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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ A High Springs man has been charged with possession of child sexual abuse material. Jon Walter Crawford, 34, was arrested on Thursday, Sept. 21, at 10:35 a.m. and charged with one count of possession of child sexual abuse material with additional charges pending.

The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office received a Cyber Tip in October 2022, alleging that a person using a Yahoo account sent two files with child exploitation material via email on Sept. 4, 2021. The investigator reviewed the files provided in the tip and determined that at least one video, which is 2.46 in length, met the criteria for child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

A subpoena revealed that the IP address belonged to Windstream, and Windstream responded in January 2023 with a physical address in High Springs. Crawford lives at that address.

Deputies made contact with Crawford and he reportedly denied possessing any CSAM and gave consent for a search of his phone. Crawford went into the house and returned with his phone. The deputy reported finding an 11:32-minute video that met the criteria for CSAM and informed Crawford that he was under arrest.

Post Miranda, Crawford reportedly admitted to possessing the video and viewing images showing child pornography; he said he received the files via an online messaging app and normally watched a video and then deleted it unless he liked it enough to save it. Crawford aided the investigator and was cooperative during the investigation.

Additional charges are pending a search warrant for his electronic devices.

Crawford has no local criminal history. Bail was set at $25,000 by Judge Thomas M. Jaworski. Crawford has since bonded out.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ Two High Springs’ residents were involved in a crash at 9:24 a.m., Friday, Sept. 29. The incident occurred on U.S. Highway 441 at Northwest 232^nd Street in High Springs.

A 67-year-old man driving a 2009 BMW was attempting to cross North U.S. Hwy. 441 at the break in the median when his car hit and overturned a 2016 black Jeep with a 30-year-old female driver inside, pinning her in the Jeep.

According to the High Springs Police Department (HSPD), the female driver said when the crash occurred, she was “driving in the outside lane heading southbound on North U.S. Highway 441”. The woman said she saw the BMW on the side road, but assumed he would stop as he pulled into the median. She told the investigating officer that she realized too late that the BMW was not stopping. Upon impact, her Jeep was pushed to the side of the road where her vehicle overturned.

Impact damage was found on the driver`s side of the Jeep, where it is believed the BMW collided with the Jeep. The female driver was extracted from her vehicle and sent to the hospital.

The front bumper of the BMW was torn off and was found along Northwest 232^nd Street facing south.

The driver of the BMW was issued a citation for failing to yield to the Jeep, after stopping at the stop sign on Northwest 232^nd Street, which was the cause of the accident.

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NEWBERRY ‒ The City of Newberry Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) on Sept. 25 approved their Fiscal Year 2023-24 budget of $509,500, with 92 percent of that funding for projects within the CRA District.

Newberry Assistant City Manager and Chief Financial Officer Dallas Lee said that revenues increased by $160,000 to $480,840, with $80,000 coming from the City and the same amount from Alachua County. Lee also said that $40,000 in unused façade grant funds from last year will be rolled into this coming year’s budget.

Other budgetary line items include insurance and legal fees at $33,000 and training and memberships at $8,000, with no increase over last year’s amount. Façade grant amounts were increased by the Commission from $15,000 to $25,000 in the coming year’s budget. Contract/Professional Services have been set at $128,500, which includes the stormwater master plan, project design and downtown marketing. Costs for infrastructure are set at $315,000, which includes sidewalk improvements, streetlights, way-finding signs, utility extensions, capital grants and road design.

CRA Executive Director Bryan Thomas presented the establishment of a Newberry CRA Commercial Corridor Beautification Program to further enhance the aesthetics of the district. The program would initially focus on improving the intersection at Newberry Road and State Road 45, and eventually branch out in other directions.

While several suggestions were made as to how to proceed, Newberry Mayor Jordan Marlowe suggested that the Board start with business owners who want to work with the City. The consensus was to contact Domino’s Pizza management to discuss ways their corner property could be improved with landscaping.

Also suggested was that City Codes Enforcement contact the owners of the Circle K to get them to either demolish the building or improve the property.

Thomas said he would bring this back to the Board again after contacts were made with the business owners on that corner. No other action was taken by the Board at this meeting.

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ALACHUA ‒ The Santa Fe High School Symphonic Band wowed the Alachua City Commission Monday, Sept. 25 with a free concert. Under the direction of Conductor Jacob Massena, the band opened the Commission meeting with an enjoyable performance that left commissioners proud of the hometown youngsters.

Alachua City Manager Mike DaRoza, an alumnus of Santa Fe High School, said he is always pleased when he sees Santa Fe students doing great things. Following the performance, Alachua Mayor Gib Coerper and commissioners presented each of the performers with a certificate of appreciation from the City of Alachua.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ Robots, art and music will descend on the lawn of the High Springs Brewing Company, 18562 N.W. 237^th Street, High Springs, on Sunday, Oct. 15 from 2 – 5 p.m. to raise funds and awareness for these great programs.

Parents and kids alike can take an opportunity to learn about the Swampbots robotics program and meet members of the Frogmen, the Byte Squad, Innogators, Tadpoles and the Turtlebots teams.

The middle and high school robotics teams will race and display their best, including a large robot built and controlled by the high school team. The teams, which span grades 1 – 12 will also be selling pizza by the slice from Prohibition Pizza as well as kid-friendly drinks, with proceeds to benefit both Swampbots and Good News Arts.

Good News Arts (GNA) will have complementary hands-on art experiences for all ages to create and play. Donations are welcome. In addition, a silent auction will be held for five quilts made this summer by students at GNA’s Summer Arts Camp. All proceeds support GNA’s educational programs.

To complement these great organizations, Santa Fe High School student Trevor Ellis will be providing live music featuring favorites in southern rock, reggae and country. Only 15 years old, Ellis already has quite a resume including an appearance on PBS. He excels at the drums, piano and guitar challenging himself with the most intricate compositions of John Mayer and Zach Brown on guitar and Vince Guaraldi on piano. 

“Investment in our kids is an investment in our whole community. In just a few years, these two programs have provided solid success for our kids,” said Ross Ambrose, who has supported both programs since they were launched.

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GAINESVILLE ‒ A man jailed for stalking, fraud, and extortion has new charges of criminal solicitation to commit a felony and attempted first-degree murder. Ralph Jack Waccary, 63, was served with a sworn complaint on Sept. 12, alleging that he hired a former inmate to kill an Alachua woman. An Alachua Police Department complaint specifies that Waccary hired a former inmate, which he paid to bail out of jail, in exchange for the inmate to have the opportunity to kill a woman he believed would lead to Waccary’s case being dropped.

Waccary has been in the jail since Dec. 23, 2021, charged with stalking, fraud, and extortion after allegedly filing a civil lien against a woman’s property, then telling her he would remove the lien if she had sexual intercourse with him.

An injunction had been previously issued prohibiting Waccary from having contact with the woman because he had allegedly threatened to “bury” her after she called the police about a domestic disturbance. Waccary was also charged with violating the injunction and stalking.

Michael Woulard was in jail since Nov. 10, 2022, for a series of crimes to include failure to register as a Sexual Predator. Wouldard said he had worked for Waccary when they were both employed by North Florida Hospital. Waccary agreed to bail Woulard out of jail and ultimately produced the funds to pay 10 percent of the bail amount to a bail bonds company. Woulard was released on bond on May 30.

Waccary was to pay Woulard an additional $25,000 after the victim had been murdered and Waccary’s case had been dropped. Waccary advised Woulard to make it look like a robbery, then drive her car out of state. He even told Woulard that he would be free and clear because he had a perfect alibi of being incarcerated.

According to the APD report, “Woulard said he was unaware of anyone else that may be planning the same thing, but was sure that Waccary had approached other inmates about [a] similar request.”

APD filed a sworn complaint against Waccary charging him with criminal solicitation to commit a felony and attempted first-degree murder. Bond has been set at $425,000.

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