Lavont Flanders, ex-cop rapist, struck again after prosecutors let him free

​Last December, a federal jury convicted Lavont Flanders Jr. and Emerson Callum on 32 combined counts of fraud and sex trafficking.It was a gut-wrenching crime. Prosecutors proved that Flanders, an ex-cop, had duped and drugged women in order for Callum — a Jamaican porn star performing under the name “Jah-T”…

Juan Preval could smell freedom, or at least freedom fries.The 28-year-old escaped prisoner was caught hiding in a drainage canal behind a Burger King yesterday. His discovery ended a 90 minute manhunt that saw police reroute traffic along the Gratigny Parkway and Red Road.Preval was roughly two-thirds the way through…

​​Ken Salazar, our cowboy hat-wearing Secretary of the Interior, is expected to announce a ban on importing Burmese pythons today while visiting the Everglades. “The Burmese python has already gained a foothold in the Florida Everglades, and we must do all we can to battle its spread and to prevent…

Miru Kim’s nude art with pigs made them sick, activist says

Richard Branson and James Cameron race small Florida sub company into ocean’s deadliest trench

When it comes to Cuba, President Obama can do little right in the eyes of exilio politicians. When he eased travel restrictions to the island, for example, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen accused him of undermining democracy on the island. Now she’s slamming Obama for his decision to order U.S. inspectors to…

Last month, New Times took readers up into the air in home-built airplanes (read “Paper Planes”). This week, we’re taking you underwater in submarines capable of diving thousands of feet below the ocean’s surface.Our feature profiles Patrick Lahey, president of South Florida company Triton Submarines, as he and his salty…

​The United States government has expelled a Venezuelan diplomat based in Miami in a bizarre story seemingly ripped straight from “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol,” complete with secret agents, computer hackers, and endangered nukes.U.S. officials haven’t said why they are booting Livia Acosta Noguera, Venezuela’s consul general in Miami. But the…

​Beware whom you cut off on the Florida Turnpike. That slow-moving a-hole in front of you could turn out to be an ax murderer.No, really.Abdel Roca Teijelo was pulled over last Friday during a routine traffic stop. Turns out, the 37-year-old barista was wanted in his native Spain for allegedly…

It seemed like a story fit for Disney. An intrepid and beautiful young artist approaches a local gallery with an outrageous idea: spend five days butt naked in a pen with two piglets to raise awareness about animal rights and save the creatures from a nasty death in an illegal…

Dude, what did you do for New Year’s Eve? That’s the question wafting through Miami’s collective hangover this week. Most answers involve a combination of drinking, smoking, dancing, having sex, vomiting, and getting arrested (not necessarily in that order).But a score of local clubbers say their night ended early after…

Miami-Dade cop Fernando Villa had problems long before his DUI

​On December 6, a Miami-Dade cop named Fernando Villa made national headlines by passing out drunk behind the wheel of his squad car, naked but for a pair of cargo shorts, with only his drunken foot preventing the vehicle from rolling into a busy West Kendall intersection.The 32-year-old officer has…

Virginia Key landfill remains a hellish hazard while bureaucrats bicker

​On Saturday, disgruntled New York City handyman Jerome Isaac allegedly set an old woman on fire over $2,000 in unpaid work.Not to be outdone in the category of “horrific and senseless crimes,” one Miami man has apparently done Isaac one better worse.Police are searching for an unknown white male who…

Twisted metal. Bags of blood. Broken needles. Human excrement. Mysterious orange drums full of God-knows-what.Like a giant shit-filled anniversary cake, the Virginia Key landfill has been stuffed full of the nastiest crap Miami has to offer. The dump has been boiling, belching, and burning for 50 years.But instead of finally…

Manuel Orosa has been named the new Chief of Miami Police.Orosa now officially inherits a department currently under investigation by the Department of Justice for seven fatal police-involved shootings in a six-month stretch of last year.Since taking over as acting chief when Miguel Exposito was suspended in early September, Orosa has…

Miami Art Museum Jorge Perez name game