Fla. man allegedly took 2 NY fiancés for $400k

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- A 55-year-old South Florida man allegedly swindled some $400,000 from two New York women he was engaged to at the same time.

Authorities say Paul R. Francois coaxed one to move to Florida after she met him on vacation, and the other into taking out a $100,000 home equity loan on her Elmont, N.Y. place.

Francois was arrested Wednesday on two counts of first-degree theft and one of organized scheme to defraud. His attorney didn't immediately return a telephone message Thursday morning.

Investigators say both women thought they'd spend the rest of their lives with Francois. He allegedly hit one and threatened to kill the other when they became suspicious.

The woman who moved to Florida says she's penniless and facing foreclosure on the Miramar home she and Francois bought.

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© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

If you're thinking of taking the plunge in a most unusual venue...

The Palm Beach Post reports that a Fort Lauderdale scuba shop is training clergy who will be available to officiate at underwater weddings.  Debbi Ballard, an ordained Jewish cantor, is training to perform a traditional (kinda sorta) subsurface Jewish wedding at which the groom will smash a light bulb with his flipper instead of the the usual wine glass.  Meanwhile, the couple can sip wine out of a sippy cup. 

"Not everyone is cut out for a white wedding,'' Ballard told the newspaper.  She is testing a mask with a microphone that will let her address the bride and groom below the surface while weddings guests, high and dry on a boat, can listen and watch via a video hook-up.

According to Jannette Alix, president of the Miami-Dade and Broward chapter of the National Association of Wedding Professionals, underwater weddings are not uncommon, but underwater Jewish wedings are.

Man jumps in river outside Broward courthouse

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Authorities in South Florida are searching for a man who jumped in a river near the Broward County courthouse.

According to a Broward Sheriff's Office news release, the man fled from a courtroom and jumped into the New River on Friday morning. The man, whose name wasn't released, was in court for an aggravated battery with a firearm charge and broke away after a judge remanded him to custody.

Three deputies jumped in the water after the man, who has not yet surfaced.

BSO said the man is presumed drowned.

© 2009 The Associated Press.  All rights reserved.  This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Text-messaging teens foiled in plot to rob McDonald's

A Ft. Lauderdale police officer investigating a suspicious vehicle Sunday night ended up short-circuiting an intended burglary at a McDonald's, according to Sun-Sentinel.com.  When the officer checked the vehicle, parked in the lot of a KFC next door to McDonald's, he discovered three male teens with robbery tools and a cell phone, which one of them attempted to toss into some bushes.  On the cell phone, police said, was a text message from a McDonald's employee detailing how to open the cash registers and where the money was kept.  Police arrested the employee, also a teen, along with his three co-conspirators, on charges of attempted armed robbery.  (Image:  National Institute on Drug Abuse)

Drug detection dog goes missing

The Ft. Lauderdale Police Department is asking for the public's help in finding Sasha, the department's drug detection dog, who disappeared from her home Sunday afternoon.  According to a press release (PDF; 74 KB), the dog was last seen in the Western Sunrise area.

Sasha, identified by the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel as a Belgian Malinois, is not aggressive, according to police, but is frightened of thunder and lightning "and does not handle it well when it is stormy outside."  (Image:  Ft. Lauderdale Police Department)

Try a high-five instead

Federal prosecutors have decide not to pursue assault charges that stemmed from an overly aggressive handshake in a courtroom, Sun-Sentinel.com reports. Attorney Kathy Brewer Rentas had been arrested after a hearing involving her husband. Witnesses said Brewer Rentas shook the hand of the assistant U.S. attorney handling the case so violently that the woman was almost thrown to the ground. The prosecutor missed work the next day because of a shoulder injury.

Judge drops order against Chain Saw Man

Fort Lauderdale's Chain Saw Man doesn't have to stay away from the five homeless men he is accused of terrorizing. A judge lifted a restraining order against the businessman who was accused of chasing the men through fields and over railroad tracks armed with a chain saw, the Miami Herald reports. The judge said there has to be at least two instance of battery or assault to grant a restraining order.

Why cry over divorce when you can party?

Christina Rowe's husband ran off with a hairdresser from her salon, ending their 13 year marriage and all her illusions that she had it all. But rather than crying about it, Rowe threw a divorce party and invited 600 people to join her at a Fort Lauderdale nightclub, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports, citing a growing trend in big cities across the country.  "It's almost like a bridal shower. A lot of people like the idea, but they're embarrassed to throw themselves one," said Rowe, 39, who moved from New Jersey to Weston last summer after a "horrible, long divorce battle." There are even web sites now to help you throw a divorce bash. And Rowe has abandoned her hair and nail salon biz to become a divorce coach.

Fort Lauderdale streetcars still in dream state

By this fall, Fort Lauderdale will have spent seven years and $4.1-million on a downtown streetcar that doesn't exist and may never exist, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. Consultants have replaced consultants, plans redrawn, lobbyists put to work. A new plan is about to be unveiled for a $150-million, 2.7-mile system. But one important element is missing: money.

That's quite a handshake she had

A lawyer has been charged with assaulting a federal prosecutor with a handshake in a Fort Lauderdale courtroom, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. Kathy Brewer Rentas spent a night in solitary confinement and must get psychological counseling for anger management. The handshake was so violent that Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Keene's head and neck snapped forward and then back, jerking her shoulder and arm forward, a U.S. marshal said.