human trafficking ring that spanned years on the treasure coast is shut
down. How we coerced some of his victims and the time he faces behind
bars on arrests made and disturbing new details tonight in the case that
spanned four years. How investigators were able to find the person
responsible. Police say a drive by shooting that happened in West Palm
Beach this week was a targeted attack. The new video police released of the
incident and how it all unfolding.
Mhm. This is CBS 12 news at 11.
Thanks for joining us, everyone. I'm Jim Grimes. Liz has the evening off.
We're seeing a lot of rain and cross parts of our area. This is what the
radar looks like behind me. We're also going to see a dip in our temperatures
for our weekend. Our Venus Re joining us with the latest. Yeah, it looks like
we're gonna get some changes our way and it's involving that front that
push through. This is the same cold front that caused a lot of havoc over
parts of the south over Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama into Georgia and
the panhandle of florida. Right now we just have these showers that are draped
across south florida front slowed down as we usually see. And that's kind of
normal front still sitting up north of Tampa. But ahead of it, we're seeing the
rain showers. It was a little heavier and stronger storms earlier today
north and west of Lake Okeechobee. But it looks like those are just widely
scattered. We're starting to get a little bit of rain that's moving into
Palm Beach County, Wellington right now. A little bit of rain coming down as
well as western suburbs of West Palm Beach, Indian town, getting a little
rain to scan the disguise, looking at Stuart Hope sound to quest to getting
some rain up around Jupiter, a little heavy downpour. But really, the heaviest
core right now is just west of the airport. Southern Boulevard, Wellington
out there. It looks like we'll continue to see that come down. So tonight
expected to see those temperatures around 66 degrees. Can't rule out a
little rumble of thunder, but it looks like we'll see a few storms out there.
And then for your wake up, it looks like we'll start off with some sun and
clouds. Those fronts will kind of move through a little bit. The showers will,
but we'll see temperatures around 63 to 68 degrees. A little bit of a cool
start. We'll warm up into the seventies. Sunrise will be at 702 a.m. I have a
closer look at timing your weekend out for you coming up in just a few
minutes. All right, thanks fetus. We'll see in just a bit. Well, a tragic
mystery has been finally solved. It took four years to do it, but using
DNA matching technology, investigators have found the person behind the death
of a newborn baby who was found floating in the Boynton Beach Inlet years ago.
CBS 12's Lily Ortiz is outside the Palm Beach County jail tonight with how
detectives were able to track down the person responsible.
Yeah, those details just gut wrenching. The mystery of the death of baby June
has come to an end. Four years later, the big break in the case using new
type of DNA technology. And now that mother, a Raya Singh, remains here in
jail and is expected to make her first appearance in the morning. 29 year old
Raya Singh in handcuffs this morning, hiding her face from our camera. She is
being escorted into the Palm Beach County jail arrested in connection to
the death of the infant found floating in the ocean on June 1st 2018, nicknamed
baby June. We finally can lay this baby to rest. There's been a lot of
question marks surrounding her death and now we have an idea of what happened
to her. According to Detective Singh, who works as a security guard at Lynn
University in Boca Raton, gave birth to the baby girl the day before on May
30th in a hotel room toilet. Investigators say at the time she was
a student at F. A. U. And put the body in a backpack and went to class. She
had the baby in the hotel room bathroom. She didn't know she was pregnant until
she saw that the baby had come out. She said the baby landed in the water and
then she went and she passed out. Um, she didn't pick up the baby or check
on her at all. Baby June was discovered about 40 hours later by an off duty
firefighter who was out in the water catching bait. He first thought it was
a baby doll. We're just out there catching bait, just doing her normal
thing out there, you know, having fun in the afternoon and then the day
changed all of a sudden. Since a devastating discovery, deputies have
been searching for the mother and for answers. When you see an infant newborn
infant floating in the in the ocean that somebody has discarded like a piece of
trash, it tugs at your heart. Officials use the same genealogy database that
was used in the arrest of Joseph James D Angelob, the Golden State killer out
of California. We built a family tree from the child's DNA that identified
the father from interviews with the father. A mother was potentially
identified and we did confirm that DNA with the mother. They ultimately
arrested seeing at her Boynton Beach home Thursday. She has no criminal
record and add she doesn't have any other Children. Right now, officials
say the baby's father is not facing any charges. We came to the conclusion
that she you know, she's the mother and that she was solely responsible for
the baby ending up in the Boynton Beach inlet. And right now she's being
held here on a first degree murder charge and we will be there in the
morning in court where she is expected to face a judge for her first
appearance in West Palm Beach. Luli Ortiz, CBS 12 News. Well, new tonight, a
man and teenager that were shot in a drive by on Tuesday afternoon have
been released from the hospital. West Palm Beach police say that shooting, as
it turns out, was targeted 16 year old and 21 year old received minor injuries
after they were shot at 10th Street in Tamarin Avenue. Police say two arrests
have been made but have not officially been charged. Police releasing the
video today of that shooting. You can see the black cars. It drives by a
store and the crowd begins scattering. While the West Palm Beach Police
Department were searching for the two suspects in that case, officers ended
up stumbling upon something else. They found five handguns, marijuana and
ammunition that were found stashed outside a nearby abandoned building.
A Fort Pierce man who was already in prison now facing new charges for
human trafficking and manslaughter. The Florida Department of Law
Enforcement say that Daniel Rhodes is suspected of operating a human
trafficking ring out of several hotels and motels along the Treasure Coast.
It spanned over years. Detectives say Rhodes advertised women for
commercial sex over the Internet and then gave the victims drugs to coerce
them into the prostitution. He also is accused of giving fentanyl and cocaine
to a woman in a motel room who ended up overdosing. Rhodes was already serving
a sentence for selling meth. He'll be brought back to the ST Lucie County jail
to face a judge. A former Okeechobee County construction employee has been
arrested for grand theft. Samuel Valletta. He's suspected of selling
thousands of dollars from a former employer. According to a news release
from Slayton Construction, Valletta had been hired to run the day to day
operations. The owner started getting complaints, however, and hired a
private audit company that showed Valletta had taken customers money and
not completed some of the jobs. The owner had contacted authorities after
two years. He was eventually arrested and charged. The owner now says he's
glad it's over and says he's settled with everyone who may have been
scammed by Valletta. Well, central Florida pastor and his son had been
arrested for scamming $8 million from the federal government. The D. O. J.
now says Evan Edwards and his son Josh ended up setting up a fake ministry.
This was back in 2020. The indictment alleges that the father and son had
submitted fraudulent PPP loan applications. That's the payroll
protection program. They ended up claiming their ministry had average
monthly payroll expenses of more than $2.7 million and 480 employees. But in
reality, the federal government says those numbers were nonexistent. Last
year, the Justice Department did take that money back, but they are now
prosecuting that pair on criminal charges.
Well, it's now official. The state's insurance commissioner is out. David
Altmeyer submitting a letter of resignation tonight. We knew this was
coming after earlier this week, Senator Lori Berman spilled the beans as she
questioned Altmeyer during a meeting in Tallahassee on Wednesday. Take a
listen. So it's come to my attention that you are going to be leaving the
office very shortly. Could you tell us when you're leaving and what will
happen? How will be able to continue to get? We stick to the bill, Senator
Berman. Well, how are we going to get the information that which is what
this bill is based on if he's no longer the commissioner? Well, there's the
exchange. Altmeyer ended up denying that didn't deny, however, that he was
leaving. He told the Senate office that he would share data no matter who was
in charge. Moving on, while he's not saying where he's going, he is leaving
just before the state's new law kicks in. It prevents top government regulators
like him from being able to turn their public service into a lucrative career
as a government lobbyists. Meantime, lawmakers have wrapped up that special
session to address the homeowner insurance crisis. The bill is expected
to be signed by the governor very soon. The changes will eliminate the big
attorney payouts on claims, also reduce the number of lawsuits and offer
reinsurance to offset carriers risk through a taxpayer funded funded
program.
Growing number of critics say that this latest bill has virtually no benefit to
the public, but it will help insurers to make more money. Meantime, police
shut down a pipeline of illegal narcotics on the Treasure Coast. Port
ST Lucy police arrested three suspects or three people who had seized more
than 10,000 pills in a joint operation with the ST Lucy County Sheriff's
Office. According to investigators, the suspects all work together to sell
those drugs. This is the three of them. Apparently many of those drugs have
been laced with deadly fentanyl could cause 20 overdoses to 130 overdoses.
You don't know the lives we saved could be countless at this point. Find you
we're gonna get you. We're gonna take you off the street.
The bust is one of several recent fentanyl drug bust along the Treasure
Coast. The police say it's sending a message now to those drug dealers. All
of this comes as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark
Glass released a video message this week. It's warning about the dangers of
fentanyl. Last year, almost 6000 people died in florida due to overdoses. Glass
says fentanyl's high potency and low cost have made it popular among drug
dealers who often lace their illegal recreational drugs with it.
But
well, the parents of Miami native Deshaun Perry, one of the three
University of Virginia football players shot and killed last month by a fellow
student are now speaking out publicly for the first time at a news conference
this afternoon. They were asked about asked. They asked the football world to,
especially all of the young people to use their voice to stop gun violence.
Deshaun's mother says that she had just gotten off the phone with her son. When
that shooting took place, she says that she doesn't want any other family to
have to experience the pain she's felt.
We need to change.
Gun laws changed them.
We need more stipulations.
The red flags were there and this young man was still able to purchase of a
firearm
and that in itself
is red flag for our whole our nation.
Perry and two of his teammates were killed when a fellow player opened fire
on a bus as it was returning from the U. V. A. Campus after a class field trip.
That suspect, former walk on football player Christopher Darnell Jones Jr.
now facing multiple charges.
Parents out of Central Florida High School want more involvement in what
books are being chosen for their Children to read at the school library.
We're going to tell you about the controversy already brewing and
tornadoes ripping across seven southern states this week. They caused some
major destruction. We're gonna take a closer look at that damage when we
return.
Well, one community in central Florida seeking more involvement in the school
district's purchase of nearly 40,000 books for the school library. Those
books are set to fill the libraries of Polk County Public School District, two
of their elementary schools. Well, the district's media specialist team has
already approved them. However, residents, they not only want their
chance to weigh in, but they're also asking for a little more time to do it.
The sudden drop of 37,000 plus books into two new schools without citizen
review is a problem. I understand that media personnel have reviewed all this
information. I question in what time period they could have done that. Some
parents also cited a district policy granting them at least 30 days to
review petition, review and petition those materials. But the superintendent
says that doesn't apply. In this case, a vote to approve a new list has been
delayed until January.
Brightline will soon be running through stations over in Boca Raton and
Aventura. Those are brand new stations. The high speed rail service announcing
tickets will also be on sale for those launches. The trains will start making
stops there next week. In fact, on Wednesday, one way tickets start as
low as $10 and can be purchased on Brightline's app or at its website.
Well, take a look. Extreme weather hitting parts of the south, leaving a
trail of destruction along that path. More than 50 tornadoes have been
reported across seven states since early Tuesday morning. So far, 20 have
been confirmed. Three people, in fact, died in Louisiana. Reports also coming
in from Oklahoma, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Buildings and
homes were destroyed and down. Power lines could be seen all across that
area. The National Weather Service also confirming now it was a twister that
touched down in Florida this afternoon. This is over in ST Petersburg area. You
can see a tree uprooted here, someone's front yard. Also, another tree
apparently fell down on top of the church, but no injuries were reported.
This come from a series of storms that had swept through the Tampa Bay area.
Officials say those wind speeds reached close to 100 miles an hour. Our chief
meteorologist feed is rejoining us right now. That's some serious stuff
there. Yeah, we had a slight risk category stretching across from the
eastern portion of the state to that area earlier today because that same
cold front does create a lot of instability in the atmosphere and you
could get that tornadic activity. That was one of the threats. But that threat
level has diminished coming across our region, which we expected as it made
its way across southern portions of Okeechobee County and then through the
lake. So it looks like West Palm Beach right now looking at P B I A airport
looking pretty good. We do have mostly cloudy skies out there with a few
spotty showers coming down. That's that front that helped spawn those showers
and those storms. We have two systems here. One is on the warmer side and
that is keeping us and check with our temperatures, especially this weekend.
Cooler air following that. But the colder air is up here towards Chicago.
That's where you're getting that snowfall and they're going to continue
to see a little of that piling up for them as they go through the next 24
hours across michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois. But for us, we're gonna see
this continue to push through and as it does true for the next couple of days
here is gonna help us spawn maybe a few clouds and some showers remaining
showers along that line are moving through Palm Beach County right now. A
little closer. Look here, we can see some of those showers that are pushing
just east of belgrade over portions of Wellington. Western portions of West
Palm Beach will get a little bit of shower activity moving through up
around Stewart as well. Suddenly flow winds anywhere from about 5 to 10
miles per hour, gusting up to about 13 there in Wellington with that rain
moving through. We'll hold on to that suddenly flow as we go through the day
tomorrow. What that's gonna do is also create a little bit of issues for
rip currents. Now, small craft advisory has been allowed to expire, but for
tomorrow we could get another one out there with those waves a little bit
choppy on the open waters of the ocean. Hour by hour, starting our day off
tomorrow morning, we'll see those textures in the mid upper sixties. So
we'll get some sun and clouds to start our day. Not too bad. But as the day
progresses, we could get a few raindrops mixing in there as we get
into that one to two o'clock hour. But I think it will be widely scattered. That
front still lingering to the north. So that creates a little bit of lift in
the atmosphere to create a little bit of cloud cover, kind of like what we
had today. But the chances for rain will be lower. We'll probably see about
a 20% chance for those showers, maybe a little rubble with thunder in the
afternoon and then it will taper off as we get into the evening hours on
friday night. So your temperatures will look like this. 80 72 degrees
actually in Wellington, 75 Lake Worth high of about 76 Delray Boca 76 degrees
moving up the coast here. Jupiter 74 for high. You get inland, maybe a
couple of eighties there in jupiter farms and royal palm west palm 76
degrees and go a little further north from Stewart Port St Lucy Fort Pierce.
We're looking at lower seventies. Okeechobee 71 for your highs hour by
hour. Looks like we see the clouds diminishing a little bit tonight. Little
sun and clouds in the morning. Then you get into the afternoon. We get that
northerly flow. The model is not trying to pick up on rain. So it's gonna be a
very low potential for those showers. But then as we get into saturday, a
little bit of sun and clouds, the front is kind of retracting back up into the
state. We'll get a few more pop ups from possible showers out there. Only
20% chance tomorrow, 50% chance on saturday sunday. We're looking at a
little bit rain possibly. So we're looking saturday and sunday. A few pop
up showers here and there across the area temperatures a little cool in the
mid to lower seventies. 10 day forecast coming up. Thanks. This will volunteers
of all ages went to Palm Beach Gardens this evening to spread a little holiday
cheer for families across the country. Families from Palm Beach County
showing their appreciation to those people who served our nation. They are
now sending hundreds of gifts to families who have lost loved ones in
the military. Hundreds of boxes were loaded into delivery trucks. Photos
from that event show boxes filled with FedEx trucks from floor to ceiling
where the 900 boxes were loaded and or over 1600 gifts for Children were
collected. The gifts were now making their way to homes of the fallen
soldiers. Well,
in 2019, Stacey Fergings, HOA board alerted homeowners that AT&T would be
digging and installing upgraded fiber optic lines for customers in the area.
That project wound up costing her thousands after her sewage line was
damaged. It was months of me fighting on my own, literally one person against
a major corporation just being ignored. And I was nervous about going on the
news again that it would make things worse when she felt she had nowhere
else to turn. She called CBS 12 news. That's when we reported that a
plumber had documented the AT&T cable sleeve right where her sewage line was
damaged. Information we shared with the company when we asked for a comment on
the story. Stacey says it wasn't long before her phone started ringing. It
wasn't until I reached out to you that literally things just started moving
rapidly. I was contacted by a representative from AT&T who sent out
a crew to verify that the line was in fact theirs. And within a few days I
had to check for the full replacement value of the damages. I can't thank you
enough and especially this time of year. It's such a blessing. CBS 12 news
reached out to AT&T to find out what had changed. A company spokesman replied
with a statement which read in part as we install AT&T fiber and improve
connectivity in more communities, our goal is to minimize the impact on
residents as much as possible. In this instance, there was some confusion
around the initial claim. That was our Lena Salzbank reporting. As for Stacey,
well, she got all her money back for the holidays and there's no more sewage
leaking in her home. But before we head to the break, here's a look at our
drone 12 flying over West Palm Beach. We'll be right back.
I'm G and Jeff Coat tomorrow morning on the national desk. America's news now
while Congress battles to keep the government from shutting down wasteful
government spending takes a holiday. We're gonna uncover our latest waste of
the week tomorrow on the national desk. America's news now weekday mornings.
Yes, 12 news sports report panthers looking to win their second straight
haven't won three straight all year. Ryan Lombard puts the rebound side door.
He was at the West Palm Beach V. A medical center yesterday, spreading
some holiday joy. Eugenie Malkin, not very joyous here, scores a goal but
gets hurt 3 to 1. Pittsburgh Sam Reinhart gets one back midway through
the third, but not enough. It's the penguins winning 4 to 2. The cats just
cannot get a winning streak going.
The Miami Dolphins equipment managers have their work cut out for them over
the next few days, getting prepared for the cold and snowy weather of Buffalo.
The weather will definitely feel like the holiday season and the Dolphins
players are already making their Christmas wish lists. Fins wins. That's
what I want. Fins wins. Easy ask for Dolphins linebacker Jalen Phillips, not
so easy game plan against one of the most mobile quarterbacks in the NFL.
Josh Allen, adding to the stress as mentioned, will be the snow that is
forecasted difficult for either team to play in a cold buffalo after after
sundown. No less on Saturday night. Dolphins running back Raheem Oster.
He's looking on the bright side, sees this as a no brainer moment to get
the running game back on track and what has become a must win situation for
an eight and five Dolphins team looking to avoid their third straight loss
smack in the middle of a playoff race. It's gonna be a ground ground type of
game. I guess you could say that's what I like to see it as, you know, gonna
be some more carriers or whatever. Um, you know, if we could throw a ball,
that'd be beautiful. But I feel like snow and rain are quite similar. Ball
might be a little bit tougher. Um, you know, I think the cold really makes
it a lot harder to catch running back to do a little bit better in the cold
because they're they're ready for handoffs. Well, the Dolphins need to
take care of their own business, but we'll be closely watching the 76 New
York Jets neck and neck in the playoff hunt, hosting the Lions right here on
CBS 12 on Sunday 1 p.m., followed by the Bengals and Bucks at 4 25 on CBS
12 News, the Florida State pride of Palm Beach County. Jordan Travis is
already getting Heisman Trophy buzz for 2023. After announcing he will return
to the Seminoles, the former Benjamin High School star, he broke out as one
of the top QBs in the country this season. We'll get to see Travis one more
time this season as the Noles prepare to take on Oklahoma in Orlando at the
Cheez-It Bowl on December 29th, a chance for FSU to win 10 games for the
first time since 2016 while playing in their first bowl game since 2019.
Travis may be even more composed than he's been all season long now that
his decision to come back has been announced. I took a lot of weight off
my shoulders. I was thinking about it a lot. Um, just couldn't wait to get it
out there. I was trying really hard. I was trying to push it out there, but
they wanted to make the timing right. Honestly, I just felt I needed another
year just to keep growing, showing what I could do. I feel like I improved a
lot this year. Um, but yeah, I have had a lot of unfinished business. Win a
championship. Travis is the fourth quarterback in FSU history with over 30
touchdowns and 3000 plus total yards in the season. Joining Heisman Trophy
winners Charlie Ward, Chris Wenke and Jamis Winston.
We'll be sure to stay tuned to the Late Show with Stephen Colbert right after
CBS 12 News at 11 o'clock. Tonight's guest is Andy Cohen.
I'm gonna look at that 10 day forecast going into the weekend. We'll see those
temperatures in the mid seventies, 76 degrees in West Palm, but further north, lower seventies, 20% chance, maybe a pop up shower Saturday. A better chance for some pop up scattered showers, about 50% chance through the afternoon. 77 a little cooler on Sunday, 72 early next week on and off showers, but we'll get some sun in the mix as well. Thanks Vitas. Well, volunteers of all ages in Palm Beach Gardens tonight meeting to spread a little holiday cheer for families across the nation. These are the families from Palm Beach who are showing their appreciation for those who served
they are now sending hundreds of gifts to families who lost loved ones in the military. Hundreds of boxes now being loaded up in delivery trucks. Photos from the event show boxes filling the FedEx trucks from floor to ceiling. More than 900 of them in fact loaded and more than 1600 gifts for children were also collected during that drive. That's pretty terrific. That's gonna do it for us. Thanks for watching. Don't forget to tune in and watch CBS 12 News this morning starting at 4 30 a.m. Have a great evening everyone.