Real Estate Scam In Hendry County

Miami Duo Allegedly Filed False Deeds To Real Property

LABELLE, FLORIDA (June 22, 2006) -- Grand Theft Warrants for Land Scam Fraud have been issued for the arrest of Yelitza Martinez and Nelson Pena both of Miami, Florida. According to Sheriff Ronnie Lee, the Land Scam Criminals have been picking vacant property, by researching the owners names, and then presenting fraudulent Quit Claim Deeds placing the property in their names or an alias. After the fraudulent deed filings in at the Hendry courthouse, the properties were quickly and illegally sold to unknowing individuals.

According to Sheriff Lee's office,  the criminals have defrauded individuals of approximately $190,000. Another $40,000.00 loss was prevented when the Hendry County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division was able to have the funds frozen before the transaction could be completed. This in an ongoing investigation and anyone with information regarding Martinez and Pena are asked to contact Investigator Marci Martinez of the Hendry County Sheriff's Office  at 863-983-1440.

Immokalee Men Arrested For Attempted Homicide

Three Men Charged In Home Invasion Shooting

LABELLE, FL. -- On June 21, Hendry Sheriffs Deputy Mike Horn arrested three men for Loitering and Prowling after he observed a vehicle make several slow passes through a residential area in Labelle. Deputies discovered burglary tools in the vehicle which led to the arrest of the driver and two occupants. Sheriff Ronnie Lee said the Criminal Investigations Division was able to link all three men to a series of Home Invasion Robberies and Aggravated Battery, where two of the victims received gunshot wounds.

Alfredo Sonny Gomez, age 28 of 1322 Orange Street in Immokalee, was charged with six counts of Armed Home Invasion, five counts of Aggravated Assault, four counts of Aggravated Battery With A Firearm and Attempted First Degree Homicide.

Quamie Yashane Redden (photo above), age 27 of 302 South Third Street in Immokalee, was charged with six counts of Armed Home Invasion, five counts of Aggravated Assault, four counts of Aggravated Battery With A Firearm and a Principal In The First Degree for Attempted First Degree Homicide.

Gustavo Soto, age 16 of 2405 Eden Road in Immokalee, was charged with six counts of Armed Home Invasion, five counts of Aggravated Assault, four counts of Aggravated Battery With A Firearm and a Principal In The First Degree for Attempted First Degree Homicide.

Based on information obtained by Sheriff's Investigators, these three men are possibly linked to criminal activity in Collier and Glades Counties. The Hendry County Sheriff's Office is continuing the Investigation and additional charges may be forthcoming.

Beetles Attack Old Pines In Hendry

Oldest Pine Trees Most Affected

LABELLE, FL. -- Bark beetle activity is on the increase in southwest
Florida. In the counties of Hendry, Lee, and Collier, south Florida
slash pines are under great stress from droughty conditions
experienced over the last few months, according to Michael Weston,
Senior State Forester of the Caloosahatchee District for the
Department of Forestry. Heaped onto this stress are the past two
years' hurricane seasons, and the often deplorable conditions that
large pine trees grow in when surrounded by development. The likely
culprits are Ips engraver beetles and/or black turpentine
beetles. "We are fortunate not to have the aggressive southern pine
beetle this far south for a number of reasons, Weston said.

Concerned homeowners and landscape managers will likely see larger
pines, often the most cherished in their yards and land, afflicted as
the responsible insects target weak and stressed trees, which are
normally south Florida slash pines over 60 years old. Affected trees
will normally show a two week to one month color fade from a normal
green to orange and finally red with most of the needles staying on
the tree. Also, dime to quarter size patches of red sap will be
visible in buttons on the stem of the tree. All of the pine needles
on trees will be affected, and not just scattered tufts that are
normally associated with normal new needle growth in pines this time of year.

The key to prevent the loss of many of our pines is three
pronged. First, as land is developed, the growing space of the
remaining pine trees needs to be properly managed, i.e. not piling
fill dirt over roots. Second, pines will do best with a 2 to 3 inch
layer of pine straw that is refreshed annually to provide normal
inputs to their rooting zone. Third, more pines need to be
planted. Pine seeds drop naturally between the months of September
and November or seedlings can be planted. Seedlings are available
from private nurseries and the Florida Division of Forestry, along
with advice on how to plant and manage pines. "With planning, we can
continue to see pines tower over southwest Florida for generations to
come and provide wildlife habitat, shade, and other forest products."
said Weston.

LaBelle's Only Radio Station Sold For $900,000

Big Dollars In LaBelle Religious Broadcasting - WBIY

LABELLE, FLORIDA -- A trio of Miami residents have bought LaBelle's tiny 3,000 watt FM radio station and is broadcasting Spanish religious music. For nearly a million dollars investment, the new owners can expect probably several hundred listeners at any one time because of the station's low power, religious format, and rural transmitter location. The huge purchase price would be the equivalent of paying each of 200 listeners $45,000.

Former owner Art Ramos, president of Airwaves for Jesus, Inc. had been simulcasting his Fort Myers religious radio format to LaBelle's transmitter located in an orange grove just west of LaBelle a few yards south of State Road 80. Ramos had purchased both stations several years ago from Toccoa Falls College, a private religious school in Georgia for $3,000,000. Toccoa Falls had a chain of radio stations using them to recruit students to their college as well as to spread the Gospel message. The college sold the station after a complicated deal years earlier to establish a radio station in LaBelle besides the then existing commercial country music station WWWD. Once the religious station was on the air, WWWD in LaBelle was able to be sold to a chain of Fort Myers broadcasting stations for $6,000,000 and moved to Ft. Myers where it now broadcasts rock music. The FCC would not approve moving a rural station to a larger city if it left the smaller city with no local station at all, hence LaBelle's only radio station is and will most likely be a small religious broadcasting station for some time to come.

New operator of the $900,000 station buy is Oscar Aguero as president of Oscar Aguero Ministry, Inc. in Hialeah, a suburb of Miami. Aguero is joined by ministry directors, wife Stella Aguero and Javier Rodriguez of Hialeah. Pastor Aguero has been active in Miami Spanish ministry for over 20 years and also has a Miami  television broadcast "Ondas De Amor" on Channel 43, also broadcast on the internet. Born in Argentina he came to the U.S. in 1978.

On his web page he says he has 14 churches in South Florida, 3 in Nicaragua, 2 in Venezuela, and 2 in Argentina. As donations are apparently very healthy to his ministry, he also has what are called FM radio translators in various South Florida locations including Naples, rebroadcasting the same religious music at low power to local communities. He also broadcasts in Gloucester, Ma. and had filed to build a station in Vero Beach, Fl.

Sewage Dumping In Hendry Cow Pasture

LABELLE, FLORIDA -- An Indiana based company has been dumping sewage
on a Hendry county pasture for months under a contract with the Lee
county government. According to a story in the Ft. Myers News-Press,
Karle Enviro-Organic Recycling of Ft. Myers has been paid $4 million
to remove 15 million gallons of sewage from 11 Lee county treatment
plants. The company's liquid sewage tanker trucks can be seen daily
trudging east along State Road 80 in Hendry county to a private dirt
road at Goodno and then heading south about a mile where the smelly
stuff is dumped in the fields.

Landowner, and multi-millionaire Dwayne House owns the property, and
the old Goodno store, and its adjoining lands just south of the
Ortona locks in mid-Hendry county. House has a record of just doing
what he wants with his extensive land holdings. In past years, the
county wanted to put a hiking and bicycling trail down the old
railway bed that extends from the Caloosahatchee river diagonally
southwestward down the entire county, and adjacent to where the
sewage is being dumped, but was thwarted by House and adjacent
landowners who didn't want anyone using the county owned land that
might keep them from intruding next to their property. The
landowners claimed that if the county went ahead with a hiking trail
they would install a tall barrier fence along the trail to keep any
scenic views from travelers.

Just west of the dump site and on the other side of the county's
proposed rail trail, is a large parcel used as a private hunting
preserve, allegedly housing herds of exotic game. On weekends, amazed
observers on the rail trail can see a large howitzer cannon firing
rounds into a pasture. Blocking the county's rail trail is an
assembly of old wooden cattle pens and gates blocking he right of
way. (Photo above.) The county ordered the landowners to remove them from the county
land years ago, but the landowners ignored the order.

According to environmental laws, and to protect the consumer and the
public, sewage cannot be dumped where livestock is grazing nor within
200 feet of any body of water. The News-Press claims the dumping was
going on as about 50 cattle grazed nearby and said a stream was
nearby. Penalty fines can reach up to $10,000 a day for violators. A
Florida EPA manager said the company paid $1000 in April to settle a
complaint citing the discharging of waste close to water and
cattle. The EPA said the company sends 22 trucks a day to the site,
each with 6,000 gallons of sewage.

The Sunday Morning News has flown observation aircraft over the dump
site repeatedly and noted tanker trucks at the site almost
continually, but did not see any dumping going on near cattle or
water. Hendry county residents have also reported dumping allegedly
going on the north end of the Banyan subdivision of Port LaBelle and
a few miles west of Goodno and just south of State Road 80, but the
Sunday Morning News has not been able to verify that site. Emails to
the Florida EPA to inquire about Hendry sewage dump sites were unanswered.