Former school board candidate arrested for soliciting child on internetORANGE PARK – A former Clay County School Board candidate was arrested on Nov. 24 and charged with two counts of trying to …
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Former school board candidate arrested for soliciting child on internet
ORANGE PARK – A former Clay County School Board candidate was arrested on Nov. 24 and charged with two counts of trying to entice and seduce a child on the internet for sex.
Aaron Michael Knowles, 46, also was charged with using a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony.
According to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI’s Jacksonville Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force said it posed online as a 14-year-old girl. Knowles called himself “Twisted Professor,” and he had conversations with the “child” named “Maddie” from July 23 to Nov. 9.
The Clay County Sheriff’s Office’s Internet Crimes Against Children/Forensic Unit and SWAT team joined with the FBI to serve a search warrant at Knowles’ home. Agents seized “numerous” electronic devices at his home. CCSO also said Knowles admitted to talking about having sex with who he believed was a child.
Knowles was released from the Clay County Jail after posting a $75,009 bond.
Knowles ran against Beth Clark and Carol Studdard for the school board’s District 2 seat. He was eliminated during the Aug. 18 primary after receiving 22.82% of the vote.
Clark went on to beat Studdard to win the seat in the General Election.
Jacksonville man faces weapons, drug charges following traffic stop
ORANGE PARK – A man caught driving a car that wasn’t registered wound up in the Clay County Jail on a variety of weapons and drug charges.
James Alden McCracken, 34, of Jacksonville, was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, as well as possession of fentanyl, marijuana, amphetamine and drug paraphernalia and trafficking in methamphetamine.
According to the arrest report, Clay County Sheriff’s Office deputy ran a check on McCracken’s license tag as he drove on Park Avenue. The search revealed the tag wasn’t registered.
During the traffic stop, K-9 Cash alerted deputies to the presence of drugs inside the car.
McCracken was jailed with a $192,765 bond.
Police recovered gun involved in deadly Center Street shooting
GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Detectives recovered what they believe is the gun used in a shootout on Center Street that left an 18-year-old Orange Park High graduate dead.
Skyler Shane Townsend was one of three people shot on Nov. 17 in a shootout, the Green Cove Springs Police Department said. Townsend died at Orange Park Medical Center; the other two suffered none life-threatening injuries.
Two men, Kieshawn Ray Capri Smith, 23, of Green Cove Springs and Daveion Breshod Austin, 20, of Middleburg have been charged with armed robbery. A third person, who hasn’t been identified, has been charged with tampering with evidence in relation to the gun.
A car believed to be used during the shooting was seized by GCSPD investigators later on Nov. 17 in Jacksonville.
“This is all the information we can share at this time, as this is still an active investigation,” police said.