A 2-year-old boy died this month after taking a drug-laced drink from his sippy cup, and a Jacksonville woman has been charged in his death.

Dana M. Anderson, 30, was arrested Monday, about a week after the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said an unresponsive child, Masia James Wright, was transported from a home in the 11000 block of Alta Drive.

The child was pronounced dead at Shands Jacksonville hospital, and an autopsy determined methadone toxicity was the cause. Methadone is a pain reliever and is used as part of drug addiction detoxification.

Anderson and her boyfriend, Ernest Wright, the child's father, went in for questioning by police. She said she left a purple child's cup with some of the drug on a bedroom dresser, the arrest report said.

Anderson was charged with aggravated manslaughter on a child younger than 18 years old by culpable negligence and was booked into the Duval County jail on $1 million bail.

She's been arrested in Jacksonville about a dozen times since 2006 on charges ranging from petty theft to possession of crack.

Matt Coleman

2 murder charges dropped by judge

A Jacksonville man who had been charged as the triggerman in a 2007 drug shooting has been cleared of the charges.

Cedric Cutter, who was released from jail in time to celebrate his 30th birthday Tuesday, had been locked up since Sept. 19, 2008, on two counts of first-degree murder in the killings of David R. Holmes, 41, and Martin Surapol, 37, at a boarding house off Lone Star Road in Arlington in 2007.

Cutter was accused of shooting the men on orders from Anthony W. Vaughan, 25, who remains convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting. Although prosecutors argued for the death penalty, a jury recommended a life sentence for Vaughan in October.

According to the Times-Union's news partner First Coast News, Circuit Judge David Gooding dismissed the case Monday after Cutter's defense team proved Cutter wasn't the accomplice. A description initially given of the murder suspect was 6 inches taller than Cutter and the lawyers also said Vaughan told people in jail that he didn't know Cutter.

The State Attorney's Office also said without the testimony from a key witness who since died, prosecutors saw no possibility of a conviction and made the decision to not pursue a trial in this case.



David Hunt

18-year-old arrested in September drive-by

Jacksonville police announced Tuesday the arrest of an 18-year-old in a drive-by slaying in September.

Shaheim Hasaan Lomax of the 200 block of East 48th Street is charged in the slaying of Spencer Eugene Winkfield, 20, who was shot Sept. 15 in the 5400 block of Liberty Street in North Jacksonville. Winkfield, of the 100 block of West 44th Street, was wounded in the foot and stomach. He died two days later.

An arrest report said Winkfield and at least two others were walking on the street when a car drove by and the driver began firing a handgun from the window. Police did not discuss a motive for the shooting.

Investigators collected several shell casings from the scene and they were matched to a gun found in a car driven by Lomax when police stopped the vehicle Monday. Police also recovered drugs in the vehicle.

Jim Schoettler

2 seriously injured when car strikes power pole

A man and a woman suffered life-threatening injuries after their car veered off the road and struck a power pole on Jacksonville's Westside early Tuesday.

The car was southbound on Rampart Road just south of Morse Avenue about 3 a.m. when the driver failed to negotiate a curve and hit a power pole at a JEA facility, said traffic homicide detective John Hurst of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.

A man and woman in the back seat were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. The woman driving the car was ejected. She and a male passenger in the front seat had minor injuries.

Hurst said speed was a factor in the accident. It did not appear anyone was wearing a seat belt, he said.

Dana Treen

BAKER COUNTY

Macclenny man faces 22 counts of child porn possession



A 43-year-old Baker County man was arrested Tuesday on 22 counts of possession of child pornography following an investigation into a computer at his Macclenny home, according to the Florida Attorney General's Office.

Randall W. Lyons was booked into jail shortly after 9 a.m. on $3.4 million bail after investigators traced numerous images of child pornography to his computer, including some children as young as 1 year old.

Lyons and his wife have children, including one adopted from China, according to a website for Children's Hope International (www.childrenshopeint.org). So the Florida Department of Children and Families is involved in the case, said Jacksonville office spokesman John Harrell.

"The children are with family," Harrell said. "We are working closely with law enforcement and the family to ensure the safety of the children."

Attorney General's Office spokeswoman Sandi Copes said no specific victims have been identified.

Dan Scanlan

Alachua man killed in collision with truck

An Alachua County man was killed and another driver seriously injured in a collision Monday in Baker County.

Robert Harvis Gasche, 54, died at the scene of the 6:20 a.m. accident after his pickup truck veered in front of a northbound tractor-trailer rig on County Road 121 just north of the Union County line, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Gasche was southbound when his truck drifted onto the eastern shoulder of the road and then overcorrected onto the road into the path of the rig driven by Matthew Lee Ellis, 50, of Bradford.

Both drivers were wearing seat belts, according to the Highway Patrol. Ellis was taken to Shands at the University of Florida.

Dana Treen

CLAY COUNTY

Jail inmate tests positive for TB; about 30 exposed



A male inmate at the Clay County jail has tested positive for an active case of tuberculosis, the Sheriff's Office said Tuesday.

The agency is working to identify jail employees and inmates who might have had direct contact with the inmate, according to a Sheriff's Office news release. The current estimate is about 30 people.

The Sheriff's Office didn't identify the inmate, citing medical privacy laws, and declined to comment.

The inmate was arrested and booked into jail Nov. 3. The medical screening questionnaire responses were all negative with no indication of sickness or symptoms, the Sheriff's Office said. Tuberculosis was discovered later following a standard physical exam that included a TB skin test.

Matt Coleman

ST. JOHNS COUNTY

Motorist hits, kills bear crossing Interstate 95

A bear crossing Interstate 95 about 5 miles south of International Golf Parkway was killed early Tuesday when it was hit by a southbound pickup truck.

Camille Henderson Poirier III, 37, of Hastings was not hurt in the 12:45 a.m. collision with the bear that was crossing the highway from the west, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

The bear continued across the road and about 400 feet into the woods where it died. Poirier's Chevrolet truck had to be towed from the scene, said Highway Patrol Lt. Bill Leeper.

Poirier was wearing a seat belt.

Dana Treen