01

SEBRING -- Legislation recently introduced in Tallhassee seeks funding to build a state-of-the-art public safety training center in Highlands County. Florida Senate Local Funding Initiative Request 1297, introduced by Sen. Ben Albritton, and House Bill 3603, introduced by Rep. Cary Pigman, seek $4.97 million to construct the Deputy William J. Gentry, Jr. Regional Public Safety Training Center at the Sebring Airport. The center is named after a Highlands County deputy who was killed in the line

March

2019

20

AVON PARK -- A Highlands County Sheriff’s Office civilian support officer was arrested on Feb. 19 and charged with battery, domestic battery by strangulation, false imprisonment and aggravated assault. Willie Lee English III, 29, was arrested at 4:18 p.m. after the victim contacted deputies and the resulting investigation revealed probable cause that he had two violent confrontations with his former girlfriend, who is the mother of his child. The victim, who had multiple visible injuries when

February

2019

04

LAKE PLACID -- Three people have been arrested after deputies broke up a large rooster fighting operation Sunday night (Feb. 3) in Lake Placid. Deputies went to the home at 211 Twilight Drive in Lake Placid after an anonymous complaint. They arrived to find a large number of cars parked in front of the home and could hear music and voices coming from the woods behind the home. When they followed the noise, they saw a U-shaped arena surrounded by people, most of whom fled into the woods when

February

2019

30

SEBRING -- Kevin Ray Barber, a local mechanic who was arrested in March of last year and eventually charged with more than 200 felonies and misdemeanors in relation to his business practices, has been sentenced to three years in state prison followed by 12 years of probation. Barber, who owned South Side Auto and Diesel in Sebring and formerly owned Kevin’s 4-Wheel Drive in Lake Placid, pled no contest on Jan. 29 and was adjudicated guilty on one felony count of uttering a worthless check and

January

2019

26

SEBRING -- The Highlands County Sheriff’s Office is conducting a death investigation involving one of its members. Sgt. Max Van D’Huynslager, 42, died Saturday morning, Jan. 26. Initial indications are his death was self-inflicted. He leaves behind a wife and an 8-year-old daughter. Sgt. Van D’Huynslager had 15 years and 5 months of law enforcement service, and joined the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office on March 5, 2008. He was promoted to Sergeant of the Tactical Anti-Crime Unit on January

January

2019