Tag Archives: Alachua County Sheriff’s Office

Although investigators finally have a name to go with the remains of a man found more than 40 years ago, they have plenty of questions about how Ralph Tufano’s body ended up in the woods near High Springs. In the winter of 1979, James Prince, a Florida Division of Forestry employee, found a skeleton off County Road 236 in High Springs while conducting a controlled burn. Due to the limited technology at the time, the body remained nameless for decades as the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office continued the investigation to identify the victim. 

A 23-year-old man is facing charges after deputies say he fled and eluded police after speeding on Archer Road, resisted arrest and punched a K-9. Matthew Cornish was driving 90 mph in a 45 mph zone on Sunday morning when he led police on a high-speed chase. He crashed into two police cars trying to get away and drove through a front yard causing $2,000 in damages. After eluding police multiple times, he crashed into a tree, and his truck rolled over. Deputies caught up to him at the 5300 block of Southwest 70th Terrace. When deputies searched his car, they found a bag of marijunana and two bags containing almost 7 grams of cocaine. He is being charged with eight offenses, including aggravated assault on law enforcement, marijuana and cocaine possession, leaving the scene of a crash with property damage and hitting a police dog.

A grand jury on Monday indicted 35-year-old Michael Gregory Davis of Gainesville on charges of premeditated murder in the death of Calvin Leon Woodard Jr. Davis will face arraignment and trial at a later date. Alachua County Sheriff’s officers responded to reports of a man shot at an apartment complex near the Oaks Mall in June. Deputies found Woodard at the scene with a gunshot wound to the chest. He later died from his injury. Davis also had his phone privileges revoked at the Alachua County jail due to an open felony obstruction of justice case, in which he attempted to tell witnesses from the homicide investigation to retract their statements. Davis is scheduled for case management on Nov. 15 for the premeditated murder of Woodard.

Two men were arrested Tuesday and accused of running a human sex trafficking business in a Gainesville group home. The arrests happened at a Gate gas station on 3001 NW 13th Street at 4 p.m. The suspects' identities were confirmed as 20-year-old Kevarius Nyrtell King and 25-year-old Justin Terrel Hoyt. The victim was living in the Safe Hands Group Home, a housing service partnered with homeless shelters and co-owned by King since a little less than a year ago. The two men forced the victim into multiple sexual acts, sometimes without her consent, with dozens of men in the group home. Police were able to report the crime as the victim had told the staff at the Tower Road Branch Library that she was a victim of human trafficking and to alert the authorities. Through a search warrant of the group home, police were able to confirm the identities of King and Hoyt and later arrest and charge them with human sex trafficking. King and Hoyt are currently booked in the Alachua County Jail, each with release bonds set at $250,000.

A man wanted on felony battery and robbery charges is spending his 37th birthday in the Alachua County Jail after he is accused of leading deputies and police on an impromptu, high-speed tour of west Gainesville early Monday, court records show.