Local

HAWTHORNE ‒ Daniel John Pernini, 50, of Hawthorne, was arrested on Friday, March 24, and charged with perjury on a voter registration form and voting by an unqualified elector. Pernini is a designated Sexual Offender who is on lifetime federal probation for possession of child pornography.

Pernini allegedly registered to vote on Sept. 30, 2020, and voted in the 2020 General Election. As a sexual offender, he is not eligible to vote in Florida.

Pernini is one of nine sexual offenders referred to State Attorney Brian Kramer by Supervisor of Elections Kim Barton in August 2022. Charges have been filed so far against Pernini, Derrick A. Robinson and Clifton Anderson. Pernini is the first to be arrested.

Pernini has a previous history of two misdemeanors and two traffic violations in addition to lifetime federal probation for child pornography.

Judge James Colaw ordered a bond of $25,000 per charge, or a total of $50,000, in the arrest warrant he signed. Judge Thomas M. Jaworski set bail at $5,000 per charge, or a total of $10,000, at Pernini’s first appearance.

Pernini is no longer in the Alachua County Jail.

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HAWTHORNE ‒ Rachael Marie-Faye Clifford, 30, was arrested Friday, March 31, and charged with two counts of child abuse, two counts of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia after deputies reportedly found drugs in her diaper bag.

An Alachua County Sheriff’s (ASO) Deputy pulled Clifford over on Hawthorne Road for a window tint violation and issued a written warning. A four-year-old male and one-year-old female were reportedly unrestrained in the back seat of the vehicle. The deputy reported that when he asked Clifford to get out of the vehicle, she picked up a red diaper bag from the seat next to her and tried to bring it with her. The deputy wrote in his report that he had to tell her multiple times to put it back in the vehicle. She eventually put it in the back seat in front of one of the children.

An ASO K-9 alerted to narcotics in the vehicle and a search of the diaper bag reportedly produced 5.5 grams of a substance that tested positive for methamphetamine, about 1.5 grams of marijuana laced with MDPV (molly) and a charred glass pipe, along with diapers, children’s clothing and other baby items.

Post Miranda, Clifford reportedly said she uses methamphetamine, but she didn’t know that the marijuana contained molly. She said she does not smoke in front of her children.

Clifford was charged with child abuse without serious bodily harm for keeping narcotics in a bag with her children’s diapers and clothing, two counts of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Clifford served two concurrent state prison sentences between 2015 and 2018 for burglary and grand theft charges out of Gilchrist and Levy counties. Locally, adjudication of guilt was withheld on a 2013 charge of drug possession and she was fined after pleading to a charge of resisting arrest without violence in 2015 when ASO deputies arrested her for violation of her Levy County probation. At this time, her fine has not been paid. She was cited for driving without a valid license in September 2022 in Alachua County. That charge was just dropped on Wednesday, March 29.

Bail was set at $65,000 by Judge David P. Kreider and Clifford remains in the Alachua County Jail as of this writing. She is also not allowed unsupervised visits with her children.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ It looks as if the City of High Springs has finally settled its waste hauling woes once and for all. Alachua-based Waste Pro will take over as the waste/recycling provider effective May 1. Waste Pro's Municipal Marketer for Northeast Florida Dayna Miller spoke before the High Springs City Commission on Thursday, April 13, saying that the firm is pleased to be working with High Springs again to provide waste hauling services.

Several changes to pick up days and services will come along with this change, and according to High Springs Public Information Officer Kevin Mangan, City staff is pleased with several of the proposed changes and anticipates a high level of customer service from Waste Pro.

Trash collection days will be Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday each week, depending on the property’s location. The City expects “to have a map of the collection routes and pick up days available for citizens by April 24,” said Mangan.

Yard waste collection will be Wednesday of each week and recycling collection will be on Friday. New Waste Pro carts will be delivered to residents between the dates of April 18 – 30. Residents are encouraged to start using the new carts beginning May 1.

Rather than separating different types of recyclable materials between bins, one bin with a blue body and green lid will serve as a receptacle for all recyclable materials. Lids on recycle carts will keep paper and cardboard dry and help keep paper from flying out of the bin in windy weather.

Yard waste and loose debris such as leaves and palm fronds should not be added to either cart, but should be placed in the property owner’s containers for pick up. Plastic bags are not acceptable for yard waste. Yard waste piles should be no bigger than six feet long, four feet wide and three feet in height. More details about acceptable yard trash and white goods pickups will be available soon on the City’s website.

The old WCA/GFL carts and recycle bins are scheduled to be picked up with regular curbside trash collection on April 28.

Commercial customers will find that beginning the week of April 17, Waste Pro and GFL will start the process of removing GFL commercial frontload containers and delivering Waste Pro containers. GFL will service the Waste Pro containers up until April 28.

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NEWBERRY ‒ Rakheem Tavares Hoyt, 28, was arrested on Monday, April 10, in Newberry and charged with selling drugs near two Newberry churches.

Alachua County Sheriff’s Office deputies surrounded Hoyt’s vehicle in the 500 block of Northwest 252^nd Street at about 6:10 p.m. and arrested him on an active warrant in Alachua County. Hoyt had reportedly run from a deputy earlier, leading to the presence of more deputies surrounding the vehicle Hoyt was in at the time of his arrest.

A search incident to arrest reportedly produced two bags of suspected narcotics located in his front right jacket pocket and a bundle of U.S. currency located in his front left pants pocket. One bag weighed 7.8 grams and was field tested presumptive positive for crack cocaine. The second bag weighed 14.8 grams and the substance field tested presumptive positive for synthetic substitute cathinones (bath salts). The cash was bundled in a manner consistent with narcotic sales.

The incident took place within approximately 498 feet from Jones Temple Church of God by Faith and approximately 651 feet from Bethel AME Church.

Hoyt has been charged with possession of cocaine with intent to sell within 1,000 feet of a place of worship and possession of trafficking quantities of phenethylamines. He also had an outstanding warrant for failure to appear at a hearing for a charge of driving without a valid license.

Hoyt has a juvenile criminal history, along with three adult felony convictions (none violent) and 28 misdemeanor convictions (none violent). He has served a three-year state prison term for burglary and selling cocaine and was released in March 2021. Judge Susan Miller-Jones set bail at $250,100.

Hoyt remains in the Alachua County Jail.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ The City of High Springs Police Department (HSPD) will be modernizing equipment thanks to American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The City Commission on April 13 authorized $35,000 to provide HSPD with fully-equipped rifles and tasers. The department’s existing rifles are Vietnam era and owned by the federal government’s 10-33 program. Police Chief Antoine Sheppard said that upgraded or more modernized equipment is needed to rapidly deploy to severe crimes or armed disturbances. “Handguns are inadequate for these types of situations,” he said. In addition, the majority of City tasers have also depleted their shelf life. Rifles will cost $21,000 for 20, and tasers will cost $14,000 to replace. The City will return the antiquated rifles to the federal government once the new equipment is received.

In other business, the Commission approved submission of a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application for a stormwater project. The Citizens Advisory Task Force (CATF) committee met prior to the Commission meeting to consider the issue. Grant categories included Housing Rehabilitation, Commercial Revitalization or Neighborhood Rehabilitation. Grant writer David Foster of Fred Fox Enterprises was present at the meeting and said the City could only apply for one. The CATF selected Neighborhood Rehabilitation and discussed project topics within that category including water lines and drainage issues.

During the Commission meeting, Foster addressed the CATF’s suggestions in a CDBG public hearing. As the deadline for the $700,000 CDBG application is May 5, Assistant City Manager Bruce Gillingham said that a Low- to Moderate-Income (LMI) study, something that would help the grant application to be considered, had already been done in an area where the City has received several complaints regarding lack of water drainage. Because of the close deadline, this project idea was considered as opposed to a project having to do with water lines.

A significant amount of discussion regarding the CATF’s suggestion about water lines ensued. If the Commission were to pursue a more complex water line project, an LMI study would have to be conducted, they could pass on this CDBG submittal date and submit a grant request after more work was completed by the engineers and the LMI study was conducted.

Ultimately, the Commissions voted to pursue the stormwater project grant and review their suggestion with the CATF members at the next meeting on May 4 at 5:30 p.m.

In other City business, the Commission approved an ordinance governing the operation of golf carts on designated city streets. Gillingham said the ordinance was similar to one that had been recently passed by the City of Newberry. The ordinance limits golf cart top speed to 20 mph. Carts are not allowed on Northwest 74^th Avenue, U.S. Highway 27, U.S. Highway 27 ALT, Northwest 186^th Avenue, Northwest 182^nd Street, Northwest 190^th Avenue and Northwest 202^nd Street.

Although the ordinance closely follows state regulations, there was debate about the age of the driver. State regulations call for a minimum age of 14, while the ordinance lists operators must be 15 years of age or older. Commissioner Katherine Weitz pushed for a 16-year minimum age for operators with a driver’s license, but she was ultimately outvoted 4 to 1. Other regulations are included in the ordinance regarding equipment.

Chief Sheppard said that the legislature is considering regulations on All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) and Utility Task Vehicles (UTVs), which should be forthcoming. This ordinance does not address those types of vehicles.

The Commission unanimously approved a change to the Blue Gem Site Plan, which had been originally approved on Feb. 23. Once construction was underway, the applicant ran into an issue with concrete from the pool that existed prior. To avoid the expensive removal of the concrete, the applicant asked to amend the size of the pole barn from 30 x 48 feet to 40 x 40 feet. The project is located at 19544 N.W. U.S. Highway 441.

In other business, an update on the redevelopment site plan for Palms Medical Group (formerly Fellowship Church), located at 16916 NW U.S. Highway 441 was given by CHW Project Manager Mitchell Mason. The access road is being improved and additional parking and landscaping has been added. Improvements to the building will include new paint, new doors and roof repairs. Detailed plans and an artist’s rendition of the completed facility were enough to obtain unanimous approval.

The Commission gave unanimous approval for People’s Choice Storage site plan on behalf of Tricore Investment Group, Altamonte Springs. The site is located at 26020 W. U.S. Highway 27. Although the site plan was approved, Commissioner Ross Ambrose brought up the Conditional Use Plan, which specified Dark Night lighting. Ambrose pointed out that the owner had previously indicated he would work with the City regarding the lighting issue.

A contract for WastePro will be presented at the next Commission meeting. The Alachua-based company will begin serving High Springs on May 1. They will provide waste and recycling rolling containers for residential customers and are expected to be collecting waste in the city Monday – Thursday with yard waste collection on Wednesday and recycling waste collection on Fridays. A complete waste/recycling program will be featured on the City’s web site along with a short film.

Upcoming meetings include a special City/County Commission Meeting on Thursday, April 20 in High Springs and a Strategic Planning Meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., May 23. The Utility District ordinance (Ordinance 2023-02) will be included on the May 25 agenda.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ Joanna Hogg Rivers, 39, of Alachua, was arrested on Monday, April 10, and charged with simple battery and aggravated assault after allegedly accelerating her car toward a woman in High Springs.

A High Springs Police Department officer responded to a home in High Springs, where the victim reportedly told him that Rivers had come to her house and shouted obscenities at her. The victim said she went inside the house and Rivers left in her car but came back a short time later and started yelling again.

The victim said that Rivers accelerated her car onto the property, leaving tire marks in the yard and skid marks on the pavement. She said she had to jump behind a palm tree on the side of her house because she said she was in fear of her life. She said she thought Rivers was trying to run her down.

She said Rivers then followed her onto the back porch of her home, pushed her against the wall, grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground. The victim said Rivers “got in my face, pulled me [to the] ground and stomped on my face.” A witness reportedly corroborated the victim’s story.

Rivers has one misdemeanor conviction for petit theft. Bail was set at $55,000 by Judge Susan Miller-Jones.

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