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For the second time in only a month, a Florida Sheriff’s deputy was arrested, accused of making bogus drug arrests.

Former Martin County Deputy Stephen O’Leary was charged with 52 counts stemming from planting drugs or fake drugs on unsuspecting motorists on Monday.

He was stopped riding in a car 400 miles from his home not far from the state Capitol.

It’s believed his was fleeing the state.

Zachery Wester was arrested on July 10th and faces 9 counts of false imprisonment plus other charges.

The false arrests have been costly for those wrongly accused.

Theresa Odom was adamant when a deputy told her drugs were found in her car.

“That is not mine!” Odom can be heard saying in a body cam video of the incident.

A diligent prosecutor scrutinizing body cam tape of the Odom search found Deputy ZachWester clearly manipulating a white packet.

18 moths after her arrest, Theresa Odom is still struggling to recover.

She declined speaking with us directly.

She told us she was afraid of tainting the jury pool.

So she put us in touch with her ex-husband Steve Odom.

“Right now, she is suffering. She doesn’t hardly sleep. She doesn’t hardly eat,” said Steve. “This thing is consuming her.”

Steve said Theresa’s home has been broken into twice where nothing was taken.

He believes the break-ins have been efforts to intimidate her.

“Something like this is going to taint her and follow her for the rest of her life. There was a period of time she could not see her grand-baby and she lives for her grand-baby,” said Steve.

Deputies in Jackson County, who couldn’t go on camera for obvious reasons, told us everyday they feel they have gotten a black eye.

119 cases were dismissed involving Zach Wester in Jackson County.

The arrest of former Martin County Deputy Steven O’Leary Monday has tainted at least 14 cases.

Steve asked an important question.

“What price do you put on a life that is ruined?”

The courts may be the one to answer.

The two deputies and their agencies are facing more than 50 lawsuits.

Both Deputies face decades in prison.

The state is about to have its first Chief Resilience Officer.

The new position will be tasked with preparing Florida for the impacts of climate change.

Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to announce his pick in the coming days.

Florida is facing a climate crisis and Governor Ron DeSantis recognized it from the moment he took office, announcing he’d appoint the state’s first-ever Chief Resilience Officer just two days into his term.

“You know if you have water in the streets you have to find a way to combat that,” said DeSantis in January.

The new position comes as a welcome opportunity for environmental groups like Audubon Florida.

“We really need somebody who has substantial policy acumen, who knows how to move things through politics. Climate is a huge threat to Florida. We need action now and there’s great opportunity. So someone who can take advantage of that opportunity is the most important thing I believe,” said Audubon Florida Executive Director Julie Wraithmell.

The job qualifications call for 5 years experience in resilience and sustainability and a Master’s Degree in an Environmental Science related field.

26 candidates applied for the position.

The likely pick, Julia Nesheiwat, lacks an extensive background in resilience, but she has filled leadership roles in intelligence, foreign relations and energy policy.

Aliki Moncrief with the Florida Conservation Voters said energy should be a key focus for the new position.

“This person absolutely can’t close their eyes to the potential that we have in Florida to fuel our economy and light our homes with clean renewable energy,” said Moncrief.

It’s not entirely clear what the scope of the Chief Resilience Officer’s responsibilities will be.

Environmentalists hope the job will not only involve responding to climate change, but also working to prevent it.

We reached out to the Governor’s Office asking for more specifics on what the Chief Resilience Officer will be tasked with, but did not receive a response in time for this story.

A bold statement from two environmental activists appeared at the state Capitol this week.

3,000 pounds of plastic waste collected along Florida’s coastlines was left for a full day on the steps of the historic state Capitol to send a message to lawmakers.

The display was the result of the hard work of two environmental activists who founded the group Plastic Symptoms.

The team, consisting of Bryan Galvin and Heather Bolint, walked the entire coast of Florida over four months.

All along the way the two collected plastics they found throughout the 1,200 mile trek.

“Knowing that we have a lot of tourists from all over the world that want to partake in our amazing beaches and our waterways,” said Galvin. “We need to protect it.”

Plastic Symptoms hopes to show lawmakers the scope of the litter problem plaguing Florida’s beaches, but the plastic alone doesn’t show the impact to wildlife the activists witnessed.

“A skull of a bird that was wrapped up in monofilament fishing line,” said Bolint. “So unfortunately the bird perished.”

Plastic Symptoms said all of the plastic brought to the Capitol only represents about a tenth of the plastic they encountered on their journey.

The group wants lawmakers to consider banning or regulating single use plastic items.

“We’re not going to take all the plastic out of the ocean and off the beaches by simply passing these laws, but this will show tourists that come to our state that we are doing all that we can and that this is not a problem that we want to be remembered by,” said Galvin.

And while the trash is now gone from the Capitol, Plastic Symptoms said it intends to bring the display back to the state Capitol when lawmakers return to the city for the 2020 session.

The Governor vetoed a bill this year that would have blocked local governments from banning single use plastic straws.

Florida Fish and Wildlife is also two programs aimed at tackling plastic pollution, Stash the Trash and Reel Remove Recycle.

State economists started the process of calculating how much a proposed ban on assault weapons would cost the state and local governments Tuesday morning.

The proposed constitutional amendment would prohibit possession of semi automatic rifles or shot guns capable of carrying more than ten rounds of ammunition at once.

It would also require FDLE to develop a registry for current owners who could be exempt from the ban if they register their weapons within a year of the amendment’s passage.

However, economists struggled to understand exactly what types and how many types of guns would be affected by the ban.

“I think we need to sort of come to a consensus on how we’re going to, what we’re going to agree on what these words mean before we can go further,” said Katie Cunningham who represented the Governor’s Office at the Revenue Estimating Impact Conference.

The ballot measure has almost 100,000 signatures and is ready to be reviewed by the state Supreme Court.

Attorney General Ashley Moody has urged the court to strike down the amendment, arguing the ballot language is misleading and confusing.

Attention drone pilots and those who live or work high above the ground, the Florida Association of Counties is asking for your photographs for their seventh annual calendar photo contest.

Last year’s theme was Old Florida.

Jenny Laxner with the association said this year the association is looking for 14 interesting shots from high above, depicting life around the state.

“We’re inviting all amateur, professional and even smart phone photographers to come our and take aerial photos of Florida. The theme this year is aerial Florida. We’d like to have participation from all the counties. It’s a great opportunity to showcase you local beauty and the pride you have for where you live,” said Laxner.

The deadline to submit a photo is September 6th.

To enter, visit flcounties.net.

Did the Legislature inadvertently legalize marijuana when it made hemp legal earlier this year?

Not technically, but State Attorneys and law enforcement agencies throughout the state are facing a difficult question… how do you tell the difference between the two?

When lawmakers legalized hemp they distinguished the plant from its illicit cousin by specifying it must contain less that 0.3% THC.

But take a simple gummy bear for example.

Is it a piece of candy, a legal hemp product infused with CBD or an illegal high-THC marijuana edible?

The State Attorney of Florida’s 2nd Judicial Circuit Jack Campbell said old methods of identifying marijuana like smell or appearance can’t distinguish marijuana from hemp.

“It’s the same thing as if somebody looked at a glass of alcohol. You might be able to smell and tell that there’s alcohol, but you couldn’t look or smell and say what the proof of it is,” said Campbell.

There’s also no field test that can make the distinction.

Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried is in charge of the state hemp program.

Her office told us a third-party company is currently developing a test that would distinguish between illegal marijuana and hemp.

However, if and when a test is created, Campbell said its effectiveness will have to be proven in court, which can be a lengthy and expensive process.

“I have to be able to show that this test works. That it is scientifically validated,” said Campbell.

Until a test is available, Campbell predicts the legal conundrum will likely be handled differently throughout the state.

“I think you’re going to have some agencies that are going to continue to arrest and seize. I think you are going to have some that are going to be concerned about possible wrongful arrest,” said Campbell.

Ultimately, Campbell said he believes a solution will be worked out, but the question of when and how people can protect themselves in the meantime is not clear for the time being.

A judge in the state Capitol has ruled local government officials can’t be held personally liable for voting for stricter gun laws, even though the state has preempted most gun regulations to the state.

The NRA is crying foul.

30 municipalities and three counties sued the state over the 2011 law.

It allowed local officials who voted for gun restrictions tougher than those allowed by the state to be sued, fined and potentially removed from office.

“It’s a great win for local governments and their ability to control some of the things in regards to firearms and a step toward enforcing home rule,” said Deputy Leon County Attorney LaShawn Riggans.

In a 15-page ruling, Judge Charles Dobson foud local governments were like little Legislatures, and immune from court interference.

In an alert to more than half a million members, the NRA said the judge’s ruling amouts to a get out of jail free card for local officials.
“By removing penalties for willfully and knowingly violating the law, its tacit approval to go ahead an violate state law,” said Marion Hammer, with the Unified Sportsmen of Florida.

However, the underlying law remains intact.

Only the state can enact gun regulations, but now there are no penalties for local governments violating the law.

The law will still allow a private citizen to sue a local government if they feel like their rights have been taken away, but the NRA said that could prove costly.

“Taxpayers have to be wealthy to defend their rights and bring a suit against a bottomless pit of taxpayer dollars,” said Hammer.

Both the Governor’s Office and the Attorney General had asked the court to uphold the law.

The Attorney General’s office said it is evaluating whether or not to appeal the ruling.

3,000 pounds of plastic showed up on the steps of the old state Capitol building Monday morning.

The plastic trash was collected by two activists, who embarked on a four month 1,200 mile journey around Florida’s coastline.

Bryan Galvin with Plastic Symptoms said they brought the plastic waste to the Capitol steps to encourage lawmakers to consider regulating or banning some single use plastics.

“We can definitely be leading by example of the type of waterway we want our tourists to enjoy. It might not happen overnight, that we’re not going to take all the plastic out of the ocean and off the beaches by simply passing these laws, but this will show tourists that come to our state that we are doing all that we can and that this is not a problem that we want to be remembered by,” said Galvin.

Galvin said the plastic at the Capitol will be gone by Tuesday, but added the plastic on Florida’s coasts won’t go away on its own.

The group is encouraging Floridians to contact their lawmakers ahead of the 2020 session that begins in January.

Following the release of a US Senate Intelligence report looking into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and a grave warning from Special Counsel Robert Mueller that the Russians are still attempting to interfere, Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has called on the President to take action to beef up election security.

However, the state of Florida is taking action to prevent attacks into its own hands.

Mueller’s warning was blunt.

“It wasn’t a single attempt. They’re doing it as we sit here,” said Mueller.

Two Florida counties were hacked during the 2016 election, although no votes were changed.

In response, Governor Ron DeSantis ordered a comprehensive review of the state’s election systems.

State Laurel Lee introduced a group of Department of State employees to a training seminar on cybersecurity Thursday.

“All it takes is one person or one click of an e-mail to make us more vulnerable,” said Lee.

The Secretary said the training is part of the comprehensive approach the state is taking to prevent any breaches in the 2020 election.

“It is essential that all of our employees understand how to recognize suspicious e-mails or suspicious persons in and around our building and defend against those threats,” said Lee.

The Governor also emphasized the important role local Election Supervisors have to play in beefing up security.

“We don’t run the elections in Florida at the state level. The Secretary of State has a role, but that is going to be done at the ground,” said DeSantis. “So part of the reason we wanted the review is just to help people identify some problems, if any, and then we wanted to offer some support to be able to resolve it.”

Supervisors are receiving financial assistance from the state and federal government.

A total of $5.1 million has so far been made available for the 2020 election.

The $5.1 million distributed comes after $19.2 million was made available for election security upgrades in 2018.

More funds are expected to be allocated in the upcoming Legislative session, which begins in January.

As the federal government announced Thursday a plan to resume executions starting in December of this year.

Just one day prior was the 40th anniversary of a judge imposing the death penalty for serial killer Ted Bundy.

The name of the recent movie about Bundy comes right from the judge who imposed the death sentence Edward Cowart.

“You are extremely wicked, shocking evil and vile,” said Cowart in the 1979 sentencing hearing.

The 2019 film however, is more about trust than violence.

“Bundy proves to us that often those who do evil are the people we least expect,” said Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile Director Joe Berlinger.

Berlinger said he believes the trial of the serial killer began America’s fascination with true crime dramas.

“It’s never been more popular, the genre, and I trace that back to Bundy,” said Berlinger. “The Bundy trial was the first nationally televised trial, and it was the first time that you know, basically Americans had a serial murderer, a courtroom drama as live entertainment.”

But it almost didn’t happen.

Bundy originally tried to keep the cameras out of the courtroom.

“We’re conducting the public’s business, gentleman, and we’re going to conduct it in the sunshine,” said Judge Cowart, ruling against Bundy’s objection during the trial.

While the sorority killings took place in the state’s capital city across the street from the FSU campus, the trial was moved to Miami over concerns of pretrial publicity.

The death sentence was widely supported at FSU.

“I can remember exactly when it happened and the fright that was around the town,” said one FSU student in July 1979.

“It has to be the death penalty,” said another FSU student interview around the time of the verdict.

While sentenced to death in the sorority killings, Bundy actually went to his death for killing of an 12 year old Lake City girl.

Kimberly Leach of Lake City was Bundy’s final victim.

He went on to confess to 30 murders in the days leading up to his 1989 execution.

To the dismay of environmental groups the Governor and cabinet have approved a power plant project for the Tampa region.

Tampa Electric Company wants to reduce its carbon emissions by closing a coal unit at its Big Bend power station and converting another to more efficiently burning natural gas.

“It’s a step toward moving away from coal,” said TECO attorney Larry Curtin while making the case for the project before the Governor and Cabinet Thursday.

Environmental groups including the Sierra Club oppose the plan, arguing natural gas is often collected through fracking.

“TECO also wants public money, billions of dollars for its power plants to burn coal and fracked gas when there is no need to burn dirty fossil fuels,” said Sierra Club attorney Diana Csank.

With only one no vote from Commissioner of Agriculture Nikki Fried, the lone Democrat on the cabinet, the plan was approved.

Attorney General Ashley Moody, a Hillsborough County native, said the decision wasn’t easy.

“This will significantly reduce the harmful effects to the environment,” said Moody.

Governor Ron DeSantis said he believes the move towards natural gas is ultimately an improvement over coal.

“If you approve this you have lower emissions. I mean that’s just the fact,” said DeSantis.

But some, like Brain Lee with Rethink Energy Florida argue methane, the primary fuel source for natural gas plants, is equally problematic.

“There are leaks at every point in the process… that are equivalent to the CO2 emissions of all coal that is burned in the country,” said Lee.

While TECO representatives said the company has long term plans to increase its use of solar to generate energy, it also said the plans aren’t finalized.

The power plant conversion is set to be complete in 2023, but members of the Sierra club we spoke with said they’re considering appealing the ruling in state court.

The projected cost of the project comes in at $853 million.

Estimates suggest the change will increase Tampa Electric’s energy output from natural gas from 67 percent to 75 percent.

Florida’s financial regulator is out of a job after serving less than five months, but unanswered questions remain over accusations of sexual harassment and pay to play allegations in state politics.

Hired in February, Ronald Rubin was suspended in May after a co-worker filed a sexual harassment complaint.

Rubin’s attorney, Michael Tein, pled for his job at a Thursday’s meeting before the Governor and Cabinet.

“We will think that you removed him because he refused to bend to the will of powerful people and big money donors,” said Tein.

An Inspector General’s report found ten instances of questionable conduct.

“Number nine. Asking a subordinate employee if their dog watches the employee and their spouse have sex. And number ten. Using the C word as a reference to a female,” said Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, reading the accusations out loud during the meeting.

The vote was 3-0 in favor of firing Rubin.

Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried left the meeting over Sunshine law concerns, but said she supported the outcome, just not the way it was done.

“I believe it violates the Weidner agreement,” said Fried.

Afterwards the Governor Ron DeSantis downplayed those concerns.
“There was clearly poor conduct and I think it was below the standards we should expect,” said DeSantis.

The Department of Law Enforcement says it is investigating CFO Patronis for releasing the original sexual harassment complaint just hours after it was filed.

Tein said the fired financial regulator’s whistleblower lawsuit will go forward.

Rubin has blamed politics for the dismissal.

“What about the fact that a lobbyist and a big donor had influence over this decision,” said Tein.

Rubin has accused the CFO of trying to force him to hire the wife of a lobbyist.

He’s also accused agents for the CFO of trying to extort a million dollar contribution from his father.

The man who held the job previously has also said Patronis tried to interfere with how the office did its job.

A nationwide search for a replacement will begin next month.

Two Jacksonville Sheriff’s deputies, Kathleen James and Kelsey McCullum were honored by receiving the the Attorney General’s ‘Back the Blue’ Award during Thursday’s cabinet meeting.

The two saved a woman in a burning car just seconds before it exploded.

They were both on duty when they heard the accident and rushed to help.

“They broke the window, they pulled the woman to safety, en feet away they got her before the entire car exploded. Not only does that demonstrate their bravery, they covered her up with their own bodies to protect her from the shrapnel from the exploding vehicle,” said Attorney General Ashley Moody.

The woman pulled to safety received burns on forty percent of her body, but has since recovered.

While no human remains were uncovered in the initial investigation into 27 anomalies on the grounds of the Dozier School for Boys in Mariana the work for researchers is far from over.

The next step will include using LIDAR, a laser technology, to map the layout of the entire 1,400 acre campus to ensure no possible graves are missed.

Secretary of State Laurel Lee said she’s proud of the work researchers have done so far and hopes when the investigation is complete it will bring closure to the boys who suffered abuse at the school.

“We hope that all of the affected stakeholders can have confidence in the team that we have assembled to conduct this important work and that by completing it our hope is that this will help to bring closure to all who were affected by this tragedy,” said Lee.

In 2013, 55 remains of former students and school staff were found at Dozier.

A group of former reform students known at the White House Boys said they still believe more remain on the grounds.