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Police Briefs 12/22/22

Clay County Sheriff's Office
Posted 12/21/22

Nobody injured in shootout between felon, CCSO, U.S. MarshalsGREEN COVE SPRINGS – Nobody was injured after a man wanted for attempted murder opened fire on officers with the U.S Marshals …

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Police Briefs 12/22/22


Posted

Nobody injured in shootout between felon, CCSO, U.S. Marshals

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Nobody was injured after a man wanted for attempted murder opened fire on officers with the U.S Marshals Service and the Clay County Sheriff’s Office in a residential area.
According to Green Cove Springs Police Chief John Guzman, Qwentin Deshaun Simmons was wanted in connection with a Tuesday morning shooting on Calico Jack Way where a man was shot in the arm. The shooting forced Clay County District Schools to lockdown several schools.
GCSPD requested assistance from the Marshals Office and the CCSO’s Fugitive Unit to arrest Simmons. They staked out an area where they believed the 24-year-old may be. Around 11 a.m. Friday, they spotted a man leaving a residence at Joey Drive and West Street and riding away on a bicycle. When they followed, he turned and opened fire on the deputies. At least one CCSO deputy returned fire.
“Simmons realized he was being followed in the 1,200 block of North Street and he pulled out a handgun,” said CCSO Undersheriff Ron Lendvay. “He fired at the deputy’s vehicle, striking it, before the deputy could exit his car.”
Lendvay said Simmons also fired at two other law enforcement cars. Neither Simmons or any deputies were shot, Lendvay said.
He eventually was captured by the surveillance team while running through yards. His gun was recovered and two CCSO patrol cars were hit by gunfire, Lendvay said. About 15 shots were fired.
In addition to the attempted second-degree murder, burglary and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon from Tuesday’s shooting, Simmons now faces six additional charges of attempted murder, as well as three counts of aggravated assault on law enforcement.
Simmons was convicted in 2018 for eight burglaries, two counts of grand theft auto, armed carjacking and grand theft.
Simmons will remain in the Clay County Jail without bond until his next court appearance on Jan. 23.

Sexual predator pleads guilty to receiving child sex abuse images

JACKSONVILLE – U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced Dennis William Sheffield, Jr., 52, of Keystone Heights, pleaded guilty to receipt of child sex abuse images. Sheffield faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 15 years, and as many as 40 years, in federal prison. He also agreed to pay restitution to the victims of his offenses and he also faces a potential life term of supervised release. The court previously ordered Sheffield detained pending the completed proceedings in this case.
According to the plea agreement, last February, Homeland Security Investigations began investigating Sheffield as part of its investigation into a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The CyberTip indicated child sex abuse images had been uploaded to a search engine. An Internet Protocol address for the individual who had uploaded the materials was traced to Sheffield. Law enforcement learned that Sheffield was listed as a predator on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Sexual Offenders and Predators registry as a result of two prior convictions in 1996 for attempted sexual battery on a child under the age of 12.
In March, based on the CyberTip and the identification of Sheffield as the subject of the CyberTip, law enforcement obtained a federal search warrant for Sheffield’s residence. The following day, law enforcement executed the search warrant and encountered Sheffield, who was holding a cellphone in his hand. A preliminary examination of the phone revealed multiple files depicting the sexual abuse of children on the phone. Sheffield admitted to law enforcement that he had a problem and that he liked looking at child sex abuse images, which he admitted to having viewed as recently as a couple of days earlier. Sheffield also admitted to saving some of the images on his phone.
The case was investigated by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley Washington. The forfeiture is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mai Tran.
This is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

Former JSO officer pleads guilty to attempting to lure minor for sex

JACKSONVILLE – U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg announced former Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office deputy Alejandro Carmona-Fonseca, 48, of Green Cove Springs, pled guilty to attempted online enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity. Carmona-Fonseca faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 10 years, and up to life, in federal prison.
He agreed to pay restitution to all the victims of his offenses and faces a potential life term of supervised release. The court previously ordered Carmona-Fonseca detained pending the outcome of this case.
According to the plea agreement, this case began when the Clay County Sheriff’s Office received a report from My Time Fitness in Lake Asbury about a gym member sending a nude photo to another gym member, who was a boy. During an interview with CCSO, the boy said Carmona-Fonseca had requested his Snapchat account and the boy provided it to him.
The victim told Carmona-Fonseca he was in high school. Carmona-Fonseca sent images and videos to the boy with his genitals exposed. At one point, Carmona-Fonseca sent the boy a picture of himself in his police uniform and wrote “you can call me your police daddy.” At times, Carmona-Fonseca asked the boy for photos with his shirt off.
With the consent of the boy and his parents, CCSO assumed his identity over Snapchat, and on March 3. A Homeland Security Investigations Task Force Officer/CCSO detective began communicating with Carmona-Fonseca using the boy’s Snapchat account. The officer confirmed Carmona-Fonseca was friends with the boy and observed that Carmona-Fonseca’s location services were turned on in Snapchat.
The TFO observed Carmona-Fonseca’s location numerous times during the chat. Carmona-Fonseca’s location showed him next to a JSO substation on numerous occasions, the areas where he worked as a patrol officer, near his residence and near the gym he frequented. The TFO communicated with Carmona-Fonseca on March 3 and 4. During those conversations, Carmona-Fonseca sent a video of himself in his police uniform and another in which he was nude. Carmona-Fonseca also made several requests for nude videos of the boy flexing and said that everything stayed between them, and that because it was Snapchat, it would disappear.
The case was investigated by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley Washington. The forfeiture is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mai Tran.
It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

Carjacker brought back to Clay County for violating probation

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – A convicted carjacker was back in jail after he violated the terms of his probation after he was charged with breaking into a car.
Terrance Tyrone Packer, 28, of Mobile, Alabama was returned to Clay County after the Florida Department of Corrections said Packer left the county without permission and he was charged with second-degree burglary on Oct. 22, 2021, for breaking into a car.
Packer originally was arrested on April 23, 2018, with armed carjacking after a man’s car was taken at gunpoint in Keystone Heights, according to the affidavit for arrest.
Packer was staying at his nephew’s house when he and the victim said Packer hit him “10 to 20 times” with a BB gun before taking the car. He was sentenced to five years of probation after being found guilty.
He was arrested in October in Mobile for breaking into another car. When he was released on Dec. 13, the Clay County Sheriff’s Office was waiting on him.
Packer will remain in the Clay County Jail without bond until his arraignment on Jan. 17.

Orange Park man riding scooter killed on Buckman Bridge

JACKSONVILLE – A 41-year-old man from Orange Park was killed after he was rear-ended by an SUV while riding his scooter on the Buckman Bridge.
According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the man was riding south on Sunday at 2 a.m. when he was struck from behind. A tractor-trailer then became disabled after it ran over debris from the crash.
The man, whose identity was withheld, died at the scene.
Three southbound lanes on the bridge were closed for hours.