Volusia Breaking News Alerts

The video and audio evidence against Mainland High School football Coach John Maronto released Monday by the State Attorney's Office leads to Volusia County's winningest coach stepping down today, though his criminal defense attorneys maintain his innocence. Maronto was scheduled to take his Mainland squad in two weeks to play at New Smyrna Beach against his former team, the Barracudas. He was New Smyrna Beach's coach in the mid 1990s.

DAYTONA BEACH -- Mainland High School football coach John Maronto abruptly resigned today, two days after release of a Daytona Beach police surveillance video by the State Attorney's Office that accuses him of soliciting sex from an undercover Daytona Beach female cop posing as a prostitute during the Labor Day weekend.

The State Attorney's Office released its video and audio evidence against embattled Mainland High School football coach John Maronto to the media after NSBNEWS.net and other news organizations sought the digital evidence under Florida's freedom of information statutes. Maronto, 68, of Daytona Beach Shores, was arrested by Daytona Beach police two weekends ago during an undercover prostitution sting on the beachside. Maronto, the winningest football coach in Volusia County, held that position for New Smyrna Beach High in the mid 1990s. He's been allowed to continue coaching and teaching a gym class by Volusia County School District Superintendent Margaret Smith despite the misdemeanor arrest that has drawn widespread media coverage. After the 2 p.m. release of the electronic evidence, school district spokeswoman Nancy Wait said school officials were waiting for release of the video as well and would reassess the stuation.

DAYTONA BEACH -- In a frainy DVD video and accompanying audio, embattled Mainland High School football coach John Maronto is heard telling an undercover female cop he believes is a prostitute that he's "married," though it's his night out and he's looking for "sex" and willing to pay "fifty" for it, even asking the woman to get in his car.

Courtesy photo / Volusia County Jail mug

Farrion LaChantz, as shown here in an unrelated booking photo two years ago, was shot twice Sunday and is not cooperating with police. He was reported in stable condition Monday at Bert Fish for a wound to his stomach area, police said.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- A 21-year-old man shot twice Sunday night was uncooperative with detectives as he was being treated for non-life threatening wounds at Bert Fish Medical Center, police said.

Farrion LaChantz Hankins was shot in the vicinity of 1050 Wayne Ave., sometime between 9:45 p.m. and 10:02 p.m. when police responded to a call from the hospital regarding a gunshot victim.

DAYTON A BEACH -- A Bug Tree Road man was found murdered in his residence Friday, Daytona Beach police said.

The body of Fred Johnson Sandlin, 70, was found in his apartment at 1601 Big Tree Road, No. 607, by his ex-wife who drove from Sanford to see him when he was a no-show in picking up his 9-year-old son, police said.

Courtesy photo.
Barbara Arteta, 63, of New Smyrna Beach, returning on an Amtrak train with her husband from a trip to New York with an expected arrival in Sanford, was instead found dead Thursday on railroad tracks in southwestern Georgia.  She disappeared overnight Wednesday with her purse and $1,000 in cash. Only her shoes were left behind. Now law enforcement officials are trying to figure if she was pushed out of a window or fell, the latter more difficult to believe since they are difficult to open.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Barbara Arteta died from a broken neck after she was either pushed or fell from an Amtrak train in Georgia overnight Wednesday while on her way home from New York with her husband to visit a new grandchild, officials said.

By MARK WILLIAMS For NSBNEWS.net

PORT ORANGE -- A Spruce Creek High School football player is on the road to recovery after being hit hard during football practice earlier this week and going into cardiac arrest

Jordan Petersen, 17, collided with another player during practice late Tuesday afternoon. Authorities said he got up, took a couple of steps and collapsed.

He was rushed to Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach were doctors placed him in a medically induced coma.