HIGH SPRINGS ‒ Around 8 a.m. on Monday April 17, Alachua County SWAT team members (ASO), along with state Florida Law Enforcement (FDLE) and federal DEA agents, executed a search warrant at a suspected drug house on Northwest 240^th Street and 187^th Avenue in High Springs. The suspect, Anthony Rizzotto, 38, initially refused to come out. Knowing that Rizzotto was armed, law enforcement brought in an armored SWAT vehicle with a ram and knocked in two doors. Even with the entrance points available, the police waited the suspect out. “We knew he was armed and didn’t want to initiate a gunfight where either the suspect or our team could get hurt,” said an ASO officer. “We wanted a peaceful resolution and finally convinced him after about two hours to surrender.”

“They started making a lot of noise and telling the guy to come out,” said witness Charlie Brown. “He didn’t come out. Finally, the girlfriend came out...Several hours later after they had pushed down the fence trying to encourage him to come out...they finally opened the sliding glass door with a device on the front of the vehicle.”

Neighbors say they have been suspicious of activity going on at the house. “Lots of traffic, at all hours,” said Mark Bertocci. “Lot of cars coming in, a parade of cars. It’s kind of actually known and kind of not really hidden in a way.”

“All the cars coming and going all the time and they never show their license plate,” said Brown. “They always go around the back of the house.”

Rizzotto's neighbors had expressed their concerns to the High Springs Police Department who kept an eye on the house and notified State and Federal agents who put the house under surveillance. Once authorities documented the behavior, agents raided the house.

When Rizzotto surrendered, he provided the combination to his safe, and agents searched the house. Inside were two pistols, along with a magazine drum, a WWII-era submachine gun, and a 22-caliber rifle. Deputies also found meth in the home, and Rizzotto admitted to putting additional drugs down the drain.

Rizzotto has an extensive criminal history, and in addition to charges for drug production and distribution and resisting arrest, he also faces charges for weapons possession by a convicted felon. Additional information from law enforcement is limited due to the ongoing nature of the investigation.

Only two days after the drug raid, first responders were back at the house—this time it was firefighters putting out a fire in the attic. Around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, firefighters responded to fire reports at the same house on Northwest 240^th Street and 187^th Road. When they arrived, smoke was pouring from the roof of the single-story home. Firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading from the attic to the rest of the home. A man and woman were in the home at the time, but no one was hurt. The cause of the fire is now under investigation by the Alachua County Fire Marshal and no further information was available.

#     #    #

Email rcarson@

alachuatoday.com

Nearly two years after a father killed his young sons, burned the family's vacation home and fatally shot himself, Florida's Legislature is nearing passage of a new law that would shield details of autopsies of children.  Sponsored in the House by Rep. Charles “Chuck” Clemons, R-Newberry, and Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, the effort in Tallahassee is on behalf of the boys' surviving mother, 44-year-old Minde O'Sullivan of Gainesville. She said she never wanted to learn details of her sons' murders that were described in media coverage in the case that drew public interest across Florida. The bills would also ban release of photographs, audio or video in all cases when a minor is killed by anyone, not just in domestic violence crimes. The Senate has already passed a version of the bill. The House is expected to vote on the bill Thursday.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Nearly two years after both her sons were killed by her estranged husband, a surviving mother is picking up the pieces of her life to move forward as untold storylines about the murders are just emerging.

Minde O'Sullivan, 44, of Gainesville said her new marriage to the University of Florida baseball coach, Kevin O’Sullivan, and a non-profit foundation she created in honor of her boys, Rex Reinhart, 14, and Brody Reinhart, 11, have given her a new purpose in life. 

Meanwhile, her sons’ legacy may be legislation – “The Rex and Brody Act” – that is so far sailing through the state Legislature. One bill passed the Senate 39-0 earlier this month, and the House is expected to vote Thursday on another, after it passed unanimously through three committee votes. Similar efforts failed in Tallahassee last year.

The bills would ban the public release of autopsy reports for minors killed by domestic violence – and also ban release of photographs, audio or video, such as police body camera recordings or in reports by child abuse investigators, in cases when a minor is killed, no matter the circumstances.

Minde O’Sullivan’s estranged husband, Paul Otto Reinhart, 46, fatally shot the couple’s sons in May 2021 at the family’s waterfront vacation home in western Florida then set the house on fire and killed himself. The family, which ran a lucrative medical device sales company, was prominent in the region’s social and political circles.

The boys’ autopsies, which were released publicly, revealed that their father had shot both sons before he shot himself and set the fire – even though Minde O’Sullivan had initially assured a 911 dispatcher that her husband did not own any guns during the frantic hours when authorities were still searching for her missing family. Sheriff’s investigators also believed Paul Reinhart didn’t have a gun, based on their review of recent firearms transactions. But detectives later found two 9mm Glock pistols in the burned home in Suwannee.

“I was unaware he bought one two weeks prior,” she said in a recent interview. “I had no idea that he was capable of doing anything like this, or else I never would have left my children with him.”

Court and investigative records showed that the murders happened after Reinhart learned about an extramarital affair, the two traded angry texts about her wishing her husband dead and he made moves to withhold the family’s millions of dollars from her.

“You changed your life insurance policies so I don’t get any f***ing money,” Minde O’Sullivan told Reinhart in a conversation that Reinhart apparently recorded, according to a sheriff’s office report. She later said during a deposition in a related court dispute with Reinhart’s family that she had been unaware of Reinhart’s efforts to change his $4 million in life insurance policies.

When the boys’ autopsies were made public under Florida’s public records law, in August 2021, investigators had not yet released any details about how the boys had died three months earlier. Most media coverage then focused on the disclosure that Reinhart had shot the boys, without graphic descriptions. A local television station went further, detailing in a brief news article published on its website how many times and where on their bodies each boy was shot. Photographs and videos taken during autopsies are already blocked from public view under existing Florida law.

Minde O’Sullivan made clear to lawmakers she did not want to learn details of her sons’ tragic deaths – in a case that generated public interest across Florida – because it would be too upsetting.

The proposed law would have kept details secret. A surviving parent or spouse who was not involved in their child’s death could review an autopsy report. The legislation said such reports contain “highly sensitive descriptions of the deceased” and “could result in trauma, sorrow, humiliation, or emotional injury to the immediate family and minor friends of the deceased, as well as injury to the memory of the deceased.”

The bills would also ban release of photographs, audio or video in all cases when a minor is killed by anyone, not just in domestic violence crimes. The ban would cover accidents, such as car or boat crashes or cases when a child falls off an amusement park ride. It would cover killings even by police or sheriff’s deputies and even if there were questions about whether they acted lawfully in such cases. It would also cover evidence of deaths of children in cases that may have been handled or mishandled by government regulators, such as Florida's Department of Children and Families. 

That provision – which was not in the version of the bill that failed last year – was added last month by the House Judiciary Committee, saying it worried that release of recordings of killings may encourage others.

The bills were sponsored by two Alachua County lawmakers: Rep. Charles “Chuck” Clemons, R-Newberry, and Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville.

Clemons said he supports Florida’s public records law, sometimes known as the Sunshine Law, because it shines a light on government programs and activities. “What I’m asking you to do today, with this bill, is to put into the shade the gory photographs, the descriptions, the videos, etc…of minors who have been murdered,” he told lawmakers on the judiciary committee last month. 

Minde O’Sullivan pleaded with lawmakers to draft a bill so no surviving parent has to undergo the same hurt ever again, Clemons said. This year, the Senate version passed on April 11, Minde O’Sullivan’s birthday. When the Senate voted, she broke into tears in the Capitol as her mother, Tammy Prince, put her arm around her to comfort her.

“This was just the biggest birthday gift that I could ever imagine,” Minde O’Sullivan said. “It was so emotional.”

Clemons said he looks forward to Gov. Ron DeSantis signing the law once it passes the full Legislature, as is expected on Thursday. He said it would have prevented young friends of Rex and Brody learning graphic details online about the deaths of the boys. DeSantis is widely expected to sign the measures into law.

“Think about the psychological impact and the hurt it has not only for those young boys but for the surviving parents, the grandparents, the friends, the close-knit community – it's all out there and it's out there forever,” Clemons said.

Under the bill, a judge who finds good cause could disclose autopsy reports in certain cases. The court would have to evaluate the intrusion into the family’s right to privacy and consider whether there is similar information available in other public records.

While Minde O’Sullivan attended legislative hearings in Tallahassee, she also founded and focused her efforts on the Rex & Brody Foundation. The charity honors her sons, who were avid baseball players, to support youth and school baseball teams. Brody regularly served as the unofficial batboy for the University of Florida baseball team. She married baseball coach Kevin O’Sullivan on Sept. 24. The two were friends for years and began dating after the murders.

Some details about Reinhart’s actions – and interactions with Minde O’Sullivan – ahead of the murders have not been previously reported.

Eight days before the murders, Reinhart filed paperwork to change two life insurance policies to keep his wife from collecting money after his death. At the time, the couple was separated and intended to divorce. The policies were worth $2 million each and permitted full payouts even in a case of suicide.

The changes by Reinhart named his sons as primary beneficiaries and one of his brothers, Konrad Reinhart of Gainesville, a secondary beneficiary if the boys died. After the murders, Minde O’Sullivan settled a federal lawsuit with Konrad Reinhart last summer over the $4 million. Court records did not specify how the money was divided.

Separately, Paul Reinhart also updated his will 15 days before the murders to prevent his wife from receiving any assets after their 19 years of marriage. He named his brother, in place of his wife, the beneficiary of a retirement account worth more than $600,000.

Two days before the murders, Paul Reinhart began moving large sums of money from the family’s bank accounts: He transferred $299,000 from his business account to a personal account controlled by himself and Konrad Reinhart. He moved $100,000 out of Brody’s account and $100,000 from Rex’s and transferred it to the same account controlled by him and his brother, according to court records. 

The same day, Paul Reinhart used his phone to search: “selfish and having an affair” and “how to break someone psychologically, mentally and emotionally,” according to the final Dixie County Sheriff’s Office report. 

“The thing that is so upsetting is that it was planned out weeks before,” Minde O’Sullivan said in an interview. “It wasn't like he just snapped on a whim. He was still walking around with a smile on his face while he was planning all of this.”

The morning of the murders, Paul Reinhart emailed her a message that read, “You got your wish and you can keep the millions.” Attached to the email was an audio recording Reinhart made of the two arguing. 

In the recording, Paul Reinhart said, “Honestly wish I were dead.” Minde O’Sullivan responded: “Yes, I do. I do, but you know what sucks? Is you changed your life insurance policies so I don’t get any f***ing money,” according to the sheriff’s office report.

As part of their bitter family legal fights over the estate, Konrad Reinhart accused Minde O’Sullivan of a role in Paul Reinhart’s violence. The sides settled their probate fight in July, according to court records.

“Paul told me that she told him… to go kill yourself multiple times, and Paul said, ‘Are you serious?’” Konrad Reinhart said in a deposition. “And she said, ‘Yes,’ and then she got angry because the life insurance was changed into the boys’ name, and that’s all she was concerned about was the money.”

Minde O’Sullivan’s charity, which raised $82,222 last year, pays for baseball facility improvements and sponsors local teams to compete in national tournaments. Its next major fundraiser is Sept. 23 at UF’s football stadium. 

Minde O’Sullivan said the charity gives her a purpose, staying involved with youth baseball. She still attends high school games, she said, and stays in contact with her sons’ teammates.

“I wake up every single morning and think, ‘This is not real, this didn’t happen,’” she said. “But you have choices to make: You either get up and get going, or you choose to give up. And I've never chosen to give up.”

She added: "Staying involved in sports and baseball, which was their true passion, has helped a lot. It gives me a purpose. I knew I won't have my own ever again, but I have hundreds of other children and I'm going to continue to help."

#     #     #

Email editor@

alachuatoday.com

ALACHUA ‒ On April 20, more than 500 life science industry professionals from emerging and established life sciences companies, universities and research institutions gathered at Momentum Labs in Alachua's Progress Park for the 18^th Annual BioFlorida Celebration of Biotechnology, the state’s largest life sciences exhibit show. Alachua is home to a burgeoning biotech cluster and in recent years the area has seen large growth in biotech industries in Progress Park and along the U.S, Highway 441 corridor.

BioFlorida is the voice of Florida's life sciences industry, representing 8,600 establishments and research organizations in biopharma, medtech, digital health, and health systems that collectively employ nearly 107,000 Floridians. The BioFlorida event was first held in 2003 in Progress Park on UF Sid Martin’s patio with 40 attendees. With the support of the University of Florida and Santa Fe College, research and scientific advancements have grown the industry exponentially in Alachua. This year's event had nearly 500 participants with over 114 exhibitors.

The event provides an opportunity to learn about industry innovation and development, explore career opportunities, network with leaders, and drive collaborations to fuel future growth in the region. Celebration of Biotechnology exhibitors represented many of the emerging technologies in life sciences and biotechnology and representatives were available for participants to discuss the products with company personnel. Organizers also offered moderated bus tours of the local life science facilities, and following the event, Santa Fe College Perry Center for Emerging Technologies, located across Highway 441, provided a tour of their facilities.

At 11:30, President and CEO of BioFlorida Nancy Bryan gave a short introductory speech, followed with remarks by Alachua Mayor Gib Coerper and Brian Crawford, CEO and owner of Concept Companies, a nationwide real estate development company. “Scientists and researchers in the region are making advancements across multiple therapeutics areas including wound care, nerve repair, joint replacement, cell and gene therapy, Alzheimer’s, immumo-oncology, treatments for rare diseases, and many more,” said Crawford.

Referencing construction of the Momentum Lab facilities, Crawford said the facility offers growing life science companies access to needed resources, lab space and a highly desirable lifestyle. “We expect this trend to accelerate, propelling the future growth of the region,” said Crawford. “This would not have happened in Alachua if not for the support and cooperation from Mayor Coerper and the Ctiy of Alachua. They have consistently supported the vision of building the biotech hub in this area.”

#     #    #

Email rcarson@

alachuatoday.com

BY JENNIFER CABRERA/Alachua Chronicle

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Gainesville City Commission and Utility Advisory Board (UAB), along with Rep. Yvonne Hinson, hosted a rare Friday night meeting tonight to discuss Speaker Pro Tem Chuck Clemons’ local bill (HB 1645) that would create a governor-appointed board to govern Gainesville Regional Utilities.

UAB Chair Barry Jacobson said his board had requested the meeting because the draft bill was a “general outline,” they had questions, and “it’s time for everyone to talk.”

Mayor Harvey Ward said, “The bill before us doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me… How it’s implemented, I couldn’t tell you. I expressed that concern to Rep. Clemons, and he told me it would be fine, don’t worry about it. I do worry about it, and it’s my job to worry about it because we, the City Commission, were hired to worry about such things. I’ve heard some ideas about it, that are not accurate, that it will lower rates. Nothing in there that says it’s gonna lower rates, and I will tell you what I probably should have been saying more often, is that I would be the most popular guy in Gainesville if I could lower your rate responsibly… Our staff makes a pretty darn good case that lowering your bills just to lower your bills, to be popular, is a really bad idea, that we have a utility to run, and we need to run it responsibly.”

Ward continued, “We are told by our bond counsel… that there are many questions they have about this bill, and those questions aren’t answered in the latest version of the bill. They’re simply not. That means that the folks who buy bonds from us are going to be nervous, realistically. That means when we have to borrow money, which, by the way, we do regularly and so does every other utility, they’re likely to charge more money to buy our bonds. That means that’s going to be passed on in your bills, more than likely. That could be incorrect, but that’s what the odds are.”

UAB Vice Chair Jason Fults said he had hoped that more members of the legislative delegation would be at the meeting and that limiting citizens to 30 seconds at the April 19 House State Affairs Committee meeting was “shameful.”

“There’s a dark side to it”

City Commissioner Ed Book asked Hinson if she wanted to say anything, and she said she just wanted to listen but then added, “It’s a local matter. I’m fighting this fight because I’ve seen it for ten years. I mean, it didn’t just begin. It began in 2012, I know, and maybe before that, when I became a commissioner. It’s not like this just began, that’s how I know there’s a dark side to it. I know that. I’ve been to Tallahassee as a commissioner twice, to fight this same kind of legislation from these same legislators, so there is a dark side to it and I’m not sure what it is, but it exists.”

She said she had filed two amendments to the bill, which were voted down: “This is par for the course. When it hits the floor, they’re gonna vote lock and step together. I’m thinking what could be done, short of getting a very stubborn governor to veto it–nothing, except legal consequences.”

City Commissioner Cynthia Chestnut asked the people in the room to write the governor and ask him to veto the bill: “Start it now. But let’s not stop with Gainesville, because there are 37 other utilities in the state of Florida that are owned by the public, so I want you to call your cousins, your aunt, your uncles, have them also write to the governor to veto this bill. He needs to see a campaign, not just in Gainesville, because this doesn’t affect just Gainesville. This has implications for all 36 other utilities across the state.”

Chestnut continued, “And I won’t get to the issue of democracy and having a voice and not being silenced… Start tomorrow. All of you are excellent letter-writers; I can look at your faces and tell. I know you are… Let’s have letters from Key West to Pensacola to the governor’s office.”

City Commissioner Bryan Eastman questioned assertions made in Tallahassee that various amounts of money were taken from GRU above its earnings: “The fact is, we don’t take more money from the utility than we spend… It’s a made-up statistic… What is being forced upon our community, to me, is clearly unprecedented… I wanted to just run a city; that is what I ran for, that is what I wanted to do. I wanted to make a good city, and instead I’m sitting here, just trying to make sure, how do we mitigate the pain that my constituents will feel, and it’s very frustrating.”

During public comment, 18 people spoke against Clemons’ bill, and three people spoke in favor of it. Many of those who spoke also spoke at the House State Affairs Committee on April 19. Many expressed the fear that the bill is a thinly-veiled attempt to sell GRU to an investor-owned utility.

During public comment, Ward gave Hinson the opportunity to respond to a comment. She said, “I know we’re not supposed to be speculating, but they left me scared… Can this board sell, or can we make sure this board can’t sell the utility? [Clemons] said this board can do whatever it wants; it will be the Authority.”

What does the bill say about selling assets?

However, the bill language states in 7.03(1), “The Authority shall have the following powers and duties, in addition to the powers and duties otherwise conferred by this article:… (f) To dispose of utility system assets only to the extent and under the conditions that the City Commission may dispose of such assets pursuant to section 5.04 of Article V.” That section states: “The commission may not, in any manner, dispose of or agree to dispose of the following city utility systems, or any part thereof… Unless the commission first adopts an ordinance approving of the disposition and submits that ordinance to referendum vote and such referendum is approved by a majority vote of the qualified electors of the city voting at the election for the purpose of approving the ordinance.”

Ward said he got a “great idea from some of this… A thing I’m going to work on this weekend is writing an editorial that–I love the Gainesville Sun. I love the Gainesville Sun. I miss being able to publish in the Gainesville Sun in the op-ed section. Some papers, not a lot, but some papers in Florida continue to offer that opportunity, and I’m going to reach out to each one of the papers that do, that have a municipal utility in their community, and offer them an op-ed. You might consider doing the same.”

UAB Member Tim Rockwell said, “I truly hope, barring working this out through the democratic process, I truly hope there are legal actions that can be taken if this goes through because people have been put out from the process, and I don’t think they have any intention of bringing people into the process.”

Ward concluded, “I would again urge you to speak your mind to your representatives, your senators, and others, to reach out to your cousins, your aunts, your uncles, your brothers, your sisters, your old friends, anybody you know, reach out to them and let them know what’s going on here. And I would urge you again to focus on the reality that this thing is a mess, and chaos should frighten you.”

Chestnut added, “The strategy for Rep. Clemons is to have the governor sign this bill as soon as it passes, so that means it’s going to be signed in May… But that is the reason that we really need to get to people across the state to help us.”

Hinson concluded the meeting by saying, “I want to remind you that the best offense is done in quiet. I know this is a publicized meeting, and it has to be publicly noticed, but whatever strategies that evolve based on someone’s recommendation–there should be a strategy; it should not be publicized. I’m just saying.”

#     #     #

Email editor@

alachuatoday.com