Law and public safety

Kevin Elisha Burgess, 49, of Gainesville was arrested Thursday, according to court records. Prosecutors charged him Aug. 25 with felony driving under the influence causing a death and driving without a valid license.

A teenager accused of making a bomb threat at his high school last year is back in jail after his bail bondsman learned that the teen was planning to skip out on an upcoming hearing where he will plead guilty, according to court records.

Antwine Johnson, a 32-year-old Gainesville man, attended a short hearing Wednesday before Judge Phillip Pena for his felony cases involving an alleged kidnapping and rape. On Sept. 20, 2021, Johnson allegedly kidnapped and attempted to sexually assault a woman jogging on the side of the road. The same morning, he dragged a woman from her front doorstep, beat her behind bushes, raped her and stole her phone, leaving her unable to call for help. Later the same morning, he is accused of felony battery of his girlfriend. Johnson was arrested soon after and has been held in jail since. Johnson will appear in court again next week for misdemeanor charges for disobeying the judge’s orders not to contact any of the alleged victims when he tried sending a postcard to his girlfriend. Johnson will appear for a case management hearing on Oct. 26 for the charges of kidnapping, battery and rape.

Marion County Sheriff's deputies said Wednesday they have arrested another man in what they described as a robbery during a marijuana purchase that ended in gunfire on a hiking trail Sept. 12.

Authorities at the University of Florida say there is no evidence that a report circulating across UF’s campus is true, that a young woman was jabbed with a needle and unwittingly exposed to a high dose of the dangerous drug fentanyl. City and university police said they are aware of the report, which is spreading widely over social media and word of mouth. They are trying to identify its origins. The incident purportedly took place inside a popular Midtown bar across the street from campus last week. The bar’s manager and both police agencies said there were no reports of such an attack.

Imagine this: A witness called police to report a silver station wagon on fire with only three tires being driven along one of the city’s roads that border the University of Florida campus. When police tried to pull the car over, the driver didn’t immediately stop. Authorities accuse 23-year-old Adrian Vincent Hernandez of Gainesville of fleeing police, resisting an officer and driving with a suspended license. It wasn’t clear whether the driver was missing a spare tire or didn’t know how to change one. Police said Hernandez told them he didn’t stop because he just wanted to get home in the hours after midnight Sunday.

Three Gainesville men accused of operating a drug-trafficking ring using Snapchat avoided trial Monday after negotiating last-minute plea deals. Authorities began investigating the group after a late-night shootout at Cabana Beach — an apartment complex popular with University of Florida students.