Debt leads to melee, two arrests

PALM COAST — Law enforcement officials say an argument over a $20 debt led to a melee at a Girl Scout cookie stand outside a WalMart store in Central Florida.

Flagler County Sheriff's deputies arrested two teenage brothers on disorderly conduct and battery charges following the Saturday evening attack. .

The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports the teens — ages 18 and 16 — told deputies they asked for the money that one of the girls owed them. When an adult at the stand told them they couldn't pay, the family demanded to be paid in cookies.

An arrest report says the boys then punched a man, woman and teenager before they started smashing cookie boxes.

Beauty and the Feast, a Fort Lauderdale beachfront hotel restaurant that won multiple honors in South Florida.com’s 2016 Best of South Florida readers’ poll, has closed. The Atlantic Hotel and Spa is still operating a restaurant in the space, at 601 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd., and intends to rebrand it.

In the 2016 Best of South Florida poll, Beauty and the Feast won for Best Small Plates and Best Brunch. According to the hotel’s website, the restaurant is now called Atlantic Grill.

It’s unclear what caused the restaurant’s switch. Representatives for the hotel declined comment. When reached by phone, Steven D’Apuzzo of Society 8 Hospitality Group, which ran Beauty and the Feast, acknowledged that his group was no longer involved.

The hotel has seen three restaurants come and go in In the 2016 Best of South Florida poll, Beauty and the Feast won for Best Small Plates and Best Brunch. the past decade: Trina, East End Brasserie and now Beauty and the Feast. Beauty and the Fest opened in 2014 and was awarded 3 stars by former SouthFlorida.com restaurant critic John Tanasychuk, who praised chef Jeff Vincent’s Southern-influenced menu and vegetable dishes. Vincent went on to launch the food program at the Funky Buddha Brewery in Oakland Park.

Society 8 recently opened 2017 season in December.

Prosecutors said Abreu owed millions of dollars to the smugglers and their associates and that he paid at least $5.8 million to them in 2014.

Estrada’s defense said Estrada was Abreu’s trainer and friend, and that Estrada later served as best man at Abreu’s wedding.

Abreu set a White Sox rookie record with 36 home runs in 2014. He was named American League Rookie of the Year and an All-Star.

Hernandez, 53, of Weston, received less than 5 percent of the fees his clients earned from their contracts, according to his defense. His company, Global Sports Management, was involved only in negotiating the contracts, his lawyer told jurors.

And the defense for Estrada, 34, of Miami, who runs Total Baseball & Training, said his only role was training the players while they waited in the Dominican Park & Ocean, 3109 E. Sunrise Blvd., a new restaurant at John Birch State Park in Fort Lauderdale. D’Apuzzo says the group is about to launch an art-themed restaurant in Delray Beach at the former site of its shuttered Solita & Mastino Italian Kitchen. Republic, Mexico and Haiti.

The players have not been charged with any wrongdoing. Cuban players who wanted to become free agents so they could sign more rewarding contracts with teams had to first establish residency in a third country before entering the U.S., authorities said. If they came directly to the U.S., Major League Baseball rules would force them to submit to the draft and they would likely be paid less.

Players used falsified passports to establish residency in the other countries, investigators said.

Prosecutors said the fees Hernandez and Estrada received for working with the players were tainted and they misled authorities to get the players into the U.S.