Polk County News

A Haines City man was arrested for using his employer’s work truck to haul and illegally dump garbage, according to the sheriff’s office.

The FBI and Polk deputies are asking for help finding a man accused of assaulting police officers during the Capitol riot.

Investigators said the 2-month-old baby had multiple head fractures and severe brain bleeding when paramedics rushed him to the hospital, where he died.

More details have been released about five Floridians charged in connection with the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot, several of whom allegedly beat officers with flagpoles and riot shields while shouting, "We didn’t come all this way just to stand here!"

“If it was like, we needed to see a doctor, you pretty much knew you were not going to. You could fill out requests but you just kinda automatically knew it was not going to happen,” the roommate told FOX 13 News.

Former students of a Lakeland boarding school for girls are speaking out after a girl died there. Naomi Wood died in May of 2020 after weeks of stomach pains and asking to see a doctor but being denied, according to a report from the Florida Department of Children and Families.

A 17-year-old girl living at a boarding school for girls in Lakeland complained of stomach issues for nearly a month – but was denied professional medical treatment – before she died in May of 2020, according to reports by the Polk County medical examiner and the Florida Department of Children and Families.

After 14 years, authorities thought they had arrested the man responsible for a drunk-driving crash that killed a Polk County couple. However, it turns out the man arrested in Mexico was the wrong guy.

Day after day, John Kimball would sit on his porch and watch planes from Bartow Municipal Airport fly overhead. He's in his 80s, under hospice care, and had never flown -- until recently.

After nearly 14 years on the run, U.S. Marshals captured a man in Mexico who was wanted in connection with a crash that killed a central Florida couple in Polk County back in 2007.

Police are investigating after thousands of dollars in plywood were stolen from a Winter Haven construction site.

One day after Sheriff Grady Judd made a plea for help to find the suspects who “massacred” a high school student at a Bartow park, detectives announced two teenagers had been arrested for murder. "This was an ambush. An absolute ambush," Judd said.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said the pastor had been "informally counseling" the 17-year-old girl when he asked to see nude photographs of her. "Let me share a little counseling with Andrew here: Jesus don't like that," Judd said.

For many, the pride flag symbolizes equality, but one Lakeland man says his mobile home park won’t allow it. He says management is now warning him that if he doesn't take his flag down, he could be evicted. 

June is National Adopt a Shelter Cat month and Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd really wants everyone to adopt a kitten.

Three teens are facing attempted murder charges after a drive-by shooting in the Winter Haven area, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.