Trio arrested for drugs during stop for expired tag
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – A traffic stop on March 30 for an expired tag led to the arrest of three people on drug charges.
Katrina Ann Daniels, 20, of Keystone Heights, was charged with possession of marijuana, drug paraphernalia and methamphetamine. Kenneth John Waters, 38, of Ashland, Virginia, was charged with possession of methamphetamine, trafficking fentanyl, possession of Suboxone and drug paraphernalia. David Neil Oliver, 46, of Orange Park, was charged with conspiring with others to traffick amphetamine and a controlled substance.
Waters was charged with trafficking fentanyl because deputies found 25 multi-colored pills on the floorboard.
a Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputy made the stop on County Road 100 after he noticed the tag expired a year earlier. When the deputy told Kenneth Waters why he stopped him, the deputy noticed a glass pipe with burnt residue in the center console. After Waters said he might have “ice” in his right-front pants pocket, a search of the vehicle uncovered methamphetamine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, fentanyl and Suboxone either in their clothing or scattered throughout the car.
Oliver’s bond was set at $100,758; Daniels’ was set at $7,007; and, Waters’ was set at $153,514.

CCSO: Man accused of exposing himself to girls
OAKLEAF – Investigators “worked tirelessly” during the past five months reviewing video surveillance and collecting information through it Real-Time Crime Center to arrest a man suspected of exposing himself to at least three girls.
Landon Michael Hillman, 19, of Oakleaf, was charged on March 30 with four counts of lewd and lascivious behavior to three girls and one count of enticing a child after the Clay County Sheriff’s Office linked all three incidents.
According to CCSO, one girl said a man pulled up in a gold Honda and exposed himself on Oct. 1. Another girl reported the same crime on March 19 and a third called the sheriff’s office on March 27.
Hillman was taken to the Clay County Jail. His bond was set at $375,015. His next court appearance will be on April 25.
“We will continue working to protect the children of our community. If you have any information involving this or any other crime, we can be contacted at (904) 264-6512 or via the SaferWatch app,” Sheriff Michelle Cook said.

Girl, 5, drowns at babysitter’s pool on Hilltop Drive
ORANGE PARK – The Clay County Sheriff’s Office is investigating why a 5-year-old girl was left unattended at a residential swimming pool on Hilltop Drive on April 4.
According to the sheriff’s office, the girl drowned at a babysitter’s house.
CCSO said it is investigating the incident.

Middleburg man charged with ID theft, defrauding Social
Security

JACKSONVILLE – U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces the return of an indictment charging Christopher Leo Daragjati, 33, of Middleburg. with seven counts of wire fraud, 10 counts of aggravated identity theft, one count of theft of government property of more than $1,000 and two counts of false representation of a Social Security number.
If convicted, Daragjati faces up to 20 years in federal prison on each wire fraud count, a consecutive minimum mandatory penalty of two years’ imprisonment for each aggravated identity theft count, as many as five years on each false SSN representation count, up to 10 years in prison on the charge of theft of government property and payment of restitution to the victims he defrauded.
Daragjati appeared in federal court on yesterday. The court ordered him temporarily detained. No trial date has been set.
According to the indictment, Daragjati obtained personally identifiable information, including the SSNs of multiple victims. Using the victims’ PII, Daragjati went to the Lake County Tax Collector and the Orange County Tax Collector and obtained Florida Identification cards in the identity of the two victims. Using the two Florida Identification cards, he then applied for three different Paycheck Protection Program loans in the identity of the two victims. When applying for the three PPP loans, Daragjati is alleged to have submitted numerous fraudulent tax-related documents and repeatedly made false statements when completing the Small Business Administration loan application for each of the loans. In reliance on this false information, lenders approved the loan applications and Daragjati received approximately $150,000 in PPP loan proceeds for the three approved loans. As part of the scheme, he also set up bank accounts in the identities of the victims to receive the PPP loan proceeds.
In another fraud scheme, Daragjati opened four commercial lines of credit with Sunbelt Rentals, using the PII of four victims. After being approved for the lines of commercial credit under the victims’ identities, he rented thousands of dollars of equipment. Rather than return the rented equipment, Daragjati pawned some of the items using the identities of various victims or otherwise disposed of the stolen equipment. In at least one incident, this resulted in a felony arrest warrant being issued and entered into the National Crime Information Center for a victim of identity theft.
In another scheme, in January 2022, Daragjati filed a false tax return using the identity of a victim. In reliance on the false documents and use of the stolen identity by Daragjati, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) approved a tax refund in which he received a tax refund of more than $1,000 under the assumed victim’s identity. Daragjati arranged to have the fraudulently obtained tax refund deposited directly into a bank account that was in the victim’s name but controlled by Daragjati.
An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law. Every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, and the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Highway Patrol – Bureau of Criminal Investigations and Intelligence, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, and the United States Secret Service - Jacksonville Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin C. Frein will prosecute it.

Man transferred from Lake City Jail to face shoplifting charges
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – A man wanted for taking $952 worth of merchandise two years ago from the Walgreen’s on North Lawrence Avenue was transferred from the Columbia Correctional Institution Annex to face shoplifting charges.
Yoniseider Gonzalez-Alvarez, 21, of Port Richey, faces retail grand theft and resisting arrest charges after the Clay County Sheriff’s Office said he and an accomplice loaded four baskets of merchandise and left the store on April 18, 2020, without paying.
According to the arrest warrant, both left the store to a waiting car. They were stopped on County Road 352. Gonzalez-Alvarez ran into a wooded area from the scene.