In the Courts

The following felony cases have either been tried in a court of law or have been settled without trial and are considered closed.

• Breane Wheeler was sentenced in November to two years in state prison after pleading no contest to the sale of methamphetamine. Wheeler was arrested in May 2021 during an undercover operation by the narcotics task force.
• Sandra Sapp was sentenced in December to one year probation and adjudication was withheld after pleading no contest to the sale of imitation drugs and attempting to coerce another to commit a crime. Sapp was arrested in Feb. 2022 by a member of the narcotics task force during an undercover operation.
• Juan Sandoval was sentenced on Dec. 14 to one year and one day in state prison followed by five years probation after pleading no contest to the sale of cocaine and possession with intent to sell. Sandoval was arrested in Feb. 2022 during an undercover operation by the narcotics task force.
• Melissa Carnley was sentenced on Dec. 13 to two years and six months in state prison after pleading no contest to the sale of cocaine and possession with intent to sell. Carnley was arrested in Feb. 2022 during an undercover operation by the narcotics task force.
• David Crocitto was sentenced in December to two years probation after pleading no contest to two counts battery by strangulation. Adjudication was withheld. Crocitto was arrested in June 2022 after choking two women he believed were keeping his phone from him.
• Lexis Fairbrother was sentenced in December to 18 months probation after pleading no contest to possession of Ecstasy, possession of cannabis and possession of drug paraphernalia. Adjudication was withheld. Two additional charges of possession of drug paraphernalia were dropped. Fairbrother was arrested in March 2022 by the Florida Highway Patrol.
• Desiree Paulus was sentenced on Dec. 29 to 18 months in state prison followed by one year probation after pleading no contest to forgery, cashing or depositing a bad check and petit theft. Paulus was arrested in Aug. 2022 after giving a fake check to a local store.
• Kevin Blackmon was sentenced on Dec. 19 to one year in county jail followed by four years probation after pleading no contest to 16 counts failure to register as a sexual predator and three counts sexual predator failure to report email or internet identification. Blackmon was arrested in July 2022 after using Telmate, a web-based platform used to allow inmates to speak to friends and family, to speak to an incarcerated individual. Blackmon is a registered felon, convicted of sexual battery on a person 12 years or older with a deadly weapon in 2004 and with kidnapping a child under the age of 13 in 2012.
• Nicole Vidal was sentenced in December to one year probation after pleading no contest to two counts failure to return leased property. Vidal was arrested in July after failing to make payments on or return items purchased from Rent a Center.
• Manual Jax was sentenced in November to 18 months probation after pleading no contest to possession of methamphetamine. Adjudication was withheld. Jax was arrested in March during a traffic stop.

A no contest plea does not mean the defendant admits guilt. It means he/she chooses not to fight the charges for one reason or another. The effect of the plea is virtually identical to that of a guilty plea.

 Withheld adjudication generally refers to a decision by a judge to put a person on probation without an adjudication of guilt. It means an individual is not found guilty legally by the court. If the person successfully completes the terms of probation and has no subsequent offenses, no further action will be taken on the case, and the offense for which adjudication was withheld is typically not considered a prior conviction for purposes of habitual offender sentencing.