan Morrell with Prosecutor Brea Dearing, was the third related to the sexual abuse of a young girl in 2024. Jonathan Allen Mixon, 39, of Youngstown, pled to Lewd or Lascivious Molestation and several other charges and was sentenced to 18 years in prison. He testified against James Mixon. Amber Gunder, 39, pled to several charges and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

“This defendant needed to be off the streets because he would’ve continued doing this kind of thing,” Morrell said. “He’s caused a tremendous amount of emotional damage that she will have to live with and deal with for the rest of her life.”

The victim was adopted by an out-of-state family member.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These charges sprung from a separate case involving the victim, who disclosed what had happened while undergoing counseling. The evidence included not just victim testimony, but a number of explicit texts and pictures found through Facebook messenger accounts.

The victim said the defendant sexually abused her twice in incidents involving the co-defendants.

Morrell called 4 witnesses – the victim, another young girl who said the defendant sexually abused her, Merritt, and co-defendant Jonathan Mixon.

The testimony showed all three defendants had been drinking and doing cocaine when the abuse occurred.

Morrell said it was a complicated case with multiple defendants and the work of Bay County Sheriff’s Office Inv. Dakota Merritt of the Criminal Investigations Division was particularly helpful.

“There were a lot of moving parts with 3 defendants and Inv. Merritt did an extremely thorough report and investigation, he was very invested and a big part of this case,” Morrell said.

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Morrell said after the verdict was announced and jurors were filing out of the courtroom, she was able to make contact with the victim from this case and the victim who testified about a similar attack.

“I was able to turn around, and they were both holding hands with the Gulf Coast Children’s Advocacy Center advocate and they were both smiling, with tears running down their faces,” Morrell said. “And when the jury was out, they both gave me a big hug.

“That was just priceless and reminded me of why we work so hard on these cases.”

Basford thanked the Bay County Sheriff’s Office and the GCCAC for their work and collaboration in investigating and putting together a case that is resulting in three people going to prison for sexually abusing a child.

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