Kissimmee man charged with attempted murder after motel bat attack
Police have arrested a 31-year-old Kissimmee man who allegedly went on a violent rampage inside a motel room, nearly beating to death his partner with a baseball bat, after admitting to smoking methamphetamine.
Kissimmee police say that on the afternoon of Jan. 19, Terell Rodgers repeatedly struck the 25-year-old victim with a bat inside a room at the Home 1 Suites Extended Stay, on West Vine Street. Reports say he also struck two other men in the room, damaged a television set and set fire to the bed, which one of the men was able to extinguish. All three victims were transported to HCA Florida Osceola Hospital for treatment.
According to the report the female victim sustained multiple skull fractures with “significant” brain swelling and bleeding. If she survives, her quality of life is expected to be “greatly impacted.”
The room was being reportedly rented by one of the men who often allowed others inside to use the restroom facilities. Rodgers told detectives he and the female smoked methamphetamines that morning and then went to shower at the motel. The couple began arguing and Rodgers picked up a bat and began hitting her repeatedly, stating he “felt a sense of pleasure,” the report said, noting Rodgers told police he ended the attack on the woman with whom he shares a child when she stopped moving.
Court records show Rodgers had posted a $5,000 bond in an Orange County aggravated battery case involving another female within a week of the Kissimmee attack.
Rodgers is charged with attempted murder with a weapon, two counts of aggravated battery with a weapon, first degree arson, criminal mischief and two counts of false imprisonment. He is held at the Osceola County Jail on no bond.
Osceola woman who plotted family’s, prosecutor’s death sentenced A 29-year-old woman accused of soliciting fellow inmates at the Osceola County Jail to kill family members and a prosecutor has been sentenced to prison following a plea agreement reached on January 8.
Court records indicate that Tureygua Inaru pleaded no contest to three counts of criminal solicitation to commit first-degree murder; two counts of writing threats to kill or cause bodily harm; and one count each of aggravated stalking with a credible threat and battery on a law enforcement officer. The battery charge stems from an August 2022 incident in which Inaru reportedly pushed a tray of food onto a jail guard. She was sentenced to 30 months in prison for the solicitation charges; 36 months on the written threats and aggravated stalking charges and received time served on the battery charge. The prison sentences are to run concurrently, according to Assistant State Attorney Gabriel Lozano.
Inaru had been in jail awaiting trial on charges from 2020 of aggravated stalking and making written threats to kill. In December 2022, authorities learned she was attempting to recruit other inmates to murder family members and Assistant State Attorney Peter Donnelly, the prosecutor assigned to her case.
According to Donnelly, the 2020 charges involved Inaru threatening to kill two women over a workplace dispute. After he took over the case from another prosecutor, Donnelly reported receiving harassing emails, believed to have come from Inaru.
In January 2023, sheriff ’s investigators sent in an undercover detective to pose as an inmate and share a cell with Inaru. Reports state that Inaru spent hours discussing various conspiracy theories, her disdain for Donnelly, her wishes to see him imprisoned and her efforts to research his personal information online.
When detectives later confronted Inaru with evidence of her alleged plans to hire a hitman, she claimed other inmates fabricated the accusations.
Kissimmee man arrested on new child exploitation, offender registry violations A 33- year-old Kissimmee man previously convicted of sex crimes involving minors has been arrested after authorities allegedly discovered lewd images of children on h i s mobile phone during a probationary employment check.
Osceola County Sheriff ’s deputies charged Matthew Winckel with eight counts of possessing child pornography, nine counts of failing to register internet IDs or emails as required for sex offenders, unlawful use of a two-way communications device, three counts of failing to comply with sex offender registration laws, failure to report changes to employment and tampering with evidence.
In 2012, Winckel was convicted in Lake County for using a computer to solicit or lure a child into sexual activity and for transmitting material harmful to minors via an electronic device. As a registered sex offender, he is required to keep authorities informed of his employment and other relevant details.
According to an arrest affidavit, a sheriff ’s detective conducting a routine compliance check on Winckel’s employment in December discovered he had not worked at the location he had registered for at least a year. Winckel allegedly updated the registry after being warned by a former coworker that authorities were investigating.
When contacted, Winckel reportedly claimed he had forgotten to update his registry information. Authorities seized his mobile phone during the investigation, and a forensic examination later revealed several images of child pornography, as well as several unregistered email and social media accounts, including a dating app.
St. Cloud man charged with lewd assault A 71-year-old St. Cloud man has been charged with multiple counts of child molestation of a family member.
The Osceola County Sheriff ’s Office arrested Eugene Goss on Jan. 21 on eight counts of lewd and lascivious molestation on a child under the age of 12. Reports said the child, now 12, recently came forward and accused Goss of committing sexual improprieties when she was between the ages of six and 10.
Another family member, now an adult, told investigators Goss molested her as a child and agreed to make a controlled call to confront him about the allegations. During the call, the woman told Goss she is in therapy “because of what he has done,” and Goss said, “I never meant to hurt you. I’m sorry,” according to the arrest affidavit.
