WOKC Local News – January 27, 2026, 7:40 AM
Transcript
WOKC News. One wild chase with WOKC News. I’m Charles Murphy. Okeechobee County Sheriff DeBatese chased after a small sedan going over 100 miles an hour on 710. Gave up the chase as he was driving too recklessly onto Martin Grade, but Martin County able to intercept that speeder and were able to stop him with pit maneuvers. Facing charges is 31-year-old Jank Ismael Ruiz De La Cruz. He admitted to fleeing from law enforcement and that he had switched seats with a second person. 28-year-old Laoska Aureliano Diaz is also facing charges. An argument over a cell phone landed a Buckhead Ridge woman in jail Friday night. The tale includes a rocket launcher and a massive search in and around Peach Street. 51-year-old Crystal Sampson was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after she allegedly threatened to shoot the man with a Vietnam-era M-72 Law rocket launcher. She was upset the victim wouldn’t lend her his cell phone because hers was broken. A massive search that included divers, drones, robots and agencies out of Lee County and the U.S. Air Force unable to find that rocket launcher. The Senate Agriculture Committee heard from Okeechobee dairy farmer Jacob Larson on some challenges dairy farmers are facing. One is Walmart who built a milk processing plant in Valdosta, Georgia. Larson says it will hurt the dairy industry by lowering prices of liquid milk. The situation is that we’re going to have some Florida-produced milk that’s going to travel north to Georgia to be processed or bottled, if you will, and come back in to the state of Florida. We call that out-of-state packaged milk coming in to cannibalize our market in Florida. So I ask myself, what can we do about this? Larson also told lawmakers about other obstacles farmers have to face in Florida. So farmers in Florida are going to be disadvantaged. We’ve been disadvantaged before. Usually we’re resilient. We overcome hurdles, hurricanes and so on and so forth. The state could require insurance and licenses if you want to operate an e-bike and scooter. Another suggestion is an age limit. Senator Tom Wright is sponsoring a bill. He says he’d like to have malls to have driver’s licenses and to stay off the sidewalks. If it’s motorized, it doesn’t belong on city sidewalks. Now all of a sudden they’re driving these things on sidewalks, which is for pedestrians. A $50,000 fine, three years in prison for 36-year-old William Field of Okeechobee for drug trafficking. He was arrested and charged in both St. Lucie and Indian River County. A high-speed chase at 150 miles an hour on US 1 resulted in the arrest on May 3rd of 2024. Deputies say they found 51 grams of fentanyl in the vehicle along with pills, marijuana, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. I’m Charles Murphy, WOKC News.
Recorded from the WOKC daily newscast (Glades Media).