Jeffrey Evans, 43, of Coral Springs, was arrested on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge after an argument with his wife became physical, according to a probable cause affidavit. Their fight on the morning of Aug. 25 about 11:30 a.m. was recorded on Ring surveillance video, which showed Evans punching Jessica Lloyd, 38, and grabbing her by her hair as he tried to take his laptop from her, according to a State Attorney’s Office memo dated Feb. 23.

Just before 9 p.m. that night in August, Evans called police and said his wife was having a “mental break” and needed help, the affidavit said. Minutes later, another person called to report hearing a woman scream, “My husband is trying to kill me!”

Evans told police when they arrived that Lloyd ran from their home, screaming that he was trying to kill her, and that he saw her fall on a sidewalk, according to an investigator’s report from the Medical Examiner’s Office. While Evans spoke to police, he and the officers “heard a splash in the canal” behind the home on Northwest 15th Court.

Lloyd was found facedown, partially submerged in 17 inches of water. She was pronounced dead at Broward Health Coral Springs.

Lloyd had multiple blunt force injuries and bruises to her head, neck, torso, arms and legs that were healed at different levels, including fractures in her ribs and left upper jaw, an autopsy report said. Toxicology tests showed positive for cocaine and some prescription antidepressant medications.

The associate medical examiner who performed Lloyd’s autopsy determined that she died as a result of drowning, and her manner of death was undetermined.

Prosecutors declined to file the misdemeanor battery charge stemming from the fight earlier that day because there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction.

“Because the victim is now deceased, the State has no evidence or witnesses to rebut this account by the defendant,” the State Attorney’s Office’s memo declining the charge said.

Prosecutors move forward with cases, even when victims cannot cooperate, when they have independent evidence to prove the charges, Assistant State Attorney Stefanie Newman, the prosecutor in charge of the Domestic Violence Unit, said in a statement shared with the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

The State Attorney’s Office was never formally presented a homicide case, Paula McMahon, spokesperson for the State Attorney’s Office, said in an email Friday.

“If the investigators at the police department believed they had probable cause to make an arrest or file a charge related to the death of Jessica Lloyd, they would have formally presented it to our office for review,” McMahon said. “No homicide case has been formally presented to our office at this time. There is no statute of limitations for any unresolved homicide. We remain ready, willing and able to formally review any evidence that detectives want to present now or in the future.”

Coral Springs Police in an email sent to the Sun Sentinel on Friday night said their investigation of Lloyd’s death is closed.

“The Coral Springs Police Department conducted a long and thorough investigation, as we do with all cases,” the statement said. “Detectives did meet with the State Attorney’s Office, but we did not recommend murder charges.”

Evans’ defense attorney did not respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.

Evans was terminated from Davie Fire Rescue in March 2025, a letter of separation shows. He had been unable to perform his job since November 2023 due to prolonged medical issues.

Melvin Kendrick, 59, of Coral Springs, was arrested Feb. 19 on charges of sexual battery and false imprisonment in connection with the July 10, 2015, assault, the Broward Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday.

The victim, who was 21 years old at the time, was walking alone outside toward the parking lot of the Tamarac apartment complex about 11:30 p.m. when a stranger — who authorities now say was Kendrick — forced her into a gray, four-door car and tossed her cellphone out the window, according to a probable cause affidavit. A second, younger man was inside the car, and the two men assaulted the woman in a secluded area of the parking lot, the affidavit says.

The younger man got out of the car momentarily and said he would be back. Kendrick drove off with the woman to another secluded area, where he assaulted her again, the affidavit said.

Kendrick prevented the woman from escaping multiple times, threatening to “kill her and dump her body,” the affidavit said. About four hours after she had been taken from the parking lot, the woman managed to jump out of the car as it was moving and ran into a nearby restaurant to call for help.

DNA evidence was collected that night, but there were no similar profiles matching the two men in the local Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS, according to the affidavit.

Revisiting the case in December 2024, a Cold Case Unit detective searched the suspects’ profiles against DNA profiles of people incarcerated in Florida prisons to look for possible relatives. In October 2025, testing showed a match with Kendrick’s son, who is incarcerated, according to the affidavit. Though Kendrick had been arrested before, his DNA profile was not currently in the CODIS database.

Broward County court records show Kendrick has a history of arrests dating back to at least the mid 1980s, including on charges of robbery, armed burglary, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, battery and grand theft auto.

He was arrested in June 2025 on charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, grand theft of a firearm and resisting without violence. That case is pending as of Wednesday, court records show.

The second man who assaulted the woman has not been identified.

At the time of the assault, Kendrick lived less than a mile away from the apartment complex where the victim was kidnapped, the affidavit said.

Detectives collected DNA samples from Kendrick during an interview he agreed to in December. The results, received earlier this month, showed Kendrick was a match for the DNA evidence collected after the sexual assault, the affidavit said.

The victim could not identify Kendrick in a photo lineup, using photos from 2015, according to the affidavit. Kendrick when shown a photo of the victim from 2014 said he had never seen the woman before, nor had he ever been to the apartment complex where the attack began.

Kendrick has been released from jail after posting bail. He is monitored by a GPS device and required to stay at his home at all times, with the exception of medical emergencies and up to eight hours per week to attend religious services and personal shopping, according to the supervision order.

Ronald Wilson would have celebrated his 75th birthday on Sunday, according to a GoFundMe online fundraiser organized by his family.

Three minutes before midnight Monday, Wilson was driving his silver Toyota Tacoma north on Northwest 31st Avenue in Tamarac, crossing at the intersection of Prospect Road with the right-of-way, when a BSO deputy collided with the driver’s side of his truck, court records say.

Wilson and a passenger in his truck were taken to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, where Wilson was pronounced dead within an hour, according to a probable cause affidavit.

K-9 Deputy Brian Quintal, who crashed with Wilson, was among several who were in pursuit of Sean Paul Holder, 30, of Coral Springs, in the moments before the deadly crash.

Holder first stole a Jeep Cherokee in Margate, crashed through a gate at the Flanigan’s restaurant on State Road 7 in North Lauderdale, intentionally reversed into one deputy’s marked patrol car while part of the gate was still lodged on top of the Jeep, then fled while erratically driving at least 15 mph over the speed limit from several marked and unmarked BSO cars before the deadly crash, the affidavit for his arrest said.

The chain reaction culminated in Quintal crashing with Wilson no more than 20 seconds after the deputy unsuccessfully tried a PIT maneuver to stop Holder just before the intersection of Prospect Road and Northwest 31st Avenue, according to the affidavit.

Wilson’s death “occurred during and as a consequence” of Holder’s actions, according to the affidavit. Holder is now facing a second-degree murder charge, among several others.

“Tragically, my dad was killed by a cop (during a high speed chase) in Florida on February 16th,” wrote online fundraiser organizer Claudia Wilson. “A Broward [Sherriff] Deputy in Florida was pursuing a stolen vehicle and in the chase hit my father’s car.”

Deputy’s car intentionally hit

Margate Police broadcasted a be-on-the-lookout alert for the stolen Jeep Cherokee at 11:44 p.m. after losing sight of the car near Northwest 70th Avenue and West Commercial Boulevard, the affidavit said.

Four minutes later, one Broward Sheriff’s deputy in an unmarked car spotted the Jeep nearby on Northwest 64th Avenue and “began monitoring” as more deputies came toward the area for assistance. Holder appeared to be following all traffic laws while driving east in the area of Bailey Road, the affidavit said, but within two minutes later had started driving with the car’s hazard lights turned on.

Ten minutes after Margate’s initial alert had been issued, Holder had made it into the parking lot of the Flanigan’s at 5450 North State Road 7 and was circling the lot, the affidavit said. Multiple marked and unmarked BSO cars started arriving in the area, and BSO helicopters were reported to be on the way.

It appeared that Holder began driving erratically once he noticed the law enforcement officers in the area, according to the affidavit. He accelerated and crashed into a closed gate in the back of the Flanigan’s, lodging the fence on top of the Jeep.

Another deputy tried to stop Holder as he drove out of the restaurant’s parking lot and started to head into the northbound lanes of State Road 7 with the fence still on top of the Jeep, the affidavit said. The deputy positioned his patrol car behind the Jeep on North State Road 7, and Holder then intentionally reversed into the front of the deputy’s car while the deputy was still inside, the affidavit said.

Holder sped off, knocking the fence loose and onto the road. The deputy communicated over radio that the suspect had committed aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, prompting the start of the chase.

BSO’s current policy allows deputies to initiate a chase when there is reasonable belief a forcible felony was committed or is being committed, which includes aggravated battery.

Pursuing deputy lost control briefly

At 11:55 p.m., deputies began pursuing Holder, who continued to flee from both marked and unmarked BSO cars with lights and sirens turned on, the affidavit said. One minute into the pursuit, Holder was driving east at 60 mph on Prospect Road near the intersection of Northwest 36th Avenue, where the speed limit is 45 mph.

As Holder was approaching the intersection of Northwest 31st Avenue, Deputy Quintal tried to force the Jeep to stop by performing a Pursuit Intervention Technique maneuver, known as a PIT maneuver, where a law enforcement officer uses his or her patrol car to force the car being pursued to abruptly spin out. The deputy’s attempt was unsuccessful, and Holder continued fleeing by driving through the red light at the intersection of Northwest 31st Avenue, the affidavit said.

Quintal had briefly lost control of his car after performing the technique, regained control as he entered the intersection, and at 11:57 p.m., crashed into Wilson’s truck, the affidavit said.

One of the people injured in the crash was bleeding from his head, according to first responders’ radio communications archived by the site Broadcastify. A K-9 could be heard barking in the background.

The pursuit soon after ended about a half mile away from where Quintal crashed into Wilson, according to the affidavit, when deputies successfully performed a PIT maneuver on the Jeep in the area of the 2600 block of Northwest 55th Court. Holder was arrested with help from a K-9 deputy.

He was held in the Broward Main Jail as of Thursday and is facing charges of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, grand theft auto, driving with a suspended license as a habitual traffic offender, and in a separately filed case, one count of second-degree murder in connection with Wilson’s death, court records show.

Pursuit policy

BSO’s current policy allows deputies to initiate a chase when there is reasonable belief a forcible felony was committed or is being committed, which includes aggravated battery. Among the offenses deputies are prohibited from starting pursuits for is auto thefts.

Deputies who are in a pursuit are required to drive with lights and sirens on, and the initial deputy must communicate the start of a pursuit and its reason, the exact location and direction of travel and approximate speeds and traffic conditions, according to BSO’s policy. Supervisors are required to authorize any continuation of a pursuit and can cancel them based on the ongoing circumstances.

The policy says pursuits will be terminated, in part, when “the risks of continuing the pursuit appear to outweigh the risks of the suspect’s escape.” A factor that must be considered before starting a chase is whether there are alternative ways to arrest a suspect later if the pursuit is called off, according to the policy, including license plate number checks in law enforcement databases and if the suspect’s identity is known.

PIT maneuvers are allowed in any authorized pursuit and are “a safe and effective way to end pursuits,” the policy says, “when used properly.” Deputies can only perform them if trained and must announce their intention to perform the technique over radio before using it. A minimum of two police cars must be available for a PIT maneuver to be used while three are preferred.

BSO’s Homicide and Violent Crimes units as well as Internal Affairs are investigating. The case also will be forwarded to BSO’s Pursuit Review Board, as is department policy.

Shaune Cannon, 50, a behavioral technician at Forest Glen Middle School in Coral Springs, is facing one count of organized scheme to defraud $20,000 or less and one count of grand theft of more than $10,000, according to a probable cause affidavit.

He is the fourth Broward School District employee to be arrested on similar charges in recent months. Henry Lewis McNabb, a security specialist and former coach at Blanche Ely High School; Brenton Hankerson, a security specialist and girls varsity coach at Coral Springs High School; and Donald Calloway, Coral Springs High School girls’ assistant basketball coach, were all arrested in December.

“This latest arrest in the ongoing investigation by Broward Schools Police further demonstrates the Superintendent’s focus on maintaining integrity across the District and addressing any behavior that compromises the public trust,” district spokesman John Sullivan said in a statement to the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Broward high school basketball coaches arrested, accused of fraud and theft

Bank records showed Cannon received multiple Zelle payments of $1,500 from two basketball organizations for rentals of Forest Glen Middle’s gym in April, May and June 2025, the affidavit said. As a result of the improper rentals, the “total potential losses to the district” totaled $11,545. The presidents of the organizations confirmed to police that they had paid Cannon.

Cannon resigned on Friday, a School District spokesperson confirmed. He was initially hired by the district in 2011 and worked at Ramblewood Middle School as a behavioral technician and campus monitor before joining Forest Glen Middle School in 2023.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Cannon remained listed as a boy’s basketball coach at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on the school’s roster. The student newspaper, Eagle Eye News, reported in October 2023 that Cannon joined as the school’s head basketball coach. Cannon told the student newspaper he was previously a head coach at Ramblewood Middle and  Everglades High School in Miramar.

The affidavit for Cannon’s arrest does not mention the other coaches.

The cases began on June 3, when the school district’s Special Investigative Unit “received a report of possible fraudulent activities” involving the rental of the gym at Blanche Ely, according to an arrest affidavit in McNabb’s case.

At Coral Springs High, Calloway rented out the gym from April through June 2025 for tournaments through “private agreements” with outside basketball associations, a probable cause affidavit in his case said. He allegedly arranged payments for the rentals through Hankerson, who then paid Calloway.

McNabb is accused of having held additional tournaments at Blanche Ely in the same time frame, according to an arrest report, and similar tournaments at Hollywood Hills High School.

Sun Sentinel staff writer Scott Travis contributed to this report.

The centerpiece of a traveling exhibit by Boca Raton’s Hate Ends Now, the cattle car will be on display at two South Florida locations this month: Coconut Creek and Coral Springs.

“While misinformation spreads quickly and historical memory fades fast, our exhibit aims to help connect past events to present-day consequences,” said Todd Cohn, CEO of the nonprofit Hate Ends Now. “It reinforces why remembrance matters and why education remains the most effective tool for confronting hate.”

The replica of the World War II cattle cars that transported prisoners to concentration camps — alongside other artifacts from the era — serves as a hands-on tool for what organizers call a more nuanced approach to Holocaust education.

The first chance to view the “Hate Ends Now: The Cattle Car Exhibit” is Thursday, Jan. 29, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Coconut Creek Government Center. Visitors are encouraged to step inside the car, where they will hear testimonies from survivors and see 360-degree videos detailing the experiences of those who suffered inside.

Later that evening, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., Coconut Creek will unveil a Holocaust memorial at the same spot. Artist Marit Meisler created the 10-foot sculpture titled, “Generations,” that will become the first public art installation in the city.

The sculpture focuses on the children of the Holocaust, specifically those who were on the Kindertransport, a rescue mission that saved thousands. The unveiling is limited to 200 guests and requires an advance registration (call 954-956-1580), but guests will be able to view the artwork outside of the Government Center after the event.

The exhibit moves to Coral Springs City Hall the next day. At press time, all available slots from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. were filled, but organizers say many artifacts will be on display inside City Hall for guests to view, including a prison uniform, ID cards and other Holocaust-era items.

In the past, the “Hate Ends Now: The Cattle Car Exhibit” has been stationed at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Times Square in New York City, and most recently at the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee, but it is mostly tailored for schools.

In 2025, it was used as part of a Holocaust education program at Saint Louis Covenant School in Miami-Dade County’s Pinecrest. Throughout February and March, it is scheduled to stop at various Palm Beach County schools before heading north to Orlando.

Cohn hopes that, in a time of rising antisemitism, the exhibit will help students better understand how dangerous the spread of hate can be.

“The Holocaust didn’t start with cattle cars; it started when everyday people lacked the moral clarity and courage to stand up to hate,” he said. “For students today, that moment may happen on social media or in a school cafeteria. Our charge to them is the same: to recognize hate when they see it and to stand up to it, wherever it appears.”

Find more information and additional viewing opportunities at hateendsnow.org.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: “Hate Ends Now: The Cattle Car Exhibit”

WHEN/WHERE:

• 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, at Coconut Creek Government Center, 4800 W. Copans Road
• 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30, at Coral Springs City Hall, 9500 W. Sample Road

COST: Free, but advance registration is required for cattle-car entry

INFORMATION: coconutcreek.gov/cattlecar and coralsprings.gov

When it opens this summer, Ember & Vine, the power couple’s new sit-down in Coral Springs, will feature coffee and pastries by day and Mediterranean-ish entrees cooked over an open hearth by night — the same hearty pairings they encountered in Napa Valley.

To pull it off, the Pozzuolis tell the South Florida Sun Sentinel that Ember will repurpose the existing bar-adjacent hearth left behind by Angelo Elia Pizza, Bar & Tapas, which closed in early December. That 4,125-square-foot space, for which they signed a lease in mid-December, will in coming months be transformed into an airy, white-walled dining room with hanging vines, basket lights and half-moon banquettes gussied up in marble and sandalwood tones.

For now, the rough-draft menu under executive chef Jeff Tunks calls for wood-roasted oysters, diver scallops and garlic prawns to grilled wagyu picanha, Roman-style pinsa flatbreads and lamb chops, each complimented with bold wine pairings.

It all translates to a vibe that Eddie Pozzuoli calls “elevated but not showoff-y,” evoking Napa tasting rooms and farm-to-table dining minus the California prices.

“When we went to Napa, we were like, ‘How cool would it be to transport this feeling home, but without making it feel pretentious?’ ” Pozzuoli recalls. “So we wanted quick late breakfasts for parents after dropping off their kids at school, or a light lunch, and then as sunset comes, it turns into a candlelit, romantic nighttime vibe with wine. That’s what Napa tasted like to us.”

Since the pandemic, the Pozzuolis have shaken up Coral Springs and Parkland with neighborhood hubs that radiate cozy comforts. Eddie Pozzuoli went from cutting his teeth at his father’s highly regarded Tavolino Della Notte in Coral Springs to pairing up with restaurateur Burt Rapoport (Deck 84, Burt & Max’s), in 2020, for an ambitious revival of Prezzo Boca Raton.

From there, the husband-and-wife couple went solo under their P Hospitality Group banner, first by snapping up Corvina Seafood Grill in 2021, then by morphing the old Tavolino into Eddie & Vinny’s, a neighborhood bistro with olive-oil carts, hand-rolled pasta and daily catches. In August, with partner Paul Greenberg (ex-American Social), they brought nightlife to sleepy Parkland with sporty pub Dear Olivia, drawing packed dining rooms and more local buzz.

That hot streak left the Pozzuolis, who juggle two children, Eddie and Vinny, with little time for respite. So the pair took a romp through wine country for Christina’s birthday, clinking glasses at Progeny Winery in Napa Valley and Restoration Hardware in Yountville.

Even while relaxing, they brainstormed: What neighborhood hot spot did west Broward locals deserve next? And their solution: Bring Napa Valley to the ‘burbs, Christina Pozzuoli says.

“We want to make Coral Springs the envy of Boca and Fort Lauderdale,” she says. “There’s a dense population out here, and the demographic is the same as we are in life: parents with young kids craving a little dining variety.”

Along with seasonal vegetables and light seafood bites including tuna poke and hamachi and passionfruit crudo, Ember & Vine will also offer 16 self-serve wine dispensers where diners can fill their glasses with 3- and 9-ounce pours.

“We’re putting together a thoughtful wine list now,” Eddie Pozzuoli says, adding that it “won’t be 100 percent Napa Valley.” “We’ll have rare Italian and French wines. It’ll be a perfect fit for the neighborhood.”

Ember & Vine, at 5920 Coral Ridge Drive, in Coral Springs, expects to open this summer. Go to EmberandVineFl.com.

Florida Blue and Broward County’s two public health systems, both under the same CEO, still lack a new contract. The months-long impasse between Florida Blue and Broward Health and Memorial Healthcare System has affected as many as 40,000 policyholders who must deal with higher out-of-pocket costs, a disruption in their doctor relationships, and finding ongoing treatment for non-emergency care. Earlier communication from the parties indicated new contracts might be completed by year’s end, but that hasn’t happened.

“We are having ongoing and productive discussions with the leadership teams from Broward Health and Memorial Healthcare System,” Florida Blue spokesperson Jorge Martinez said Tuesday.

In addition, unless Florida Blue reaches an agreement with Cleveland Clinic Weston by March, notices will go out to policyholders informing them that the hospital will be out of network as well, meaning they will not be covered for non-emergency services. For now, Florida Blue members can continue scheduling appointments and receiving care as usual at the Weston hospital.

The inability to negotiate a contract, however, would put Florida Blue policyholders at a significant disadvantage when choosing care. Open enrollment for employer-sponsored health plans has now closed for most companies, forcing them to decide whether to continue with Florida Blue and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Martinez said it’s too soon to know if and how contract disputes affected enrollment choices. Broward’s public health systems have suffered, too, with patients delaying care or finding new providers.

In Palm Beach County, Cigna policyholders received good news Wednesday when an eleventh-hour deal allowed them to stay in network at their major hospitals.

Tenet’s Palm Beach Health Network, which operates six major hospitals, was about to go out-of-network with Cigna on Wednesday. However, a Tenet spokesperson said the parties reached an agreement that will allow 1.3 million Florida Cigna policyholders and 13,000 Palm Beach County residents to be covered at its hospitals. Those hospitals are Delray Medical Center,  Good Samaritan Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach, and Palm Beach Children’s Hospital in West Palm Beach. Tenet also operates Florida Coast Medical Center in Port St. Lucie.

Non-renewal of Cigna’s contract would have put the county’s only children’s hospital out of network, just as Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital has gone out of network for Florida Blue policyholders in Broward County.

Cigna’s standoff with Tenet’s Palm Beach Health Network was part of a national contract dispute with Tenet Healthcare facilities and services nationwide, which the two health giants resolved on Wednesday.

Patients are increasingly caught in disputes as health insurers and providers disagree on contract terms and the two parties urge each other to stop disrupting medical treatment.

On Wednesday,  Cigna spokesperson Madeline Ziomek said, “An agreement has been reached with Tenet-owned Palm Beach Health Network, their physicians, and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) to continue providing in-network health care with no interruption in coverage for our customers. Together we will continue improving the health and vitality of the people we both serve in this community through access to affordable care.”

The heated negotiations between the insurer and healthcare company may represent the trend ahead and the role AI will play.

Tenet had set up a website for patients to demand that Cigna relent and said that Cigna would not guarantee that a physician, not a computer algorithm, makes decisions about patient care.

“Tenet Healthcare has been negotiating in good faith to keep in-network access to hospitals and providers at the Palm Beach Health Network for our patients,” Andrew Lofholm, Communications and Community Relations Manager with Palm Beach Health Network, had said.  “If Cigna ends its contract by December 31, 1.33 million Floridians could lose affordable access to both of the county’s Level I trauma centers and the only children’s hospital in the region. Because Cigna refuses to agree to reasonable terms to guarantee that a doctor, not a computer algorithm or AI, will make meaningful decisions about our patients’ care, families will be faced with paying thousands more or leaving the doctors and hospitals they’ve relied on for years.”

The standoffs over financial terms and reimbursement rates are also infuriating Broward patients, who at one point were told by Memorial and Broward Health they couldn’t make appointments as Florida Blue policyholders, even if they wanted to self-pay. On Tuesday, Broward Health and Memorial said they would accept Florida Blue patients who want to self-pay to continue seeing their doctors.

“We welcome any Florida Blue policyholders to continue their care with Broward Health providers,” said Broward Health Vice President of Communications Jennifer Smith. “Patients would need to self-pay or get a single-case agreement from Florida Blue. ”

The law requires hospitals to provide emergency care to patients regardless of whether they are in network.

“Anyone who arrives at our emergency departments will be treated regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay,” Smith said. “If admission is required, we notify the payor, and they decide whether to authorize admission or start transfer to an in-network hospital. But ultimately, it is the patient’s choice where they are treated.”

South Florida patients are upset that they are caught in the conflict between provider and insurer.

“My husband and I have complex medical histories,” Rev. Corrie Montoya of Davie wrote in a letter to the Sun Sentinel. “We have Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance through my employer. Most of our physicians are with Broward Health. We now must find a new primary care doctor and at least eight new specialists. It’s frustrating to have to start over. I can push through, but what I can’t abide is Florida Blue putting my child and all Broward children at risk.”

The breakdown in contract negotiations between health providers and health insurers put South Florida residents like Bob and Gayle Pifer in the position of losing access to doctors they have come to rely on over many decades.

Bob Pifer has been calling and writing Memorial Healthcare and Florida Blue, seeking answers to whether they can continue to see their doctors, and when the contract dispute will be resolved. The couple live in Pembroke Pines and all hospitals nearby, south of Interstate 595, are operated by Memorial. Both see various specialists at Memorial and Gayle Pifer is undergoing cancer treatment. The Pifers said they have been Blue Cross Blue Shield policyholders for more than 40 years, but can’t afford to keep seeing the same doctors.

“We live eight minutes from Memorial West. If we keep going, we could be stuck for the whole bill,” Bob Pifer told the Sun Sentinel. “In my wife’s case, the last infusion was very expensive.”

Plantation resident Andy Greenfield said he has been getting primary care at Memorial for over 30 years. “Because of this impasse, I will be forced to look elsewhere, even for ongoing conditions that Memorial physicians had treated. I don’t understand how so many hospitals can be out of network simultaneously for residents of Broward County.”

South Florida Sun Sentinel health reporter Cindy Goodman can be reached at cgoodman@sunsentinel.com.

Coral Springs High School girls’ assistant basketball coach Donald Calloway, 49, faces charges of organized scheme to defraud $10,000 or more and grand theft in excess of $10,000 but less than $20,000, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Two other coaches were arrested on similar charges Wednesday: Henry Lewis McNabb, 42, a security specialist and former coach at Blanche Ely; and Brenton Hankerson, 43, a security specialist and girls varsity coach at Coral Springs High.

Broward District Schools Police Department began investigating in June after the coaches’ alleged “fraudulent activities involving the rental of facilities at Broward District Schools” were reported, the affidavit said. One of the facilities was Coral Springs High, the affidavit said.

Broward high school basketball coaches arrested, accused of fraud and theft

Investigators determined that Calloway was renting out the school’s gym for “illicit basketball tournaments” through “private agreements” with outside basketball associations, the affidavit said. Calloway allegedly arranged payments for the gym rentals through Hankerson, who then paid Calloway.

Unauthorized tournaments hosted by two different outside basketball organizations were held at the school’s gym on multiple dates in April, May and June, and bank records subpoenaed as part of the investigation showed that Calloway received Zelle payments from Hankerson in connection with those dates, the probable cause affidavit said.

In total, Calloway profited $2,800 in the payments, the affidavit said, with Coral Springs High School’s total potential revenue loss amounting to $11,805.

“This most recent arrest by Broward Schools Police is part of the ongoing investigation into the improper use of District facilities for personal gain,” district spokesman John Sullivan said in a statement Friday afternoon. “It, again, reaffirms the superintendent’s commitment to transparency and to rooting out public corruption. This employee, like the others, will be subject to termination in accordance with District policy.”

McNabb is accused of having held “additional illicit basketball tournaments” at Blanche Ely in April, May and June, according to an arrest report, and similar tournaments at Hollywood Hills High School on three occasions in May.

McNabb’s bank statements showed he received about $5,200 in payments from events, with an estimated loss for the district of $12,920 due to their inability to lease the gyms properly, the report said.

Subpoenaed bank records showed that Hankerson received $5,950 in Zelle payments from the two outside basketball groups, according to an arrest report in Hankerson’s case.

Sun Sentinel staff writer Scott Travis contributed to this report.

A local church group helped pilot Alexander Wurm, 53, founder of an evangelical Christian ministry that conducts missions across the Caribbean, load the 1976 Beech B100 aircraft with a generator, boxes of tarps, electric tools, screws and flashlights at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. The pilot told the helpers he could carry up to 1,000 pounds of cargo, a newly released preliminary National Transportation Safety Board report.

The exact amount of cargo loaded onto the plane was not weighed, according to the NTSB report. Some had been left behind and was supposed to be taken to Jamaica on another flight.

“The cargo was not weighed; however, the pilot checked the weight documented on each box as the airplane was loaded, and he finished the loading process once he determined that capacity had been reached,” the report said.

The plane was filled to capacity once 282 gallons of Jet-A fuel were added, the report said, and the cargo had been unsecured throughout the cabin on passenger seats.

Wurm and his daughter Serena, 22, were killed when the plane came plunging out of the sky and smashed into a lake in the Windsor Bay gated community shortly after 10 a.m. Nov. 10.

It crashed into the water in a steep, nose-down dive, the NTSB report said. On impact, the plane was ripped into pieces. The largest part to be recovered was the tail with its stabilizer and rudder assembly still attached.

After takeoff, Wurm reached a top height of 4,000 feet above mean sea level, and air traffic control personnel instructed him to make a right turn at a certain angle. He acknowledged the instruction and communicated with them on the next instruction, the NTSB report showed.

By the time Wurm had made the instructed turn, he was traveling at about 230 miles per hour and had begun descending, the report said. Seconds later, a controller gave the pilot another instruction and there was no response as the plane continued descending.

The controller again tried to communicate with the pilot, but only “heavy breathing and ‘grunting’ sounds” were heard, according to the report. The plane had dropped to about 1,500 feet and was traveling at more than 300 mph.

“The airplane was not trailing smoke or vapors in any of the recordings, all of which captured the sound of engines operating,” the report said, citing security cameras that recorded the final seconds of flight.

A cold front was over the region at the time, and satellite imagery reviewed by the NTSB showed the plane entered a band of clouds associated with the front after takeoff and remained in them during its turn to the east until it started to drop, the report said.

The pilot bought the airplane in February 2024 and completely refitted the interior and upgraded its electronics systems in June 2025, the report said.

In the days after Wurm’s death, the Cayman International Assembly of God Church in Camana Bay in the Cayman Islands held a service in honor of him and Serena, showed a livestream shared on Wurm’s ministry’s Facebook page. They played a video that Wurm had earlier requested his ministry put together, after his first relief trip to Jamaica, according to a leader who spoke at the service.

In one clip, the video showed Wurm sitting in the pilot seat of the plane describing the supplies he had brought for Montego Bay, including generators, solar panels, battery packs, hardware and tarps. He said he was hoping to travel back and forth with more supplies to help.

The plane had been scheduled to return to Fort Lauderdale on the day of the crash.

NTSB preliminary reports do not provide information about the probable cause of crashes. Probable causes are included in final investigation reports, which can take between 12 and 24 months.

Coral Springs Police were inundated with call after call shortly after 10 a.m. Monday, detailing the minutes after the 1976 Beech B100 aircraft came quickly dropping out of the air into the gated community in the 5000 block of Northwest 57th Way.

Alexander Wurm, a 53-year-old Christian pastor, and his daughter Serena, 22, were killed as they tried to fly to Jamaica to deliver Hurricane Melissa relief supplies. The same plane had traveled to and from Montego Bay and George Town, the capital of the Cayman Islands, within the previous week, flight tracking data on FlightAware shows.

Just seconds after the plane hit the lake, neighbors were trying to look for any survivors in the water, according to 18 calls to 911 released by the police department Friday.

One woman told the dispatcher that nobody survived.

“I just see rubble, like, there’s nobody … They’re gone,” the woman said.

“OK, so you’re saying nobody made it out?” the dispatcher asked.

“There’s, no, they didn’t make it,” the woman replied.

The plane itself was nowhere to be seen, multiple callers said.

One man who called 911 did not yet know that a plane crash was the source of the explosion he felt, the flying debris he saw and the “oily” smell.

On Friday afternoon, investigators used a crane to pull a relatively small mangled section of the plane from the water, videos and photos shared with the South Florida Sun Sentinel by resident Herman Schnell show. Schnell said he saw officials on the water using sonar technology to find pieces and collecting soil samples from around the lake. Pieces of the plane are still being found in treetops days later.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA are investigating the crash. As of Friday, neither agency had not released any preliminary information.

Posts by Wurm on social media suggested the evangelist had recently acquired the plane to further his missionary work across the Caribbean, describing the aircraft as “an older King Air with brand new engines,” and “perfect” to ferry deliveries of generators, batteries and building materials to Jamaica.

“Perfect for the mission to bring relief goods into Montego Bay and the plane is ready just in time!” he wrote in a social media post on Nov. 2.

Earlier this week, the Cayman International Assembly of God Church in Camana Bay in the Cayman Islands held a service in honor of Wurm and Serena, according to a livestream shared on Wurm’s ministry’s Facebook page. They played a video that Wurm had earlier requested his ministry put together, after his first relief trip to Jamaica, according to a leader who spoke at the service.

In one clip, the video showed Wurm sitting in the pilot seat of the plane describing the supplies he had brought for Montego Bay, including generators, solar panels, battery packs, hardware and tarps. He said he was hoping to travel back and forth with more supplies to help.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.