Florida
College crime surging back to pre-COVID levels. Here’s the crime at Florida colleges, universities
Liberty University accused of making it ‘impossible’ to report rape
A lawsuit is alleging that Liberty University made it essentially ‘impossible’ for students to report incidents of rape and sexual assault.
New York Post
Not everything back to normal after the pandemic is good. Campus crime has risen back up, too.
Government data shows the number of crimes reported on college campuses around the U.S. surged back up to pre-pandemic levels by 2022. Crime reported from nearly 6,000 institutions rose about 8% from 2019, even though enrollments dipped during the same period.
Experts see little reason to worry and say the numbers are largely consistent with what colleges have been experiencing since 2013, according to S. Daniel Carter, president of the consulting firm Safety Advisors for Educational Campuses.
Which Florida college or university saw the most crime in 2022?
The University of Florida in Gainesville topped the charts with 183 total crimes reported in 2022, up from 117 in 2021. That’s the highest it’s been in the last decade.
Some of the crimes included 17 rape reports, 38 reports of aggravated assault, 31 reports of burglary, and 83 reports of motor vehicle theft, according to data.
UF had 55,211 students enrolled in 2022. In comparison, Florida State University, with 44,161 students enrolled, had 74 crimes reported in 2022.
Crimes on college and university campuses in Florida
Here’s how Florida campuses are doing. Below are some of the major colleges and universities in Florida and the crimes reported in 2022. Click on USA TODAY’s Crimes on Campus tool below for detailed information or to search crimes on more than 10,000 college and university campuses.
Don’t see a map? Click here.
- Criminal offenses: 6
- Violence against women: 14
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 0
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 3
- Violence against women: 0
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 0
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 3
- Violence against women: 0
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 0
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 3
- Violence against women: 7
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 0
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 6
- Violence against women: 0
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 0
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 11
- Violence against women: 8
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 0
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 39
- Violence against women: 11
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 0
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 14
- Violence against women: 2
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 0
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 22
- Violence against women: 42
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 2
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 3
- Violence against women: 2
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 0
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 1
- Violence against women: 0
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 0
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 74
- Violence against women: 18
- Hate crime: 3
- Unfounded crimes: 0
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 6
- Violence against women: 2
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 0
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 1
- Violence against women: 0
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 0
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 7
- Violence against women: 2
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 0
Click here for breakdown, previous years
Stetson University (DeLand)
- Criminal offenses: 8
- Violence against women: 3
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 0
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 1
- Violence against women: 1
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 4
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 46
- Violence against women: 49
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 6
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 183
- Violence against women: 105
- Hate crime: 1
- Unfounded crimes: 4
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 23
- Violence against women: 9
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 2
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 41
- Violence against women: 18
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 4
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 22
- Violence against women: 21
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 0
Click here for breakdown, previous years
- Criminal offenses: 5
- Violence against women: 3
- Hate crime: 0
- Unfounded crimes: 0
Click here for breakdown, previous years
Suhail Bhat and Zachary Schermele, USA TODAY, contributed to this story.
The Vero Beach Police Department took a man into custody May 8 in connection with a threatening phone call directed toward a business.
The agency received information at 5:21 p.m. May 7 about a threatening call to Thrive IRC Inc. at 2300 5th Ave. in Vero Beach, according to a news release. The call included someone threatening to come to the business with an AK rifle and “light the building up.”
Detectives began investigating the threat and identified Michael Sean O’Brien, 27, of Vero Beach, as the person associated with the phone number used during the call.
O’Brien was taken into custody at about 3:30 p.m. May 8 without incident. He was charged with the false report concerning the use of firearms in a violent manner, which is a second degree felony, according to the news release.
O’Brien was booked in the Indian River County Jail at 6:13 p.m. May 8 but was released at 1:36 p.m. May 9 after posting the $5,000 bond, according to the jail website.
No additional information was available the afternoon of May 9.
Olivia Franklin is TCPalm’s trending reporter. You can contact her at olivia.franklin@tcpalm.com, 317-627-8048 or follow her on X @Livvvvv_5.
Charmaine Hickey, of Lang Realty in Port St. Lucie, was named in KNOW Women’s “100 Women to KNOW in America” list.
A Treasure Coast woman was named in a “100 Women to know in America” list for 2026.
KNOW Women is a global media company dedicated to giving women leaders connections and visibility. The company released a list of “100 Women to know in America” for 2026 to highlight the most influential women in business and leadership.
Charmaine Hickey, who works for Lang Realty in Port St. Lucie, was on the list.
“Charmaine’s recognition on a national stage like this comes as no surprise,” said Scott Agran, president of Lang Realty in a news release. “Her leadership, integrity, and commitment to both her profession and her community exemplify what this award stands for. She represents the very best of our industry.”
Hickey holds many industry designations and is known for her expertise in complex real estate transactions, as well as her client-first approach defined by honesty, patience and attention to detail, according to the news release.
Her community involvement includes serving on nonprofit boards, mentoring emerging leaders and supporting initiatives focused on education, women, families and youth.
“I am truly honored to be recognized among such an inspiring group of women,” said Hickey in the news release. “This award reflects not just individual achievement, but the power of community, mentorship, and lifting others as we grow. I’m grateful to be part of a network of women who are building meaningful impact every day.”
To see the full list go to theknowwomen.com.
Olivia Franklin is TCPalm’s trending reporter. You can contact her at olivia.franklin@tcpalm.com, 317-627-8048 or follow her on X @Livvvvv_5.
A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death.
In a deposition from November that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply”.
Bryan died after the botched surgery; and in April, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter.
“I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during difficult circumstances”.
The deposition provided Shaknovksy’s first detailed account of the operation that killed Bryan and eventually garnered national news headlines.
According to Shaknovksy’s deposition, after removing Bryan’s liver, the surgeon instructed a nurse to label the organ as a “spleen” – and he also identified it as a spleen in Bryan’s postoperative notes. Shaknovsky later said he had been “mentally compromised” at the time of Bryan’s death, explaining that he was “devastated, demoralized, crying over his passing, felt that I failed him”.
A lawsuit filed by Bryan’s widow, Beverly Bryan, accuses Shaknovsky of medical malpractice. The suit alleges that he “wrongfully omitted any reference to Mr Bryan’s liver being removed in order to ‘cover up’ his gross negligence/recklessness and to hopefully avoid the embarrassment due to such derelict care”, as NBC reported.
In April, the Walton county sheriff’s office said in a statement that Shaknovsky’s actions inflicted on Bryan “catastrophic blood loss and the patient’s death on the operating table”.
Shaknovsky’s deposition testimony described the chaos in the operating room after Bryan began bleeding extensively, causing his heart to stop. Medical staff performed chest compressions, and Shaknovsky attempted to find where the bleeding was coming from.
“I couldn’t tell the difference because I was so upset,” he said, referring to the organ he mistakenly identified.
“It was like a overflown sink that’s clogged up, and I am looking for a fork at the bottom, trying to feel and find the bleed, and I was not able to do so,” Shaknovsky said. He added: “After 20 minutes of struggling – desperately trying – to save his life, that’s when the wrong-site event took place.
“It’s a devastating thing, which I will have to live with the rest of my life,” Shaknovsky said in the eight-hour deposition reviewed by NBC. “I think about it every single day.”
After the medical team was unable to resuscitate Bryan, Shaknovsky said he went to the hospital’s medical library. “I went there to cry because I was devastated,” he said. “I didn’t want the staff to see me like that.”
Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, Shaknovsky said he believed Bryan’s spleen was “double the size of what is normal” because of a mass on it. Beverly Bryan’s lawsuit, however, states that a medical examiner told her that her husband’s spleen was anatomically “nearly normal”, according to NBC.
Shaknovsky would face up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 if eventually convicted as charged.
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