R News is Your News
R News is Your News
Sorted by date Results 426 - 450 of 702
SANTA ANA, California – Last week, R News reported the arrest of 21-year-old Xavier Batten during a raid on Boca Raton Street, Spring Hill. Today, the Department of Justice (DOJ) formally charged Batten with one count of conspiracy and one count of malicious destruction of property by fire and explosion. The charges stem from a March 22nd firebombing attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Orange County, California. According to the DOJ, Batten and two co-defendants, C...
BROOKSVILLE – Walmart loses approximately $3 billion annually to retail theft, which equates to about 1% of its $300 billion in total revenue. Due to inflation and higher cost of living, shoplifting is on the rise. As a result, Walmart and other retailers have begun cracking down and pursuing criminal charges against a higher number of suspects. But what if you're innocent? Since Walmart implemented self-checkout systems in their stores, shoppers have complained of being h...
BROOKSVILLE – An ice cream shop in downtown Brooksville got a lot of attention today, after Facebook post suggested that a mural painted on the business is too seductive for young children. The illustration painted on Frosty Frank's Ice Cream Shop depicts a woman licking an ice cream cone, but the commenter complained that the image is akin to pornography. R News stopped by Frosty Franks and spoke with the Allie, who said the controversy actually helped bring in more b...
BROOKSVILLE – 30 years after the 12-year-old Jennifer Odom disappeared from her home in Pasco County, Officials say they have finally solved the case - and a suspect is behind bars. On February 19, 1993, young Jennifer Odom was expected home after being dropped off by her school bus near Jim Denney Road, but she would not be seen again until her body was discovered in Hernando County six days later. During a press conference this morning, Sheriff Al Nienhuis joined D...
HUDSON – Officials in Pasco County have now identified the suspect who allegedly left two dogs to die inside a pickup truck at a Walmart on Friday. Officials say 40-year-old Tiffany Critchfield was arrested and charged with Felony Animal Cruelty, after she locked her two Pit Bulls in a pickup truck for about an hour. R News first broke the story on Saturday, after a witness says he tried to perform CPR on the two dogs, but was unsuccessful in reviving them. The witness says h...
SPRING HILL – Video surveillance systems, like Ring Doorbell, give residents some peace of mind that if a crime occurs, it will be easier to solve, but what if the suspect is wearing a disguise? One local resident found out the hard way that video surveillance isn't 100% foolproof, after packages were stolen off their front porch in the area of Elgin Blvd and Freeport Drive. The victim tells R News that around 12:30 p.m. today, their Ring Doorbell camera captured what a...
HUDSON – Sad news to report today, after two dogs died of heat exhaustion when they were locked inside a pickup truck for hours. Pasco Sheriff's Deputies were called to the Walmart in Hudson around 10:45 p.m. last night, after a witness, "Kyle," says he saw two unresponsive Pit Bulls lying next to a pickup truck. Kyle says the dog's owner appeared to be under the influence of narcotics and was acting irrational. Kyle attempted to perform CPR on the dogs, but he was unable t...
SPRING HILL - A federal investigation is underway into a Spring Hill man who sources say has been charged with Conspiracy to Commit Arson. Yesterday, several agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation executed a search warrant at a residence on Boca Raton Street, where they arrested 21-year-old Xavier Joseph Batten on charges of Conspiracy to Commit Arson in a jurisdiction outside of Florida. A spokesperson for the FBI could not discuss the details of the investigation,...
BROOKSVILLE – A child sex abuser who was recently released from prison is back behind bars today, after attempting to remove his GPS monitoring device. According to officials, just before 2:00 a.m. last Saturday, an officer with Probation and Parole was searching the area of the 7-Eleven on Broad Street for absconded sex offender, 29-year-old Albert Lee Gardner. Officials say Gardner, a convicted child sex abuser, removed his GPS device and threw it in a nearby dumpster. Durin...
WEEKI WACHEE – An investigation is underway in the death of a 50-year-old woman who died as the result of a tree falling on her mobile home. The incident occurred around 11:30 a.m. this morning at a residence on Tooke Lake Blvd, where a large oak tree fell across the victim's home. Sources say the victim, who was inside the home at the time of the incident, suffered head trauma and died at the scene....
UPDATE 10:30 p.m.: BROOKSVILLE – Officials have confirmed that the suspect, 50-year-old James B. Hines, was shot when deputies attempted to enter his residence on Maripoe Road. Sheriff Al Nienhuis said during a press conference that Hernando and Citrus County Deputies were trying to make entry through a window when they noticed the suspect lying on the floor. Deputies deployed less than lethal, which prompted the suspect to fire at deputies with a long gun. Deputies from b...
UPDATE: BROOKSVILLE – Officials have confirmed that the suspect, 50-year-old James B. Hines, was shot when deputies attempted to enter his residence on Maripoe Road. Sheriff Al Nienhuis said during a press conference that Hernando and Citrus County Deputies were trying to make entry through a window when they noticed the suspect lying on the floor. Deputies deployed less than lethal, which prompted the suspect to fire at deputies with a long gun. Deputies from both counties r...
BROOKSVILLE - The suspect in Wednesday's 8-hour standoff on Maripoe Road has been formally charged. 50-year-old James Buford Hines is charged with 2-counts of Attempted First Degree Murder, First Degree Arson, Making Threats, and Public Order Crimes. Hines remains hospitalized and held on a $250,000 bond. He will be forced to wear a GPS monitoring device if released from jail. Officials have not released a statement at this time. ORIGINAL REPORT: https://ww...
SPRING HILL – A week after the incident occurred, the Hernando County Sheriff's Office released a statement on the now-former employee who claimed two black men shot him during a carjacking at Linda Pedersen Park. R News first broke the story on July 1st, after sources reported that 21-year-old Dakotah Wayne Wood, a former dispatcher for the Hernando County Sheriff's Office, fabricated a botched carjacking attempt. According to a statement provided by officials today, at a...
BROOKSVILLE - A shooting investigation is underway at Freedom Gardens Apartments, after sources say a suspect drove by the victim's apartment and fired at least one shot. There are no reports of injuries. There are unconfirmed reports that investigators have the suspect in custody near the scene of the crime. This is the same apartment complex where an investigation is currently underway into the death of a 2-month-old boy that occurred earlier today. Freedom Gardens...
HUDSON – According to the most recent study from the Centers for Disease Control, 1 in 36 children in the U.S. have been diagnosed with autism, and around 76 million people currently have autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Experts say there are three functional levels of autism, requiring varying degrees of support. Individuals with ASD 1 are usually able to speak full sentences and communicate, but they have limited social skills, and trouble with planning and organization. P...
HILLSBOROUGH – A multi-agency pursuit and shootout left one person injured and the suspect dead, in what is described by officials as something out of a Hollywood action film. The incident occurred just before 2:00 a.m. in Hernando County, where officials say a domestic violence incident occurred between a male suspect and a female victim. According to Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco, the victim drove to her mother's house in Wesley Chapel to pick up a child that the suspect...
BROOKSVILLE – A former employee of the new Crumbl Cookie located in the Coastal Landing shopping plaza is charged with burglarizing the popular cookie company last month. According to officials, 18-year-old Jacob Ortega, a former employee of Crumbl Cookie, was dropped off at the location by a friend who said Ortega was going to make a drug deal. Video surveillance shows Ortega enter the store wearing a black sweatshirt, black pants, and red Crocs. The store owner told i...
FLORIDA – Today, the American Association of State Troopers (AAST) announced the winner of its 2023 America's Best Looking Cruiser Competition is the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP). Florida beat out 46 other states, with California Highway Patrol, Nevada Highway Patrol, Indiana State Police, and Kentucky State Police rounding off the top five. The FHP picture submission was taken by retired FHP Lieutenant Jeff Frost and featured a 2019 Dodge Charger at Gatorland in Orlando a...
SPRING HILL – It's been over a year and half since Ed and Judy Ptarcinski's 18-year-old daughter Adriana Ptarcinski was murdered inside their home in the Sterling Hills Subdivision. Friday would have been Ariana's 20th birthday, so in honor of her memory, the Ptarcinski's held a paper lantern release at the wind chime oak tree near Anderson Snow Park. Friends and family joined Ed and Judy in releasing the lanterns that ascended against sublime Florida sunset. A wind chime f...
SPRING HILL – The former Fox Chapel Middle School teacher who made statements that he would "sh**t" his students and then himself is back in the classroom, but this time in an all-girls school for troubled teens. Earlier this month, R News reported that Ashlee Renczkowski was advised that he would not be reinstated as a teacher in the Hernando County School District. Over the last few days, R News has received numerous messages from parents and teachers who say PACE School for...
SPRING HILL – On Wednesday, R News responded to the infamous Mansfield compound located in Roundup Lane, after reports that investigators had executed a search warrant. Rumors began to swirl that another body had been discovered or that the investigation had to do with the solving of the Jennifer Odom case - but that was not the case. Today, sources say that convicted murderer Billy Mansfield's brother, 63-year-old Terry Mansfield was the focus of the investigation, and t...
BROOKSVILLE – Last year, former Hernando County Sheriff's deputy Matthew Puglia filed a lawsuit against the agency, claiming he was wrongfully terminated for complaining about obscene comments made about his girlfriend. According to court records, while Puglia was still under a probationary status with the agency, recently-separated deputy Joseph McClellan made sexually charged statements about the breast size of Puglia's girlfriend and urged them to join in on "agency" sex p...
HERNANDO – The First Amendment is widely held as the most important part of the Bill of Rights. Without the First Amendment, our liberty and independence would be subverted and open the door to tyrannical rule. In recent years, Big Tech moguls like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, actively engaged in suppressing free speech through censorship and indoctrinating its subscribers with whatever information they feel society should support. These q...
BROOKSVILLE – The Hernando County School District had its fair share of controversies during the 2022-2023 school year, and 2024 look like it will be no less provocative. From threatening comments made by a transgender teacher at Fox Chapel Middle School, to the showing of a prohibited "woke" Disney movie by a Winding Waters K-8 teacher, the subsequent hullabaloo kept Hernando County in the national spotlight for several months. The now-former Winding Waters 5th grade t...
