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Olympus Pools owner to face jury this week in fraud case

Olympus Pools owner to face jury this week in fraud case

Yahoo03-03-2025

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – The man at the center of a Better Call Behnken investigation into hundreds of unfinished pools in multiple Tampa Bay area counties heads to trial Monday on fraud and grand theft charges.
James Staten, owner of Olympus Pools, faces 35 felony charges. The Florida Attorney General's Office of Statewide Prosecution accuses him of abandoning his customers' pool projects and using $1.3 million of their money for his personal gain.
If found guilty on all 35 counts, Staten faces a minimum of 20 years in prison.
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State prosecutors said the case is about greed that led to fraud. Meanwhile, attorneys for Staten argue there was no intent to defraud customers and this is simply a case of poor business and what they call a 'civil matter.'
Staten was arrested in August 2023 and has remained in jail, as his attorneys claim he has been unable to meet his more than $1 million bond. The original bond was set at $2.8 million.
Staten is represented by the Office of Criminal Defense Attorney Rick Escobar, who has repeatedly said he believes his client is innocent.
'… What the public needs to understand is that sometimes businesses go belly up and just because a business goes bankrupt and people lose money, that does not make it a crime,' Escobar said in an interview with Consumer Investigator Shannon Behnken shortly after Staten's arrest in 2023.
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This case was investigated by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Charges include aggravated white-collar crime, organized scheme to defraud, 20 counts of grand theft, eight counts of missed application of construction funds, and five counts of contractor fraud.
Better Call Behnken began looking into customers' complaints nearly four years ago as many complained they were encouraged to pay upfront in exchange for lower prices and faster service, but were left with dangerous holes in their backyards.
Numerous customers also had liens placed on their homes by subcontractors who said Staten failed to pay them for work they completed on the projects.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Hope Florida Foundation to amend tax return to show golf tourney made more money
Hope Florida Foundation to amend tax return to show golf tourney made more money

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time5 hours ago

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Hope Florida Foundation to amend tax return to show golf tourney made more money

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis held a two-day golf tournament at a high-end resort in Panama City Beach last year to raise cash for the Hope Florida Foundation, the nonprofit associated with the First Lady that is under investigation. The May 2024 event at a resort that bills itself as the 'true gem' of Florida's Gulf Coast lost more than $17,000, according to the foundation's delinquent federal tax return filed in April — six months past its due date. But now the foundation said it will amend its tax return by attributing more donations to the golf fundraiser, ones it previously failed to report to IRS. The event, it claims, was an 'extraordinary success,' though by IRS rules it still lost money, even if the foundation's 990 tax form is amended. The problems with Hope Florida's tax return underscores the financial challenges that have plagued the two-year-old foundation and prompted state lawmakers this spring to launch an investigation into the charity, trumpeted by Ron and Casey DeSantis as way to help Floridians get off government assistance. 'The incompetence is astounding,' Rep. Alex Andrade, R-Pensacola, said by email when he was told about how the group's tax return was to be amended. Andrade used his House Health Care Budget Committee this spring to investigate the Hope Florida Foundation, which was used as a pass through for $10 million from the state's Medicaid settlement. That money wound up in the account of a political action committee set up by DeSantis' former chief of staff, James Uthmeier, to defeat a ballot initiative to legalize marijuana. Andrade said it was illegal to shift state money that should have gone to help provide health care for the poor to a political operation. Uthmeier, who DeSantis has since appointed Florida's attorney general, has denied any wrongdoing. The House investigation also showed that the Hope Florida Foundation had not filed its tax return, produced a required audit or kept up with other paperwork. Andrade ended his investigation in April saying he there was evidence that DeSantis administration officials and others tied to Hope Florida had committed 'conspiracy to commit money laundering and wire fraud' in moving the Medicaid money. The DeSantises and others involved also deny any wrongdoing. Andrade handed over information, he said, to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Leon County State Attorney's Office, which confirmed it is investigating the allegations. The golf fundraiser coincided with a press conference where DeSantis and his wife handed out $140,000 in checks to seven local nonprofits and churches. But it was not announced in advance by the governor's office or the Hope Florida Foundation and seemed to have little social media presence. Now the Foundation is spinning the initial loss claimed for the fundraiser into gold. 'The Governor's Cup was an extraordinary success that was not paid for at taxpayer expense and raised a net profit of nearly $700,000 for the Hope Florida Foundation,' the foundation said in a recent statement provided by Jeff Aaron, the outside legal counsel hired in October to help fix the foundation's finances and other problems. Aaron provided a list of donations that were not part of Hope Florida's tax form and said an amended form would be filed soon. Aaron said the tournament raised $785,000 donations and had $95,547 in expenses for a total profit of $689,452. But the foundation's tax return tells a different tale. It shows the Governor's Cup only made $22,000, and with $40,000 in expenses reported a loss of $17,000. The IRS requires the donations to be subtracted from the gross revenues to show how much the revenue the event generated selling event-related goods and services. So while the tax return notes the foundation received about $400,000 in contributions, that money is not counted as revenue for the fundraiser. And because the tournament didn't produce enough revenue to cover the expenses, the expenses come out of the donations, said Laurie Chaney, CEO of Charity Watch, an independent nonprofit watchdog. 'That isn't a good thing,' Chaney said. While the new numbers provided by Aaron show the golf tournament garnered more donations than originally reported, it still wouldn't help the bottom line, according to the IRS. Rather, the additional expenses Aaron flagged would mean the event lost even more than the foundation's 990 tax form shows, a total of $73,000. Chaney said she hasn't seen many successful charity-run golf tournaments. 'For organizations that use golf tournaments as their primary means of raising funds, it sometimes appears that charities are using them more to subsidize their board members' golf hobbies than as an efficient means of raising donations to support their charity's mission,' she said. The foundation's tax return was prepared by Carroll & Company, the same Tallahassee accounting firm that handled the books for the political action committee Keep Florida, the one set up by Uthmeier that got money from Hope Florida. It also did accounting for DeSantis' Florida Freedom Fund, another political committee set up to combat the marijuana legalization initiative as well as a ballot amendment to overturn a six-week abortion ban and expand women's reproductive rights. Kelly Kundinger, currently a senior advisor to Sen. Ashley Moody, was the chief operating officer for the Florida Freedom Fund and responsible for the golf tournament's billing. She did not return an email seeking comment. 'At its most basic, the accounting of the event should match the 990,' said Glen Casel, a former Central Florida nonprofit executive with 30-plus years of experience, who called the addition of hundreds of thousands of dollars 'alarming.' 'It is not normal to have hundreds of thousands of dollars in corrections,' he said. Among the donors to the golf tournament was Centene Corp., the state's largest Medicaid managed care provider, which has played a notable role in the Hope Florida foundation controversy. It was Centene that made the legal settlement with the state, totaling $67 million, that spun off the $10 million the Hope Florida Foundation channeled to two political nonprofits aligned with efforts to defeat the marijuana initiative. Centene gave the golf tournament $100,000 more than was reported to the IRS, according to Aaron's list of donors.

A Florida Dog Was Enjoying His Backyard When 'All of a Sudden' an Alligator Dragged Him Away
A Florida Dog Was Enjoying His Backyard When 'All of a Sudden' an Alligator Dragged Him Away

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time6 hours ago

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A Florida Dog Was Enjoying His Backyard When 'All of a Sudden' an Alligator Dragged Him Away

An alligator attacked a German shepherd dog outside the pet's home in Wesley Chapel, Florida, on June 2 The dog, Zeus, suffered multiple injuries, including a fractured jaw and several puncture wounds at the neck, according to a GoFundMe page for the pup Zeus' family says the attacking alligator dragged the dog into a nearby pond, but eventually let the pet go, giving the canine a chance to escapeA German shepherd dog narrowly escaped death in an alligator attack just outside of his home in Wesley Chapel, Florida, according to the pet's parents. The dog, named Zeus, suffered multiple injuries after "a large alligator broke through [the] fence" of his owner's home and "attacked him" on the night of June 2, according to a GoFundMe page created by the dog's distraught owner, Susan Alkhatib. "Our beloved dog Zeus was sitting peacefully in the lanai with my dad when he heard a small animal in the backyard," wrote Alkhatib. According to the owner, Zeus "ran out the doggy door to investigate" and "within seconds," the alligator "grabbed the dog and dragged him back into the water." "We rushed outside with a flashlight and were shocked to see Zeus swimming back toward us, wounded but fighting to survive," Alkhatib continued. "My mom waded into the water to help him out, and we rushed him to the nearest emergency vet as he was bleeding heavily from his mouth." One family member recalled the attack to WFLA, "All of a sudden, I couldn't hear him anymore. My dad came in frantic. I'd never seen him like that. He said, 'The alligator just took Zeus.'" "The alligator had just let go of Zeus," Alkhatib told the outlet. "We started yelling at him to come toward us. When he got closer, he got tired. So we had to kind of go into the pond a little bit to get him." Zeus suffered a displaced jaw and multiple puncture wounds to his neck in the vicious attack, according to the GoFundMe page. The page has raised over $6,800 of its $10,000 to help cover veterinary bills. Photos released by the dog's owner show the pooch bleeding from his neck and his injured jaw. Alkhatib called the dog's escape from the attack "a miracle" on her GoFundMe page. "The vet told us the gator had just missed his jugular — it looked like Zeus's entire head had been in the gator's mouth. The fact that he made it out alive is nothing short of a miracle," she wrote. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. "We're doing everything we can to help our boy heal, but the cost of his care has become overwhelming and unexpected. If you know Zeus, you know he's a fighter … We just want to see him happy and healthy again," the page concluded. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has trappers searching for the attacking alligator, per WFLA. Read the original article on People

Florida No. 2 in gun sales but numbers are dropping here and in the US. Possible reasons
Florida No. 2 in gun sales but numbers are dropping here and in the US. Possible reasons

Yahoo

time10 hours ago

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Florida No. 2 in gun sales but numbers are dropping here and in the US. Possible reasons

Floridians, and Americans in general, are buying fewer guns. People in the Sunshine State bought just over an estimated 1.2 million guns in 2024, according to the annual report from safety product review site based on data from the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). That's a 7% drop from 2023. Florida still ranks No. 2 in the country in total gun sales, though, behind Texas (1.36 million). Sales were down nationally as well, where the estimated 16.1 million firearms sold in 2024 were a 3.4% decline from the previous year. The National Shooting Sports Foundation's annual report calculated a lower number, 15.2 million sold in 2024, but also said sales were declining. Sales have declined every year since 2020 after peaking during the COVID pandemic, SafeHome said. Gun sales in Washington plunged nearly 46%. "Some expected the 2024 presidential election to drive a spike in gun sales, but early data from 2025 tells a different story," said SafeHome managing editor Rob Gabriele. "In the first four months of the year, just over 5.29 million guns were sold, averaging around 1.32 million per month. "If that pace holds, 2025 will end with roughly 15.5 million gun sales, a 3.8 percent drop from 2024 totals," he said. "This mirrors the previous year's rate of decreasing sales." However, 15 states saw increases in gun sales, with Massachusetts residents buying 22.5% more of the weapons. SafeHome releases its report every year in time for National Gun Violence Awareness Day, which was June 6. Many Americans wear orange between June 6-8 in honor of Hadiya Pendleton, who was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago. SafeHome estimates that 389,994 guns have been sold in Florida from January through April 2025, behind Texas with 443,224. But by this time last year, Florida gun sales hit nearly half a million. Florida saw gun sales go up 1% in 2023, the same year the state passed a law to allow permitless concealed carry. The Sunshine State was one of only four states to see an increase, with 1,316,471 estimated sales in 2023, according to the report. FBI report: Active shooter incidents decrease in 2024, list includes Florida I-10 shooter Whlie the answer remains unclear, the record sales during the pandemic may have lowered the demand for now. 'What we saw in 2020 and 2021 were not sustainable from a market standpoint,' Jonathan Metzl, director of Vanderbilt University's Center for Medicine, Health, and Society, told The Trace, a website tracking gun violence. 'But also, many more people have guns now, and so the market of potential consumers is a lot smaller than it was during the pandemic.' Another factor is a Republican president in the White House. Gun sales tend to rise when presidents from the Democratic Party are elected, due to expectations of more restrictive gun laws, weapons confiscation, or fears of violent right-wing suppression. In January 2021, the month rioters swarmed the Capitol to prevent the certification of former President Joe Biden's votes, the firearms industry set a new record of more than 2 million firearms in one month, CNN reported. That was a 75% increase over the number sold in January 2020. Firearm and ammunition sales also spiked during former President Barack Obama's terms. However, gun sales dropped 17% during the first three years of President Donald Trump's first term, The Trace said. Some gun owners may be shifting their focus on accessorizing the firearms they own instead of buying more, Guy J. Sagi wrote for the American Rifleman in February. An October 2024 NSSF press release (now deleted, archived here) reported that American ownership of suppressors is skyrocketing, with as many silencers sold between May 2021 and July 2024 as were registered in the previous 87 years. Other possible reasons for a drop in sales include more restrictive gun laws in some states and inflation pushing firearms farther down the list of immediate needs for many Americans. According to SafeHomes' analysis of NICS data, these are the states with the most firearms sales in 2024: Texas: 1,363,596 (1.2% increase) Florida: 1,224,566 (7% decrease) California: 1,019,136 (2.3% decrease) Pennsylvania: 822,286 (2.3% decrease) Tennessee: 583,750 (7.8% decrease) Ohio: 583,959 (0.1% increase) Virginia: 566,053 (2.7% decrease) North Carolina: 530,083 (6.1% increase) Missouri: 500,885 (3.8% decrease) Michigan: 481,870 (13.3% decrease) Adjusted for population, Wyoming, Montana and Alaska have the highest gun sales rates in SafeHomes' report. "These states have strong hunting traditions fostered by rural lifestyles and less rigid gun control laws," Gabriele said. "The pro-gun cultures and the need for self-defense in such remote areas, which abound in predators that could harm livestock, may also contribute to higher gun ownership and sales." Wyoming: 68,964 (16.1 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) Montana: 135,882 (15.9 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) Alaska: 79,217 (15.4 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) New Hampshire: 145,700 (13.3 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) Oregon: 429,892 (13.2 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) Alabama: 460,694 (12.3 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) North Dakota: 65,170 (11.7 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) Idaho: 162,079 (11.5 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) West Virginia: 155,421 (11.5 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) Oklahoma: 322,315 (11.1 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) Tennessee: 583,750 11.1 sold per 100 residents aged 21+) In comparison, Florida saw 7 firearms sold per 100 residents 21 and older. National Gun Violence Awareness Day, which falls on the first Friday in June every year, was established to honor the estimated 88 Americans (as of 2015) whose lives were cut short by gun violence every day, and the survivors whose lives are forever changed. The day, and the Wear Orange movement, began when some Chicago teens asked their classmates to wear orange on June 2 to commemorate the birthday of 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton. Pendleton was shot and killed a week after marching in President Obama's 2nd inaugural parade. Orange was chosen because it's what responsible gun owners wear in the woods while hunting to protect themselves and others. Former First Lady Michelle Obama attended Pendleton's funeral and delivered the commencement address at what would have been her graduation ceremony. Former President Barack Obama talked about her death in his 2013 State of The Union Address. The Obamas announced they were honoring the slain student through the Hadiya Pendleton Atrium at the Obama Presidential Center. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Gun sales down in Florida, America. Why the decline?

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