![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260121-152517-6e5-phpmrAzIg.jpg\")
MIDDLEBURG \u2013 Clay County Sheriff\u2019s Office deputies were able to arrest a Jacksonville man after a wild chase on Blanding Boulevard that included him driving 70 mph the wrong way with only three wheels.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Carlmel\u00a0Joshua Butler, 24, was booked on suspicion of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, grand theft auto, fleeing\u00a0at a high rate of speed without regard to the safety to others or property and driving with a suspended license after a deputy was alerted\u00a0on Saturday, Jan. 17, a car reported stolen in Jacksonville was spotted near Henley and Sandridge roads.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The car was spotted again leaving the First Coast Expressway at Blanding,\u00a0and two deputies followed the car toward Brannan Field Road when they\u00a0attempted\u00a0to\u00a0stop him.\u00a0According to the arrest report, that\u2019s when\u00a0Butler made a\u00a0U-turn\u00a0and started to flee.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During the chase, one deputy\u00a0attempted\u00a0a Pursuit Immobilization Technique, which caused the right-rear wheel to break free from the car. Butler continued to drive away, driving north in the southbound lanes at 70 mph.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Butler eventually struck a CCSO squad car, but he continued driving the wrong way in the southbound lanes\u00a0until he drove into a ditch near\u00a0Coppergate\u00a0Drive where he was arrested.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His bond was set at $720,014.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Woman arrested on drug charges while driving stolen car\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n April\u00a0Villaruel Sparkman, 42, was charged with possession of methamphetamine and cocaine with intent to manufacture, distribute\u00a0or sell, possession of fentanyl and drug paraphernalia and driving\u00a0with a suspended license on Monday, Jan. 12, when she was pulled over on Blanding Boulevard after a CCSO deputy\u00a0was alerted the car was reported stolen in Jacksonville.\u00a0<\/p>\n After she was detained,\u00a0deputies\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0contact the owner, so they called for a tow truck.\u00a0They\u00a0were required\u00a0to inventory the contents before the Kia Sportage was towed and they found\u00a0\u201cseveral bags and purses sitting on the passenger seat.\u201d Inside\u00a0those bags, they found a total of 7.3 grams of cocaine,\u00a0.9 grams of fentanyl, 8.8 grams of methamphetamine, a switchblade knife, a digital scale, plastic spoon, pink pen, mirror, hand\u00a0sanitizer\u00a0and a gift card to Bath and Body Works.\u00a0<\/p>\n Her bond was set at\u00a0$161,013, and her next court appearance\u00a0is scheduled for Feb. 10.\u00a0<\/p>\n Clay Eye, one of five ophthalmology practices to pay for false billings\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n WASHINGTON \u2014 Florida ophthalmology practices\u00a0Clay\u00a0Eye\u00a0Holdings LLC, Retina Macula Specialist of Miami LLC, Florida\u00a0Eye\u00a0Institute P.A., Miami\u00a0Eye\u00a0LLC and Kendall\u00a0Eye\u00a0Institute Inc. have agreed to pay a total of nearly $6 million to resolve alleged violations of the False Claims Act arising from their billing for trans-cranial doppler ultrasounds (TCDs) through a kickback arrangement with a third-party testing company. All five practices have agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department\u2019s ongoing investigations of other participants in the alleged scheme.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cKickbacks and false claims increase healthcare costs for all Americans and undermine the integrity of healthcare decision-making,\u201d said Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department\u2019s Civil Division. \u201cCombatting such schemes will continue to be a priority for the Justice Department.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese settlements are a continuing testament to the United States\u2019 commitment to fight healthcare fraud and ensure that federal healthcare dollars are spent consistently with the law,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe for the Middle District of Florida.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSubmitting false claims destroys the public\u2019s trust in our federally funded healthcare programs,\u201d said Special Agent in Charge Matthew Fodor of the FBI Tampa Field Office. \u201cWorking together with our law enforcement partners, the FBI will continue to prioritize safeguarding the integrity of the nation\u2019s healthcare system and hold accountable those who try to profit from deception.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cKickback arrangements can corrupt legitimate medical decision-making and undermine the integrity of federal healthcare programs,\u201d said Acting Special Agent in Charge Ricardo Carcas of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). \u201cHHS-OIG,\u00a0working with our law enforcement partners,\u00a0will continue to investigate improper billing and kickback schemes to protect both Medicare and Medicaid as well as those served by these programs.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The settlements announced today resolve allegations that the settling practices knowingly\u00a0submitted, and caused the submission of, false claims to Medicare and Medicaid for medically unnecessary TCDs. The settling practices performed TCDs on thousands of patients and billed Medicare and Medicaid hundreds of dollars per test. Before the patients received the results of the test, the practices and the third-party testing company\u00a0identified\u00a0the patients as having received a serious diagnosis that could qualify the patient for reimbursement of a TCD by Medicare or Medicaid. However,\u00a0nearly all\u00a0patients who received TCDs never had that diagnosis, and it was not reflected in the patient\u2019s medical history or in the TCD results. The settling practices paid the third-party testing company based on the volume or value of tests ordered and referred the patients to the testing company\u2019s preferred radiology group for the TCDs\u2019 professional component.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The United States alleged that as a result of this scheme, the settling practices submitted, or caused the submission of, false claims to Medicare and Medicaid for TCDs between Jan. 1, 2018 and June 1, 2022 that were medically unnecessary, that were premised on false diagnoses, and that resulted from violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Law.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a result of the settlements,\u00a0Clay\u00a0Eye\u00a0Holdings LLC will pay $2,140,000, Retina Macula Specialist of Miami LLC will pay $1,750,000, Florida\u00a0Eye\u00a0Institute P.A. will pay $1,250,000, Miami\u00a0Eye\u00a0LLC will pay $525,000 and Kendall\u00a0Eye\u00a0Institute Inc. will pay $310,000. Of the total settlement amount, $333,500 will be paid to the State of Florida for its share of Medicaid, which is a jointly funded federal and state program.\u00a0<\/p>\n The civil settlements resolved claims in a lawsuit filed under the\u00a0qui tam\u00a0or whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act, which\u00a0permits\u00a0private parties to file suit on behalf of the United States for false claims and share in a\u00a0portion\u00a0of the government\u2019s recovery. The\u00a0qui tam\u00a0was filed by a whistleblower who will receive $1,135,250 in connection with the settlements.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Clay Today staff Jacksonville man arrested following wild chase on Blanding Boulevard\u00a0 MIDDLEBURG \u2013 Clay County Sheriff\u2019s Office…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":534156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,15024,15015,15023,15026,3188,15016,723,15021,7310,15020,15022,7648,15018,15017,15025,15019,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-534155","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-argyle","10":"tag-clay-county","11":"tag-doctors-inlet","12":"tag-eagle-harbor","13":"tag-fl","14":"tag-fleming-island","15":"tag-florida","16":"tag-green-cove-springs","17":"tag-jacksonville","18":"tag-keystone-heights","19":"tag-lake-asbury","20":"tag-margaret","21":"tag-middleburg","22":"tag-orange-park","23":"tag-pace-island","24":"tag-penney-farms","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-of-america","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115937815310454529","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260121-152516-88b-phpQkAl5L.jpg\")
ORANGE PARK \u2013\u00a0Clay County Sheriff\u2019s Office deputies discovered two bags of cocaine, one bag of\u00a0fentanyl, six bags of methamphetamine and an assortment of drug paraphernalia while they were\u00a0taking inventory of a stolen vehicle, which led to the arrest of a Jacksonville woman.\u00a0<\/p>\n