Latest news with #OsceolaCounty
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Florida man arrested after beating up fellow golfer for playing too slow: cops
A golfer in Florida is accused of attacking a fellow player for playing too slow and now faces charges over the alleged assault. Jason Hughes was arrested Thursday and charged with aggravated battery causing bodily harm, according to Fox 35. The incident happened in June at a golf course in Kissimmee, Florida, according to the Osceola County Sheriff's Office. Hughes later told deputies that he was upset with the pace of the victim's play. The man said he and Hughes exchanged words on the course. The victim was playing with a friend in front of Hughes, who told them more than once to hurry up, according to the report. Many slower golfers will let those playing faster move ahead of them at a hole. Hughes got angry when he saw the victim talking to his friend on the green of a hole, according to the report. That is when Hughes allegedly attacked and started to punch the victim in the face. Witnesses broke up the fight and Hughes and his partner fled the scene before authorities arrived, according to the report. The victim was bleeding and bruised when police arrived. He later went to the hospital with a friend. Authorities tracked down Hughes through the credit card he used to pay for his tee time, according to Fox 35. Hughes was in court Friday and given a $2,500 bond. As part of his bail conditions, he is not allowed to play golf on a public course.
Daily Mail
22-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Madeline Soto's mom's boyfriend sentenced to life in prison after accepting murder charge in plea deal
The Florida man accused of sexually abusing and murdering his girlfriend's 13-year-old daughter will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Stephan Sterns, 39, pleaded no contest to Madeline Soto's murder and guilty to 21 counts of sex charges on Monday afternoon during an Osceola County Court hearing. No contest has the same legal ramifications as a guilty plea, but Sterns never had to explicitly admit or deny killing Madeline in February 2024. Prosecutors originally said they were going to pursue the death penalty against the convicted predator, but execution was taken off the table in a plea deal. The state also dropped about 40 other charges pertaining to explicit images of Madeline investigators discovered on Sterns' phone. In exchange, Sterns was sentenced to 21 concurrent life sentences without the possibility of parole. Emotions ran high during the chilling hearing, with Madeline's relatives and loved ones confronting Sterns and sharing tear-jerking testimonies. But Madeline's mother, Jennifer Soto, was not in attendance. 'I can't grasp the selfishness of you, the deplorability of your actions. You're depraved, weak, you're a coward,' Madeline's father, Tyler Wallace, told Sterns in court. 'I can only hope that [Sterns] lives a long time in prison and has those same horrors visited upon him by his fellow inmates.' He also described his daughter as he took the stand alongside his wife, Tatiana, saying she was 'quirky and intelligent' as well as a 'joy to be around.' 'I just loved her so much and I was not able to be in her life as much as I would've liked to due to circumstances and choices I had made and the way finances worked,' he went on. He said the last time he saw his child was in October 2023, months before her 13th birthday. Once she turned 13, Madeline would have had a say in which parent she would live with. Wallace said his daughter told him she wanted to stay with him. 'I was this close to having my little girl,' Wallace said as he began choking up. The accused murder appeared stoic in court - keeping his gaze low in apparent acceptance of his fate. While never addressing the heinous crimes, Sterns issued a statement about the young victim. 'I agree that it's not fair that Madeline is not hear anymore,' Sterns told the court. 'I still have a hard time contemplating a world where she's not around, a world that feels less vibrant and less colorful than it did before.' He also said he wished he could 'trade places' with Madeline. 'I have nothing but sorrow for her loss. And I miss her all the time. Her passing has torn me and my family apart as well and she truly was a joy,' Sterns told the court. 'And I apologize for all the pain.' Wallace's lawyer, Deborah Barra, told Click Orlando his family is at peace with the plea deal, as it is the first step in putting an end to the horrifying ordeal. 'In a case like this, there's never going to be any joy or happiness, there's not going to be a resolution where everybody is like "that's great,"' Barra told the outlet. 'But it is a matter of, "well what can you live with?"' State Attorney Monique Worrell also spoke out, writing in a statement: 'I want to extend my deepest condolences to the Soto family and everyone who loved Madeline. 'While nothing we do can bring Madeline back, I hope her family finds some measure of peace knowing that justice has been served.' Madeline was reported missing in Orlando on February 26, 2024. Her mother, Jennifer, realized something was wrong when she went to pick her up from school and she was not there. Sterns was allegedly supposed to drop Madeline off at Hunter's Creek Middle School and quickly became a 'prime suspect' in her disappearance. Four days after she was reported missing, her body was found in the woods close to where she disappeared from. Police believe Sterns strangled, molested and dumped Madeline. Her school bag was found dumped behind an apartment complex in Kissimmee. Investigators said they found child porn and evidence of Sterns abusing his longtime girlfriend's daughter as far back as 2022.
CBS News
21-07-2025
- CBS News
Florida man sentenced to life for rape, murder of Madeline Soto, his girlfriend's 13-year-old daughter
The longtime boyfriend of a Central Florida mother was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of her 13-year-old daughter, who was reported missing in February 2024 and found dead months later. Stephan Sterns was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder of 13-year-old Madeline Soto, and an additional life sentence for 20 sex offenses, including sexual battery of a child, Osceola County Circuit Judge Keith Carsten ordered, according to Orlando CBS affiliate WKMG. Sterns pleaded no contest to the first-degree murder charge and guilty to all 20 counts of sex crimes during a plea hearing Monday afternoon. This abrupt change came just as he was expected to go on trial this week for the sexual battery charges. Sterns had previously pleaded not guilty to sexually abusing and murdering Madeline Soto, the daughter of his former girlfriend. The plea agreement allowed Sterns to avoid a potential death sentence. Prosecutors had announced plans to seek the death penalty during his murder trial, scheduled for later this year. Family and friends, including Madeline Soto's father Tyler Wallace, addressed the court through tears prior to sentencing. Wallace delivered a scathing rebuke: "I can't grasp the selfishness of you, the deplorability of your actions. You're depraved, you're weak, you're a coward." He added, "It doesn't heal with time." Authorities believe Sterns sexually molested, strangled Madeline Soto, and dumped her body in a wooded area. Madeline Soto was reported missing Feb. 26, 2024, after her mother, Jennifer Soto, said she didn't find the teenager when she went to pick her up from Hunter's Creek Middle School. Law enforcement found her body on March 1, 2024, in a wooded area near St. Cloud, about 30 miles south of Orlando. While searching for Madeline Soto, investigators uncovered images on Sterns' phone and Google Drive showing him abusing the teenager. Despite Sterns factory-resetting his phone on the day the teen went missing, claiming he was trying to update it, detectives recovered child pornography and evidence indicating Sterns had been sexually abusing the girl as far back as 2022. Surveillance footage captured Sterns throwing items into a dumpster at a Kissimmee apartment complex the morning Madeline Soto disappeared. The teen's backpack and school-issued laptop were later found in that same dumpster. This report includes information from The Associated Press.
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Yahoo
Wife of suspended Osceola sheriff Marcos Lopez leaves jail after posting bond
The estranged wife of suspended Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez was released from jail after posting bond Monday, regaining her freedom after spending the last two weeks incarcerated on a racketeering charge. Robin Severance-Lopez posted a $400,000 bond after Circuit Judge Brian Welke ruled earlier in the day that the funds she would post were proven to have come from legitimate sources and not an illegal activity, a requirement the court imposed after her arrest. It was a quick reversal of fortune for Severance-Lopez, who had been denied her bond by Welke at a Thursday hearing after he questioned if all of the proposed funds were legitimate. Her attorney, Michelle Yard, had told reporters 'we're back to square one' after the hearing. She was released around 7:20 p.m. from the Lake County Jail in Tavares. A 30-second video from WFTV Channel 9 shows Severance-Lopez being rushed into a truck while reporters surrounded her and shouted questions that she did not appear to answer. Her husband bailed out of jail June 26 on a $1 million bond. Severance-Lopez had been in the Lake County Jail since her arrest on June 23, charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering. Prosecutors have accused her of moving proceeds from an illegal gambling operation across several bank accounts she shared with Lopez. She has pleaded not guilty to the charge. Six people face charges in what prosecutors described as an illegal gambling empire that began with an illicit casino in Kissimmee called The Eclipse and later expanded into Lake County. Lopez and Severance-Lopez, they allege, played 'ministerial roles' as part of the operation, which allegedly generated $21.6 million. The extent of the claims are documented in a 255-page affidavit that remains under seal while one co-defendant, Ying Zhang, remains free. Over the years, prosecutors said Lopez made between $600,000 and $700,000 in illegal proceeds that either went to him personally or as campaign contributions. His involvement purportedly began in 2019, a year before he was elected Osceola's first Hispanic sheriff and continued throughout his tenure at the sheriff's office, where prosecutors contend he used his position to shield The Eclipse and its workers from legal scrutiny. Prosecutors said Severance-Lopez was found to have withdrawn money on the day of Lopez's arrest and moved it to other accounts. Yard has said that money was used to pay bills and put toward her husband's bail. The case against Severance-Lopez, Yard said, hinges on a single email to Zhang containing a W-9 tax form. At no point, she added, did her client join a criminal enterprise. She filed for divorce from Lopez in 2023 after being separated since 2019. That proceeding, filed in Brevard County, is ongoing.
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Yahoo
‘Back to square one': Estranged wife of Osceola sheriff to remain jailed in racketeering case
The wife of suspended Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez, ensnared in the racketeering case against him, will remain behind bars after judge ruled Thursday she came up short $20,000 in trying to pay her bond. Robin Severance-Lopez has been in the Lake County Jail since June 23, charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering. Prosecutors have accused her of moving proceeds from an illegal gambling operation across several bank accounts she shared with Lopez. She has pleaded not guilty to the charge. Following her arrest, she was ordered to put up $400,000 in collateral plus pay another 10% to a bondsman to secure her release, with the stipulation that she prove the sources of the funds are legal. After a three-hour hearing, Circuit Judge Brian Welke ruled Severance-Lopez did not have to pay the additional 10%, but he was not convinced all the money was clean. Her lawyer, Michelle Yard, said the value of her family's home in Harmony, a check from a relative and two checks from Severance-Lopez's bank account would be enough to cover the bond. As proof her personal money was legal, she also cited 18 months of bank statements from several joint accounts demonstrating the only deposits were from Lopez's income as sheriff, his veteran benefits and a tax refund from the IRS. Brian Tagler, an undercover task force officer with the Orange County Sheriff's Office whose face was not shown in court, testified there was no evidence illegal money was mixed into the deposits from that period. But state prosecutors argued the money was being supplemented from another source. 'This is a common tactic used in order to … create confusion and hide the source of the excess money,' prosecutor Colleen Moore said. 'All the legitimate income that has been established here is already spent by way or Mrs. Lopez and Mr. Lopez's expenses.' Yard proposed that Severance-Lopez could use funds from a 2023 property sale totaling $57,000 to make up the difference. Welke, however, punted the issue to at least next week. 'At this point, we're back to square one where we have to get the statewide prosecutor to either agree she has a clean $20,000 or be back for a hearing again,' Yard told reporters outside the Lake County Courthouse. The prosecutors declined to comment as they left the courtroom. Six people face charges in what prosecutors described as an illegal gambling empire that began with an illicit casino in Kissimmee called The Eclipse and later expanded into Lake County. Lopez and Severance-Lopez, they allege, played 'ministerial roles' as part of the operation, which allegedly generated $21.6 million. The extent of the claims are documented in a 255-page affidavit that remains under seal while one co-defendant, Ying Zhang, remains free. Over the years, prosecutors said Lopez made between $600,000 and $700,000 in illegal proceeds that either went to him personally or as campaign contributions. His involvement purportedly began in 2019, a year before he was elected Osceola's first Hispanic sheriff and continued throughout his tenure at the sheriff's office, where prosecutors contend he used his position to shield The Eclipse and its workers from legal scrutiny. Prosecutors said Severance-Lopez was found to have withdrawn money on the day of Lopez's arrest and moved it to other accounts. Yard said that money was used to pay bills and put toward her husband's bail. The case against Severance-Lopez, Yard said, hinges on a single email to Zhang containing a W-9 tax form. At no point, she added, did her client join a criminal enterprise. In fact, she filed for divorce from Lopez in 2023 after being separated since 2019. That proceeding, filed in Brevard County, is ongoing. 'The case looks incredibly weak,' Yard said. 'I think that the weight of the evidence against Robin is abysmal. There is nothing showing that she joined any conspiracy to commit any racketeering activity.'
