Grand jury indicts local man in 2011 murder
Five years after the murder of Jeremy Meldau, a suspect will stand trial.
On Monday, a grand jury indicted Gainesville resident Raymond A. Profit, 26, for first-degree murder, said Gainesville Police spokesman Officer Ben Tobias.
Profit is suspected of killing Meldau, a former Gainesville resident, in 2011, Tobias said.
He announced the indictment Thursday morning in a press release. The case is currently being investigated by the 8th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s office. And while the case won’t bring Meldau back, it may help his family heal, Tobias said.
“It’s closure,” he said. “It’s knowing that the person that killed their family member will never be able to kill again.”
On March 29, 2011, GPD responded to the fatal shooting just south of campus, near the intersection of Archer Road and Southwest 34th Street. They suspected Profit murdered Meldau during a robbery, according to the release.
Over the years, investigators with GPD’s Criminal Investigations Division kept a tab on Profit and interviewed multiple witnesses, Tobias said.
“Each person had a different piece of the puzzle,” he said.
GPD is currently investigating 31 other unsolved cases dating back to 1974, said Martin Honeycutt, a cold case detective. He said all he thinks about during an investigation is the victim’s family, who suffer a “big hole in their lives.”
“We do it for the family,” he said.
Police arrest local man for attempted murder
Alachua County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested a local man for attempted murder Tuesday after authorities said he took part in a shooting Monday morning.
At about 1 a.m. Monday, Faheem Sharod Ringgold, 22, picked up three passengers and drove to meet the man, according to a police report.
One of the passengers called the man and arranged to meet him in the 1500 block of SW 175th Ave. on Archer, according to the report.
When they arrived, two passengers got out and walked to his car. One of passengers pulled out a gun and shot the man in his chest from about 10 feet away, according to the report.
The man tried to drive away but lost consciousness and crashed, according to the report.
Deputies later found the man in his car, where he was missing a wallet, shoes and pants.
Shortly after, deputies spotted the car and pulled it over. The three passengers ran away, and authorities found the man’s wallet and bloody clothes inside the car, according to the report.
In their investigation, deputies discovered the car was stolen by Ringgold, who told authorities he drove to meet the man and then drove away after the shooting, according to the report.
Deputies arrested Ringgold on charges of attempted murder, robbery with a firearm and grand theft.
Authorities took him to the Alachua County Jail where he remains, as of press time, in lieu of a $375,000 bond.
Police: woman finds three men in her home
Gainesville Police charged a local man Wednesday morning after police said he broke into a woman’s apartment and stole $1,000 worth of electronics earlier in the month.
At about 10 a.m. on Jan. 1, Chance Franklin, 21, was in the apartment when the woman came back from a vacation, according to the report. Franklin and his friends then jumped out of her second-story window.
When the woman walked into her apartment, located in the 400 block of SE 24th Street, she found Franklin and a 17-year-old boy inside, according to the report. The woman noticed her home strongly smelled like marijuana, and all of her electronics were gone.
Once outside, she asked Franklin to return her property, and he then walked to the side of the building to retrieve her belongings from a duffel bag, according to the report.
Franklin returned about $1,000 worth of gaming systems, laptops and DVD players, but the woman said some of her belongings were still missing, according to the report.
During police questioning, Franklin said two of his friends, both 17, originally broke into the apartment.
One of the boys told police they wanted to use the apartment to hang out and smoke weed, according to the report.
Franklin, already in the Alachua County Jail for giving false identification to an officer, was charged with grand theft and burglary. His bond was raised to $30,000.
Police: Burglars use master key to steal
Gainesville Police arrested a local man and woman Wednesday afternoon after police said they stole about $400 dollars worth of jewelry and clothes from their neighbors in December.
At about 4 p.m. Dec. 14, Lorne Jeffrey Singletary, 18, acted as a lookout while two friends burglarized his neighbors in the 5000 block of SW 13th Place, according to the report.
When one of his neighbors came home, Singletary walked back into his own apartment. Five minutes later, the neighbor noticed two people leave Singletary’s apartment, according to the report.
The neighbor noticed her bedroom door was locked, which she had left unlocked, and her $200 Michael Kors watch was missing. Her window was open and the window screen was pushed out, according to the report.
When the neighbor’s roommates came home, they said somebody stole jewelry, shoes and makeup from their rooms, according to the report.
On Wednesday, during an interview with police, Singletary said he burglarized the neighbors’ apartment with the help of his friend, Nahja White, 18, who lives downstairs. Singletary said they used a master key left in his friend’s apartment by a maintenance worker, according to the report. Police arrested Singletary and White on Wednesday on charges of grand theft and larceny.
Authorities took them to the Alachua County Jail where Singletary was released Thursday on a $22,000 bond. As of press time, White remains in jail.
Contact Martin Vassolo at mvassolo@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @martindvassolo.
