Around the Region

Pelican slams into woman in Gulf of Mexico

TREASURE ISLAND — An Ohio woman is recovering after a pelican slammed into her face while she was swimming in the Gulf of Mexico.

Debbie Shoemaker of Toledo, Ohio, was swimming Thursday around 1:45 p.m. near Treasure Island, a beach community west of St. Petersburg, when she felt something hit her face.

Paramedics from the St. Pete Beach Fire Department responded to the call and took her to a local hospital, where more than 20 stitches were needed to close a large gash in her cheek. The agency’s chief says he never heard of a pelican diving into the water and colliding with anyone.

The 50-year-old housecleaner, who vacations in Florida about twice a year, returned home Friday.

An expert surmises the bird was likely diving for fish and hit Shoemaker by accident. The pelican died.

Wrongfully convicted man paid $2.2 million

MIAMI — Officials in Miami have agreed to pay $2.2 million to a man wrongfully convicted of six murders and a rape.

Jerry Frank Townsend spent 22 years in prison after he was convicted of the crimes in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. DNA evidence exonerated him and he was freed in 2001.

City commissioners agreed Thursday to settle a lawsuit with Townsend. He is still suing the Broward Sheriff’s Office, which charged him with several killings.

The lawsuits allege detectives coerced confessions from Townsend, who has an IQ of about 50, and doctored evidence against him.

An attorney for the 56-year-old says she has no plans to drop the suit in Broward, calling that agency’s conduct ‘‘very egregious.’’

Three men arrested after high speed chase

BOYNTON BEACH — Authorities say they arrested three men accused of robbing a fast food restaurant and firing at officers during a high-speed chase.

Boynton Beach police say they arrived at a Burger King that was being robbed Friday night.

The men fired shots at officers, then fled, triggering a chase involving the Florida Highway Patrol and several other agencies.

Police say one bullet hit a highway patrol car, but did not injure the trooper.

The suspects ditched their getaway van in Deerfield Beach and were arrested after a search that included police dogs and a helicopter.

Authorities say one of the suspects was taken to a hospital to treat a gunshot wound.

Feds charge 11 people in online drug scheme

DAYTONA BEACH — Federal prosecutors charged 11 people with running an Internet prescription drug operation accused of taking in $77 million and illegally dispensing 44 million doses of medication.

A 73-count indictment released Friday charged Jeffrey and Jude LaCour with money laundering and drug trafficking. The pair — who are father and son — ran a service called the Jive Network that recruited pharmacists and doctors to issue prescriptions based on questionnaires submitted over the Internet, the indictment said.

The Associated Press was unable to contact the LaCours by phone on Saturday and they could not be reached for comment. It was not immediately known if they had a lawyer.

According to prosecutors, the LaCours used Web sites and customer service representatives to sell the drugs, which were mostly stimulants and depressants. Nine others, including Hudsen Smith of DeLand, and seven doctors from across the country, were also charged.

The indictment states Jude LaCour, 35, owned and operated Jive Network and his father worked as the company’s director of operations. Smith served as the director of pharmacy and physician operations.

Jeffrey LaCour, 60, ran for mayor of Daytona Beach in 1981 and was convicted five years later of practicing chiropractic medicine without a license, The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.

— Compiled by

The Associated Press