Former state Rep. Carolina Amesty, who is facing federal criminal charges, was ordered Tuesday to surrender her passport, get rid of any guns at her home, and isn’t allowed to go to Tallahassee as part of the conditions of her release, court records showed.

Amesty, a Windermere Republican who was voted out of office in November, is charged with two counts of stealing COVID-19 relief loans. Each count carries a maximum of 10 years in federal prison.

“Today’s court proceeding represents a clear religious prosecution and a further personal political attack against me,” Amesty wrote on X after her federal court hearing.

Judge Robert Norway denied Amesty’s request to travel to Tallahassee, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

“I’m a former state representative, and there are still matters I have to travel to Tallahassee for,” said Amesty, at Tuesday’s hearing, according to the Sentinel.

“If you perchance need to go to Tallahassee, your attorney can file a motion for permission to do that,” Norway told her.

As part of her release conditions, Amesty is only allowed to go to the Middle District of Florida, which includes Orlando and Tampa, and the Southern District of Florida, which includes Miami.

Brad Bondi, the brother of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, represents Amesty.

According to the federal complaint filed in U.S. District Court’s Orlando division in January, Amesty is accused of stealing $122,000 in COIVD relief funds through the Carolina Amesty Foundation and Dinocar Auto Sales. These funds were used to pay her credit cards, buy furniture, and spend on other businesses that she and her family ran.

The federal complaint said the foundation of which Amesty listed as the CEO had been set up the day before she submitted the loan application, while the car company she said she owned was created the same day as the application was filed. Federal authorities said she had lied about the numbers of employees and revenues in her organizations on her applications.

“There were no records to indicate that Dinocar Auto Sales was even licensed to operate as a car dealership,” the complaint also said.

The federal complaint said Amesty and an unnamed relative had filed at least 15 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) applications to obtain more than $500,000 in loans on behalf of eight entities.

Amesty blamed the media and former President Joe Biden Tuesday.

“The relentless and baseless legal attacks on me and my family are outrageous remnants of the Biden DOJ and fly in the face of our Constitution,” Amesty wrote on X. “Together with my excellent and experienced legal team, we will fight this absurd prosecution, defend my innocence and the religious organizations that are under attack, and ensure the truth comes to light.”

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The Delta Air Lines jet came down fast, landing so hard that it lost its right wing, then burst into flames on a runway in Toronto. The aircraft slid to a stop, upside down, a trail of black smoke in its wake and passengers scrambling to escape the wreckage.

Miraculously, all 80 people on board the flight from Minneapolis to Toronto’s Pearson International Airport survived the crash Monday afternoon. All but two of the 21 people injured on the flight have been released from hospitals, the airport CEO said Tuesday.

”How grateful we are there was no loss of life or life threatening injuries,” Deborah Flint, CEO of Greater Toronto Airports Authority, said during a news conference. “The crew heroically led passengers to safety. I thank each and everyone one of those heroes.”

Authorities said the cause of the crash remains under investigation. Communications between the tower and pilot were normal on approach and it’s not clear what went wrong when the plane touched down.

“This would not be a time for us to have theory or to speculate on what caused the crash,” Flint said.

At the time of the flight’s arrival, Pearson was experiencing blowing snow and winds of 32 mph (51 kph) gusting to 40 mph (65 kph), according to the Meteorological Service of Canada. The temperature was about 16.5 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 8.6 degrees Celsius).

Peter Carlson, a passenger traveling to Toronto for a paramedics conference, said the landing was “very forceful.”

“All the sudden everything just kind of went sideways and the next thing I know, it’s kind of a blink and I’m upside down still strapped in,” he told CBC News.

Canadian authorities held two brief news conferences Monday but provided few details. The aircraft was a Mitsubishi CRJ-900 made by the Canadian company Bombardier.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a statement that “the hearts of the entire global Delta family are with those affected.”

The crash was the fourth major aviation accident in North America in recent weeks. A commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter collided near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29, killing 67 people. A medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on Jan. 31, killing the six people on board and another person on the ground. And on Feb. 6, 10 people were killed in a plane crash in Alaska.

The last major crash at Pearson was on Aug. 2, 2005, when an Airbus A340 from Paris skidded off the runway and burst into flames in stormy weather. All 309 passengers and crew aboard Air France Flight 358 survived.

The Delta flight was cleared to land at about 2:10 p.m. Audio recordings show the control tower warned the pilots of a possible air flow “bump” on approach.

“It was windy, but the airplanes are designed and certified to handle that,” said John Cox, CEO of aviation safety consulting firm Safety Operating Systems in St. Petersburg, Florida. “The pilots are trained and experienced to handle that.”

The plane came to a rest at the intersection of Runways 23 and 15L.

Carlson said when he took off his seat belt he crashed onto the ceiling, which had become the floor. He smelled gas, saw aviation fuel cascading down the cabin windows and knew he needed to get out, but his paramedic skills kicked in and he looked for those he could help.

Carlson and another man assisted a mother and her young son out of the plane and then Carlson dropped onto the tarmac. He said snow was blowing but “I didn’t care how cold it was, didn’t care how far I had to walk, how long I had to stand — all of us just wanted to be out of the aircraft.”

Cox, who flew for U.S. Airways for 25 years and has worked on U.S. National Transportation Safety Board investigations, said the CRJ-900 has been in service for decades and does a good job of handling inclement weather, but that it’s unusual for any plane to end up on its roof.

“We’ve seen a couple of cases of takeoffs where airplanes have ended up inverted, but it’s pretty rare,” Cox said.

Among the questions that need to be answered, Cox said, is why the crashed plane was missing its right wing. He said the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder will be imperative to understanding what actually occurred.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the Transportation Safety Board of Canada would head up the investigation and provide any updates. The NTSB in the U.S. said it was sending a team to assist.

Endeavor Air, based in Minneapolis, is a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines and the world’s largest operator of CRJ-900 aircraft. The airline operates 130 regional jets on 700 daily flights to over 126 cities in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, according to the company’s website.

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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.

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St. Cloud Police Chief Douglas Goerke will be one of eight inaugural members of Florida’s new State Immigration Enforcement Council.

Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson named Goerke to the panel, where he’ll join four appointees chosen by the Legislature’s top two officials in advising the Cabinet on how best to coordinate immigration enforcement with President Donald Trump’s administration.

“I am proud to appoint Chief Goerke to the State Immigration Enforcement Council,” Simpson said in a statement.

“Florida is leading the way in enforcing immigration laws, holding the line against illegal immigration, and ensuring criminals do not find sanctuary in our communities. Chief Goerke’s leadership, experience, and dedication to upholding the law will be instrumental in driving our efforts to protect Florida citizens.”

Goerke’s law enforcement career dates back nearly a quarter-century, beginning when he joined the Orlando Police Department in 2001. He ultimately rose to the rank of Deputy Chief.

He also served as a Task Force Agent for the Department of Homeland Security and as executive co-chair of the Orlando Urban Area Security Initiative. He held command assignments over the Tactical Patrol Unit, Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, Intelligence Unit, Patrol Division, Professional Standards Division, and Orlando International Airport.

In January 2022, he was selected as Chief of the St. Cloud Police Department. Last year, the agency responded to more than 93,000 service calls.

Goerke holds a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice administration. He graduated from the FBI National Academy and was recognized by the Florida Police Chiefs Association as “Outstanding Command Officer of the Year” in 2018.

His community involvements include serving as President of the Florida Chapter of the Gary Sinise Foundation, a veterans charity.

Goerke said in a statement that he was honored by the appointment and thanked Simpson for the opportunity.

“Ensuring the safety and security of our communities is a top priority,” he said. “I look forward to working with fellow law enforcement leaders to provide meaningful recommendations and assistance to the board to further strengthen illegal immigration enforcement efforts across Florida.”

Established under SB 2C, a sweeping immigration measure Gov. Ron DeSantis signed less than an hour after lawmakers passed it last Thursday, the State Immigration Enforcement Council is composed of eight members: four appointed by the Senate President and House Speaker, and four appointed by each member of the Cabinet.

All must be Police Chiefs or Sheriffs.

Once up and running, the Council will advise and make recommendations to DeSantis and the Cabinet on local immigration enforcement efforts, needs and information sharing. The Council will also seek training and strategic guidance from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and provide DeSantis and the Cabinet, acting as a new State Board of Immigration Enforcement, on strategies to increase the number of available detention beds that ICE can use.

State Immigration Enforcement Council members will typically serve four-year terms; however, to ensure staggered terms, the four members initially appointed by DeSantis, Simpson, CFO Jimmy Patronis and Attorney General James Uthmeier will serve two-year terms.

Other inaugural members include Sheriffs Bob Gualtieri and Grady Judd, whom Senate President Ben Albritton appointed, and Sheriffs Bill Prummell and T.K. Waters, whom House Speaker Daniel Perez appointed.

The original appointing authority must fill any vacancy on the Council.

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