OFFICE of the STATE ATTORNEY Violent Crime

OFFICE OF THE STATE ATTORNEY SIXTEENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR MONROE COUNTY

DENNIS W. WARD STATE ATTORNEY

530 Whitehead Street, Suite 301 Key West, FL 33040-6547 (305) 292-3400

KEY WEST, February 21, 2019 – For the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office, 2018 brought justice for numerous victims of crime and protection for the community from repeat violators of the law.

Through the diligent efforts of the office’s 50 employees, from attorneys to investigators to victim/witness coordinators and others, and through partnerships with the law enforcement community, dangerous people were taken off the streets and the community was made safer.

Following are some highlights from the State Attorney’s Office from 2018.

Violent crime

Vehicular homicide

A Key West woman who killed a popular dental hygienist by running her down with a car was sentenced to 32 years in state prison.

April Dawn Thomason, 46, claimed she was temporarily insane from withdrawing from the use of Xanax but a jury didn’t buy it. Thomason was convicted on September 26, 2018, of one count of vehicular homicide, two counts of attempted manslaughter, one count of leaving the scene of an accident involving death and one count of assault. She was sentenced on November 5.

Thomason ran down Stephanie Collins, 46, on September 16, 2015, while behind the wheel of a Mercedes on South Roosevelt Boulevard. Collins died that night at Lower Keys Medical Center from what the attending medical examiner called “blunt force injuries.”

Her convictions are also for trying to run down two other people. Assistant state attorneys Colleen Dunne and Cristy Spottswood represented the state.

30 years for killing three

A former Key West man who killed three people in the Lower Keys while driving drunk was sentenced to 30 years in state prison last year after pleading guilty to two counts of driving under the influence-manslaughter and five other DUI- related counts. Daniel Sommerfeldt, now, 35, was sentenced on March 2, 2018. He had his driver’s license revoked for life. Assistant state attorneys Val Winter and Christine Poist represented the state.

Sommerfeldt was driving a Ford F-250 south on U.S. 1 on the Shark Channel Bridge near mile marker 11 on August 23, 2015, when he struck a Dodge Ram driven northbound by a Sebring man. Two women in the Ram were killed, as was Sommerfeldt’s wife, who was in his truck. Her family requested Sommerfeldt not face a DUI-manslaughter charge for her death.

Suspect admits to manslaughter

A Plantation Key man pleaded guilty to manslaughter for killing his girlfriend and was sentenced on September 11, 2018, to 15 years in state prison.

Jeremy Stigler, 46, killed Jade Green Dixon, 47, in November 2016. He walked into the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office substation on Plantation Key on November 7 that year to report the death and told police “that he was a suspect,” according to an arrest report by Detective Manuel Cuervo. Monroe County’s medical examiner later ruled Dixon died by “manual strangulation.”

Stigler had told police he and Dixon had gotten into an altercation the day before and he went to sleep. When he woke up a few hours later, Dixon was dead, he told police. Assistant State Attorney Colleen Dunne represented the state.

Prison for stabbing death

A Marathon man received 25 years in prison on May 8, 2018, after pleading no contest to stabbing another man to death.

Kyle Miller, now 31, pleaded to a charge of second-degree murder, plus grand theft auto, in the death of Andre Howard, 34, at the Key by the Sea mobile-home park. Howard was killed on April 24, 2017. Miller told police Howard had made unwelcome sexual advances toward him.

Miller was arrested in Tavernier after stealing a car and fleeing following Howard’s death. Assistant State Attorney Colleen Dunne represented the state.

Attempted murder of police officer

Timothy Thomas, now 28, received two consecutive terms of life in prison plus 15 years after a jury convicted him of trying to kill a Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputy.

Thomas was charged with attempted murder of a police officer, plus burglary of a dwelling armed with a firearm and fleeing a law enforcement officer. In the case prosecuted by assistant state attorneys Colleen Dunne and Gail Conolly, Thomas was convicted on April 25, 2018, and sentenced the following month. Thomas had previously served time in prison for robbery. On October 24, 2015, Deputy Joshua Gordon attempted to pull Thomas over on Stock Island for having a stolen license plate on the Mustang he was driving. Thomas sped away but crashed into a stop sign. Deputy Gordon shouted commands at Thomas, who exited the Mustang and started shooting with a handgun. A bullet struck the deputy but luckily, he was saved by his bullet-proof vest.

15 years for stabbing

A former Big Coppitt Key man was sent to prison for 15 years after admitting to stabbing his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend and stabbing the ex-girlfriend, as well.

On January 18, 2018, Ramon Sanchez, now 32, pleaded no contest to attempted second-degree murder and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Prison will be followed by 10 years of probation. Assistant State Attorney Christine Poist represented the state.

On February 8, 2014, Sanchez went to the new boyfriend’s house on Big Coppitt, where he found the boyfriend and Sanchez’s ex in a bedroom. Sanchez stabbed the new boyfriend five times and slashed his ex-girlfriend, then fled. Police found him a short time later in a truck around mile marker 6 of U.S.

18-year sentence in Duval shooting

A Louisiana man was sentenced to 18 years in Florida State Prison following his conviction for shooting up Old Town Key West, injuring three other men.

Derek David, now 37, was given three concurrent 15-year terms on three counts of attempted manslaughter with a firearm, plus three years to be served consecutively for his conviction of aggravated assault without a firearm. He also was sentenced to 364 days in jail for improper exhibition of a firearm and resisting arrest, plus using a firearm under the influence and violating his concealed-weapon permit.

David was arrested on March 21, 2016, after he shot three men following an altercation on Charles Street. Two of the victims had been walking on Duval Street and one on Charles Street. A jury convicted David on March 1, 2018, and he was sentenced on June 6. Assistant state attorneys Val Winter and Colleen Dunne represented the state. David is appealing his convictions.

Sex crimes

30 years for convicted rapist

A Key West man who sexually battered a woman on his boat, which the victim described as “several hours of torture,” and who possessed child pornography was sent to prison for three decades. On July 26, 2018, Jeffrey Sundwall, 47, pleaded to sexual battery and to 20 counts of possessing child porn. He received two 15-year sentences, to run consecutively. He also pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine and tampering with evidence and received five years on each of those counts to run concurrently with the 30 years. Assistant State Attorney Colleen Dunne represented the state.

Sundwall was arrested on March 8, 2017, two days after the woman reported the crime. The victim told investigators that she had accompanied Sundwall to his boat, anchored in Key West Harbor, in hopes of possibly renting it for housing. Once aboard, he restrained and assaulted her. The next day, Sundwall took the woman to Key West proper on his water taxi. She borrowed a phone to call her mother to tell her what happened and police arrived shortly thereafter.

10 years in boat rape case

A Key West liveaboard boater was convicted of raping a woman in December and later sentenced to a decade in prison.

Miguel Pestano, 44, was convicted of sexual battery on December 5, 2018. The crime occurred on January 6, 2108, aboard Pestano’s boat, anchored of the Key Haven boat ramp. He was sentenced on January 11 and the sentence includes him registering as a sexual predator with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The victim was a Marathon woman.

Pestano met the woman while walking. She had planned to stay the night at the Sunset Marina but Pestano offered to let her stay on his boat, and she accepted. She went to sleep and was awakened in the middle of the night to Pestano molesting her. She told him to stop but he forced himself upon her “at least three times.” He told her she should be “grateful” for a place to stay and to “stop playing the victim.”

Pestano at first denied meeting the woman, then changed his story twice when speaking with police. Assistant state attorneys Patrick Flanigan and Christine Poist represented the state.

Four years for child porn

A Marathon man found with a big cache of child pornography was sent to prison and placed on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s sex-offender registry.

Michael Savinelli, now 51, pleaded no contest on May 8, 2018, to 10 counts of possession of a sexual performance by a child and was sentenced July 30 to four years followed by 24 months of sex-offender probation and another 48 months of regular probation following that. He was arrested November 17, 2016, at his house after law enforcement received a tip someone at the residence might be uploading child porn. Monroe County Sheriff’s Office investigators and agents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations found the pornography on his computer after executing a search warrant. Assistant State Attorney Colleen Dunne represented the state.

Animal abuse

Dog abuser gets three years

A Big Pine Key man who nearly beat a poodle to death was sent to prison for three years.

Armando Corzo, now 39, was convicted on June 22, 2018, of aggravated animal abuse for beating his then-girlfriend’s five-pound poodle, Ameretta, on April 25, 2018. He was sentenced on July 27.

Two veterinarians testified at Corzo’s trial that Ameretta was in critical condition when brought to the animal hospital. The dog lost portions of her teeth, had bruised ears, and her left eye was completely red from numerous broken blood vessels. Ameretta also had blood in her urine, a sign of damage to her kidneys.

Corzo, who had 20 prior criminal convictions, claimed the crime scene, replete with blood, was staged. Assistant state attorneys Christina Cory and Christine Poist represented the state.

40 cats, 40 criminal charges

The State Attorney’s Office filed 40 counts of animal cruelty against a man who dropped off 40 neglected and seriously ill cats at the Marathon Animal Shelter.

Patrick Franey, 61, is charged with four counts of felony cruelty to animals and 36 misdemeanor counts. He was arrested on May 23, 2018, at the Marathon courthouse, where he was responding to a civil citation filed by the Florida Keys SPCA. Franey had dropped off the cats on February 27, 2018.

When the cats arrived at the animal shelter, they were soaked with urine; long- haired cats had matted hair due to feces on them; three cats were missing eyes; several had open wounds and missing hair; most were scratching and shaking; several had swollen ears due to hematomas; and several had green mucous in their eyes, a sign of upper respiratory infections.

In his arrest affidavit, Monroe County State Attorney’s Office Investigator Abraham Vallejo wrote that seven of the cats had to be euthanized, four due to medical issues and three “due to aggression as a result of lack of human contact.” The case is pending. Hurricane Irma cases

Prison for burglary

A Key West man was sent to prison for 43.2 months for his guilty pleas to crimes that occurred during the governor-declared State of Emergency for Hurricane Irma.

Maurice Matticx, 41, admitted to felony charges of burglary and grand theft on April 12, 2018. Matticx will serve 36 months of probation following his release from prison. Assistant State Attorney Patrick Flanigan represented the state.

According to police reports, on Sept. 14, 2017, Matticx broke into a Key West house and stole more than $300 in cash, an iPhone, a watch and a shirt. The house’s resident caught him in the act.

Then-Gov. Rick Scott declared the State of Emergency on Sept. 4, 2017, and it was still in effect the day of the crimes. Flanigan charged that Matticx’s actions “were facilitated by the conditions arising from the emergency,” contrary to state law. Hurricane Irma struck the Florida Keys as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 10, 2017.

Falsified damage claims

Late in 2018, five Florida Keys residents were charged in separate cases of alleged theft against the Federal Emergency Management Agency following Hurricane Irma.

State Attorney’s Office Investigator Frank Zamora brought the charges, which include grand theft and uttering a false instrument.

The Category 4 storm struck on September 10, 2017, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency began accepting applications for monetary help for temporary housing, emergency home repairs, and uninsured and underinsured personal property losses.

The charges against the five allege, among other things, that they claimed to live in homes damaged by Irma when they did not and filed false applications for FEMA aid.

Convenience store break-in

A Big Coppitt Key woman who broke into a store three days after Hurricane Irma struck while a governor-declared State of Emergency was in effect was sent to prison for 18 months followed by 42 months of probation and 100 hours of community service. Melody Sherman, now 50, was arrested on September 13, 2017. She pleaded no contest on October 23, 2018, to burglary during a state of emergency, battery and criminal mischief. Assistant State Attorney Christine Poist represented the state.

Irma struck the Keys on Sept. 10, 2017. Then-Gov. Rick Scott had declared a state of emergency on Sept. 4. Sherman was arrested after being caught breaking into the Dion’s Quick Mart/Mobile gas station at mile marker 10.5 bayside. She fought with a store employee.

Illegal contracting

Tavernier charges

A State Attorney’s Office investigation led to the October 11, 2018, arrest of a Key Largo man for allegedly contracting without a license.

Thomas Ruiz, 49, allegedly scammed two Upper Keys residents out of a combined $9,800. In both cases, he signed contracts with residents of Tavernier to install fences on their property. In one case, all he did was drill holes for fence posts. In the other, the only work done was the delivery of some fencing material and a dumpster and some prep work.

In both cases, State Attorney’s Office Investigator Roy Bogue confirmed Ruiz isn’t licensed to be a contractor in Monroe County. Also in both cases, the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation provided letters of “non- licensure” for Ruiz from the agency’s Division of Regulation. Bogue charged Ruiz with two misdemeanor counts of engaging in the contracting business without being licensed to do so. The cases are pending.

Middle, Lower Keys cases

A Miami man was jailed on December 6, 2018, on six felonies related to illegal contracting in a case brought by State Attorney’s Office Investigator Abraham Vallejo.

Ulises Ramon Wiltz, 49, was charged with four counts of unlicensed contracting and two counts of grand theft, all felonies. The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation helped with the investigation.

Wiltz was hired to repair Hurricane Irma-damaged roofs by two homeowners on Duck Key and one each on Grassy Key and in the Lower Keys. In two of these cases, Wiltz allegedly collected and kept deposits given by the homeowners totaling $15,940.50 but didn’t do any work. In one of the cases, he performed partial work. In another case, he collected a deposit but returned the money after not performing any work. His cases are pending. Wiltz was arrested on similar charges three other times in Monroe County in 2018. The DPBR revoked Wiltz’s contracting license on August 23, 2017. And in November 2017, Miami-Dade officials suspended his permit privileges in that county.

Two women victimized

A Pennsylvania man who authorities say scammed two Marathon women out of thousands of dollars through unlicensed contracting was arrested on three criminal charges in Monroe County.

Thomas McCormick, 57, of Hanover, Pa., was booked into the Monroe County Detention Center on Oct. 6, 2018, after being arrested on a warrant on Sept. 13 in Adams County, Pa. Monroe County State Attorney’s Office Investigator Abraham Vallejo brought the charges working with the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

In one case, he was charged with engaging in the contracting business without a license during a governor-declared state of emergency and grand theft of $10,000 or more. In the other, he was charged with engaging in the contracting business without a license.

Electrical work

A Key Largo man was charged with three felonies for allegedly performing or promising to perform electrical repair work post-Hurricane Irma without certification.

Monroe County State Attorney’s Office Investigator Roy Bogue charged Enos Mitchell III, 36, with three counts of practicing electrical contracting work without a license. Mitchell, who was arrested on April 23, 2018, is not licensed by Monroe County or the state of Florida as an electrical contractor, according to the affidavit.

Mitchell reportedly received a combined $7,850 from the three victims without performing any work.

Burglaries

15 years for serial burglar

A West Palm Beach man with previous felony burglary convictions and a prior prison history was sent to prison for 15 years following his convictions for burglary of a dwelling and grand theft over $20,000.

Keith Knespler, now 32, was sentenced on July 31, 2018. He was convicted of the Islamorada crimes on May 31. He pleaded with the judge for a 30-year suspended sentence but the 15 years was a minimum mandatory due to Knespler’s criminal history.

He was arrested on Feb. 26, 2015, after he broke into a house on Preston Street near mile marker 82. The jury found that he stole more than $20,000 worth of jewelry, including four Rolex watches and rare, historic jewelry from Tibet. Knespler claimed a man he had just met and done drugs with committed the crime. Assistant State Attorney Gail Conolly represented the state.

Lower Keys break-ins

A Lower Keys burglary spree netted a man four years in state prison in 2018.

Patrick Tierney, 29, will also serve six years of drug-offender probation following his release. Up front at the time of the plea, he paid a combined $6,846.99 in restitution to his victims. Tierney was sentenced on August 10, 2018, after pleading no contest to three counts of grand theft, two counts of burglary of a dwelling and five counts each of dealing in stolen property and providing false verification of ownership.

The crimes – break-ins to houses, theft from a store and pawning stolen goods claiming they were his – occurred from mid-December 2016 to early February 2017. Assistant State Attorney Christine Poist represented the state.

Eight years and $26 restitution

A woman who stole $26 out a juvenile’s wallet while lying about the reason for being in his house was sent away for eight years.

In addition to the prison term, Michelle Session, 46, will serve seven years of probation following her release. She must also repay the child, who was 11 at the time, the $26. She pleaded no contest to burglary of an occupied dwelling and was sentenced on September 20, 2018. Assistant State Attorney Christine Poist represented the state.

Key West police arrested Session on January 22, 2017. The woman had entered the house through the garage, told the youth she was the new housekeeper and that his mother had told her to go to the house to get money owed to her. She went through the house and ended up in his bedroom, where she took the $26 from his wallet. Session then left.

The child then went to meet his parents at his grandparents’ house and told them what happened. Police were called and the youth gave an officer a description of Sessions. Meanwhile, another officer was interviewing a neighbor who said Sessions had come to her house looking for housekeeping work. Surveillance video captured the neighbor and Session talking, and Session was the woman the juvenile described. A photo from the video went out to patrol officers, who found Session a short distance away. While being interviewed at the police station, Session said the juvenile made up the story. Two homes, three years

A West Palm Beach man who tried breaking into two Key West homes was sent to prison for nearly three years.

Marquis Wester, 27, was sentenced on September 12, 2018, to 34.05 months in state prison after pleading no contest to attempted burglary of a dwelling in two separate Key West cases stemming from September 3, 2017. Assistant State Attorney Christine Poist represented the state.

One attempted break-in was at a house on Olivia Street. The residents told police they awoke to Wester trying to get into the house through a window. When confronted, he fled, but not before the homeowner was able to take a photo of him. The other attempted burglary happened either the same morning or the night before on Aronovitz Lane, just a few blocks from Olivia Street.

Police found Wester shortly thereafter and, using the photo the first homeowner took and blood evidence found at the second house, the state was able to put Wester at both crime scenes.

Drug cases

9.4 years for repeat offender

A Stock Island man who had served two prior terms in state prison is back there again following no-contest pleas to six drug counts.

Oscar Leo Edwards, 32, was sentenced to 9.4 years on May 17, 2018. Edwards pleaded no contest to two counts of sale of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a park, one count of sale of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a church and three counts of using a two-way electronic device to facilitate a felony. The pleas were in separate cases from 2015 and 2016. Assistant State Attorney Christina Cory represented the state.

According to the Florida Department of Corrections, Edwards was in prison from Sept. 16, 2009, to, June 8, 2011, for aggravated assault with a weapon and being a felon in possession of a firearm; and from Feb. 27, 2013, to Dec. 1, 2014, for sale of cocaine, sale of marijuana and obstructing a criminal investigation.

Eight years for heroin, cocaine

A Key West man with a long history of arrests headed back to state prison after pleading no contest to several drug offenses.

On August 10, 2018, Stephen Tolar, 41, pleaded to trafficking in heroin (four to 14 grams) and possession of cocaine with intent to sell. He was sentenced to eight years on both counts. The trafficking charge also carries a three-year minimum mandatory sentence and a $50,000 fine.

In a separate case, Tolar pleaded to possession of Ethylpentalone, possession of cocaine and possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana. He received five years each on the first two counts and one year in jail on the marijuana count, all to run concurrent with the other terms. Both arrests happened in early 2017. Assistant State Attorney Christine Poist represented the state.

Key Wester off to prison

A Key West man with a lengthy Monroe County arrest history was sentenced to state prison for selling drugs and violating his probation imposed in a previous drug case.

On November 29, 2018, Jarnelle Williams, 40, was given 54 months for violating probation and 42 months on the latest drug count. The sentences will be served concurrently. Williams pleaded no contest to sale of a controlled substance and unlawful use of a two-way communication device, and admitted to the probation violation. Assistant State Attorney Christine Poist represented the state.

In the latest drug case, on August 24, 2017, the Key West Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit utilized a confidential informant to arrange the purchase of the synthetic drug MDMA from Williams for $40. Williams was arrested on a warrant in December that year. Williams’ arrest violated his probation, which was imposed March 5, 2015, for a term of four years after he pleaded guilty to sale of cocaine in a 2014 case.

Five charges, seven years

A Key West man was sentenced to seven years in state prison to satisfy five felony drug charges against him filed in four separate cases.

Andras Winn, 31, was sentenced on July 19, 2018. Prison will be followed by one year of probation. Assistant State Attorney Christine Poist represented the state.

Key West police arrested Winn four times between April and June 2017 after conducting controlled buys of illegal drugs using confidential informants. He pleaded no contest to three counts of sale of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a public park, one count of sale of a false controlled substance and one count of using a two-way electronics device in furtherance of a felony.

Three counts, four years

A Miami man was sentenced to 48 months in state prison following his no- contest plea to three drug counts stemming from cocaine sales in Key West.

Exzabeus Benjamin, 47, pleaded out on September 20, 2018, to two counts of sale of cocaine and one count of unlawful use of a two-way communication device. He will serve 72 months of probation following the prison term. The charges stemmed from two arrests in which police utilized a confidential informant to buy crack cocaine from Benjamin.

Assistant State Attorney Christina Cory represented the state.

Other notable cases

Quarter-million-dollar theft

A woman who admitted stealing more than a quarter million dollars from her employer and using it to buy automobiles and pay insurance, among other things, was sentenced to five years in prison, plus ordered to pay restitution.

Yadiris Wood, now 36, pleaded guilty on March 15, 2018, to theft of more than $100,000 from the Key West Association of Realtors. She was sentenced on June 14; the sentence includes 25 years of probation following Wood’s prison term. Assistant State Attorney Christine Poist represented the state.

Wood admitted stealing $279,946.29 from the association. Some was recovered through charge-backs on personal purchases she made with association money. But she must repay $175,035.95 to the Realtors group as well as $25,000 to Traveler’s Property Casualty Company of America and $10,000 to the Illinois Union Insurance Company, the association’s insurance firms.

Wood was arrested on December 1, 2017. She had worked for the association for 11 years, the last five holding the title “association executive,” and abruptly quit on March 13, 2017, via e-mail to the association president.

Repeat BUI, DUI offender

A Key West man with a history of driving and boating under the influence of alcohol was sentenced to two years in state prison.

William Burkett, now 55, was given the sentence on May 9, 2018, after admitting to violating probation he was on for two felony drunk-boating convictions by stealing a tricycle frame. He was arrested for that on February 1, 2018. Assistant State Attorney Nicholas Trovato represented the state.

The two BUI arrests happened in Key West within two weeks of each other in late 2015. Burkett pleaded guilty to both and was sentenced on Jan. 13, 2016. They were felonies because Burkett had three prior convictions for driving under the influence on his record.

Crash with injuries, driver imprisoned

A woman who seriously injured two people in an auto accident in Key West was sentenced to two years in state prison. Theresa Unger, now 30, was sentenced on August 2, 2018. She pleaded no contest to the felony of causing serious bodily injury while driving with a suspended license. She had previously been convicted of driving without a valid license in 2014 in Monroe County, driving with a suspended license in 2014 in Georgia and driving under the influence in Nebraska in 2011.

The July 5, 2017, crash seriously injured a Key West couple that was riding a scooter on South Roosevelt Boulevard. Unger was stopped at a stop sign, then “drove directly into the path” of the scooter, a Key West police officer wrote in his report. Both people on the scooter needed major surgery for their injuries.

Assistant State Attorney Christine Poist represented the state.

Jail for conch possession

A Texas woman was sentenced to 15 days in the Monroe County Detention Center following her plea to possessing 40 queen conchs one year earlier.

Diana Fiscal-Gonzalez, 30, of Dallas pleaded no contest on July 13, 2018. In addition to jail, she was ordered to pay restitution for the varying investigatory and prosecutorial costs, and take a course in marine conservation. Assistant State Attorney Marisa Rose Faraldo Tedesco represented the state.

Queen conchs are mollusks that can live up to 40 years. Due to their declining population, their harvest was made illegal in Florida in 1985.

Fiscal-Gonzales was arrested on July 13, 2017, when a state marine officer found the conchs in three plastic containers with her in a Key West driveway. She told the officer she and some children harvested the conchs to clean them and give away the shells as gifts. The officer returned the conchs to the water after arresting Fiscal-Gonzalez.

School threats

A Marathon man who made online threats to Marathon High School last year as well as to a specific person was sentenced to six months in jail and will spend at least the next four years on strict probation.

On August 1, 2018, Duviel Gonzalez, 20, pleaded no contest to making threats to kill or do bodily injury, a second-degree felony; and a misdemeanor count of possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana.

From an Instagram account with the user name “death_reapear,” he posted a photo with the words “Marathon High school Your on my list for 2 Round” and a another showing a photo of a man holding an assault rifle with his face half- covered with the words “Round 2 of Florida tomorrow.” Gonzalez also posted a photo of five shotguns with the words under it, “Obviously can’t wait for These bad boys to get into work.” The posts came three days after the February 14, 2018, massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County in which 17 people were killed by a lone gunman.

In addition to jail, Gonzalez will serve five years of probation and during that time he can’t have access to social media or have any social media accounts. He also is banned from all Monroe County School District properties during the term of his probation. In addition, he must perform 250 hours of community service and receive psychological counseling.

Assistant State Attorney Christine Poist represented the state.

Airplane stowaway

A homeless man was sentenced in the summer to four years in state prison for trying to stow away on a Delta Air Lines flight out of Key West International Airport.

A jury convicted James Crabtree, 35, of burglary of a conveyance, a third-degree felony, on May 24, 2018. The state successfully argued that Crabtree entered the aircraft at Key West International Airport with the intent to secure free passage. He was sentenced on June 28.

Crabtree was arrested on June 4, 2015, after he was found in the cargo hold by an airline employee. The flight was bound for Atlanta but Crabtree was found long before the plane was scheduled to take off. Assistant state attorneys Christine Poist and Christina Cory represented the state.