Florida
Florida man sets fire to car belonging to ex-girlfriend who also happens to be his cousin, police say
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MIAMI, Fla. – A man from South Florida was arrested for allegedly setting fire to a car that belonged to his ex-girlfriend, who also happens to be his cousin, according to the Miami-Dade Police Department.
Melvin Cintron was charged with second-degree arson and third-degree grand theft on Wednesday for the incident that happened back in April, police said.
Here’s a timeline of what happened:
April 29: Man pours gasoline on car before setting it on fire, police say
Shortly before midnight on April 29, a home’s Ring doorbell camera captured an unknown man pouring what appeared to be gasoline on a car before igniting it, according to a police report.
Photo: Miami-Dade Police Department
April 30: Police, fire officials determine fire was intentional amid investigation
Officials were called to the 500 block of NW 120th Street in Miami and the fire was extinguished.
Police found a white, four-door Jaguar heavily damaged by fire upon arrival. The inside of the car sustained heavy damage and the roof was completely burned off, police said. The trunk was also detached from the car and there was a strong odor of what police believed was gasoline.
The Ring camera video shows a man, who was unidentifiable at the time, parking the Jaguar, pouring something inside it and on top of it and igniting it on fire, police said. The car was immediately consumed by fire and rapidly became fully engulfed in flames. The man then ran southbound on NW 5th Avenue toward NW 119th Street.
Fire officials determined the fire was intentional.
Police informed the Vehicle Research Unit of the partial VIN number grabbed from the burned car’s engine.
May 1: Police find owner of burned car
Police determined that the Jaguar was not reported stolen and is registered to the victim. The registered owner of the car had an emergency contact listed for Cintron, who lives a block away from where the car was set on fire, police said.
Police also determined Cintron is a relative of the victim.
Cintron’s driver’s license photo matched the description of the man in the Ring camera video, police said.
September 11: Victim identifies suspect as her ex-boyfriend/cousin
Police made contact with the victim on September 11 after months of trying, the arrest report said. She said didn’t have an opportunity to report the incident or contact police because she had been living in fear of Cintron, the report said.
The victim said Cintron is her familial cousin and the two were in a dating relationship and lived together up until September 8, the arrest report states.
She then told police about what happened on April 28:
- She and Cintron got into an argument and he left their house
- She went to sleep thinking Cintron left in his own car, but then realized he’d taken her Jaguar
- Cintron arrived at home and told her that he burned her car near his other residence
- She said she provided a false statement to investigators at the time, saying her car caught on fire while she was driving home because Cintron “was with her and made her put her phone on speaker anytime she spoke to” investigators
She added that Cintron “regularly carries an unknown make/model fully automatic firearm with a double drum high-capacity magazine,” the police report said.
The victim positively confirmed the man in the video setting fire to her car was her ex-boyfriend and cousin Cintron.
An arrest warrant was issued for Cintron.
MORE CRIME NEWS:
September 13: Cintron found, arrested
On September 13, Cintron and his car was found in the 3600 block of NW 74th Street and was detained and taken into custody without incident.
He was transported to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where he remains on $5,000 bond.
He is scheduled to appear in court on October 13.
Florida
Authorities identify 78-year-old Florida man accused of fatally striking teen with boat
Investigators have identified the man who was operating the boat that fatally struck a 15-year-old girl off a South Florida beach and then left the area, but no criminal charges have been filed, according to a report released Wednesday.
The 78-year-old man owns the Coral Gables home where Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers found and seized the docked boat Tuesday afternoon. The man was the only occupant in the boat at the time of Saturday’s hit-and-run crash that left Ella Adler dead, according to the commission’s report.
US COAST GUARD SUSPENDS SEARCH FOR MISSING FLORIDA DIVER: ‘DEEPLY SADDENED’
A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesperson said the investigation was active and they couldn’t speculate on what charges might be filed.
Adler and another girl were wakeboarding behind a 42-foot Hanse Fjord walk-around near Key Biscayne, just south of Miami, on Saturday afternoon before falling off at different spots, officials said. A dozen people had been on the boat pulling Adler. Before the vessel could return to collect her, Adler was hit by another boat, which immediately sped away, officials said. Witnesses described the hit-and-run craft as a center console boat with a light blue hull, multiple white outboard engines and blue bottom paint.
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A funeral service for Adler was held Monday morning at Temple Beth Sholom in Miami Beach. Adler was a freshman at Ransom Everglades School in Coconut Grove and a ballerina with the Miami City Ballet.
Florida
Cormani McClain Transfers to Florida After 1 Season with Deion Sanders, Colorado
Bruce Yeung/Getty Images
Cornerback Cormani McClain is transferring to Florida after one season at Colorado, his agent told ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg on Wednesday.
McClain was rated as a 5-star recruit by 247Sports, as well as the No. 14 overall player and No. 1 cornerback in the 2023 recruiting class.
He chose to play under Pro Football Hall of Fame corner Deion Sanders at Colorado, and as a freshman in 2023, McClain started four of the nine games he appeared in, recording 13 tackles and two passes defended.
Upon entering the transfer portal after the 2023 season, 247Sports rated McClain as the No. 21 overall transfer and the No. 5 cornerback in the portal.
This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis.
Florida
Florida is one of America’s highest generators of plastic waste
Brook Crist collects trash in Lake Boca a day after the 2024 annual Boca Bash
Brook Crist, of Pompano Beach, collects trash in Lake Boca a day after the 2024 annual Boca Bash.
Brook Crist
Littering, particularly plastic pollution, remains a bigger Florida problem than most of us think. The recent viral video depicting a group of young boaters polluting the waters off Lake Boca during the annual Boca Bash event has brought the problem into clearer focus. Here are three reasons why Floridians should care about littering and its impact on Florida and the world:
1. Florida, according to a 2023 study by Florida International University, is the nation’s third-highest generator of plastic waste. The state produces more plastic waste than the current recycling system can process. Its 8% recycling rate has gone down, despite increasing initiatives to improve recycling.
2. Florida remains among 19 states that, according to 2023 data compiled by the Retail Industry Leaders Association, have placed restrictions on regulating plastic carryout bags.
3. Some 33 billion pounds of plastic enter oceans every year, according to Plastic Free Florida, an organization of volunteers taking action to curb plastic pollution in the state. That amount is roughly the equivalent of dumping two garbage trucks full of plastic into the oceans every minute. At that rate, the 2016 World Economic Forum report predicted, the world’s oceans could soon hold more plastic than fish.
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