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Thursday, July 23, 2026
A 43-year-old Gainesville woman died Wednesday night after being hit by a southbound pickup truck on US-129 near Chiefland in Levy County. The driver, a 70-year-old man, struck the woman as she was walking along the rightmost part of the southbound lane around 9:30 p.m. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Sources: WCJB TV20
A federal grand jury in Gainesville has indicted Bryan James Shuping, 58, of Gilchrist County, on 13 counts of production of child sexual abuse material and one count of possession of child pornography. Shuping had previously been arrested in 2025 after officers found nude images of underage males on his phone following an incident at a grocery store, and he had also faced a 2024 arrest for secretly recording someone in a University of Florida restroom. A jury trial is scheduled for September 2.
Sources: Mainstreet Daily News · WCJB TV20
A 35-year-old Tampa man was arrested on June 30 following a joint undercover operation by the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and Tampa Police Department aimed at individuals seeking to sexually exploit minors. Investigators say Jose Portal engaged in sexually explicit conversations and sent explicit images to detectives he believed were children, and had arranged to meet one child in Columbia County and another in Tampa. Authorities found evidence on his phone after his arrest, and Portal — already on federal probation for a prior offense — confessed to the crimes.
Sources: WCJB TV20
Alachua County Sheriff’s deputies responded to an armed robbery at the 700 block of SW 70th Terrace, where three suspects wearing all black and face coverings fled the scene. Authorities were actively tracking the suspects as of Tuesday evening. Officials confirmed no shots were fired and no fatalities occurred, and are asking anyone with information to call the non-emergency line.
Sources: WCJB TV20
In Brief
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