Month: February 2026

By Gail Paschall-Brown, LeeAnn Huntoon

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    OSCEOLA COUNTY, Florida (WESH) — Richard Ferguson, 69, was sentenced to 37 years in prison for manslaughter after his unlicensed teenage son caused a crash in 2023 that killed three children and their grandmother in Osceola County.

Diamond Ferguson, the youngest of Richard Ferguson’s eight children, expressed her dissatisfaction with the verdict.

“My dad wasn’t given a fair chance to even try to win. In my opinion, this case was not on facts, it was on emotion,” she said.

She further commented on the severity of the sentence, saying, “This was not fair, to give him 37 years is ultimately life, there’s no going around that. Unfortunately, if things do not work how they’re supposed to, the next time my dad leaves that place will be… in a casket for a crime he did not do.”

Sabrina Hernandez, who lost her three children and her mother in the crash, shared her grief.

“There is absolutely no human experience that replicates the pain of losing a child, a loss she said she endured three times over,” Hernandez said.

Before his sentencing, Richard Ferguson spoke in court, expressing his remorse. “I have profound sorry. Not only it shattered lives, it shattered families,” he said.

Diamond Ferguson acknowledged the family’s inability to fully apologize for the tragedy.

“We could never begin to apologize, and nothing we say can ever truly heal her,” she said.

“He’s not only battling Stage 4 Cancer, high blood pressure, and bone deterioration,” she said. “We are in the process of appealing because this was not right. This was not fair.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Madilyn Destefano

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    LONGWOOD, Florida (WESH) — New details have been released after a Central Florida couple filed an emergency lawsuit against a fertility clinic, alleging their newborn child was not genetically related to either of them after an in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure.

The couple, identified in court documents as John and Jane Doe to protect their privacy, is suing IVF Life, Inc. D/B/A Fertility Center of Orlando and Dr. Milton McNichol, M.D.

In a recent emergency motion, the couple’s attorneys identified two potential windows when the IVF mix-up could have occurred at the Fertility Center of Orlando in Longwood. Documents indicate they are examining March 26, 2020, the date of the egg retrieval, and April 5, 2025, when Dr. Milton McNichol transferred the embryos.

The emergency motion states the clinic did not inform the attorneys that they had spoken to another woman who also had a transfer on the same day. However, after seeing the story on the news, that patient reached out directly to the couple’s attorneys. According to documents, this patient has a similar last name to the couple and resembles their baby girl.

Attorneys for the clinic said they “offered a proposed protocol to explain, in plain language, how the clinic will investigate the suspected or confirmed embryo transfer mix-up, while preserving evidence and safeguarding the privacy of all patients and children involved.”

A judge says the clinic has until Monday, Feb. 23, to comply and send over the requested materials.

The couple is continuing to search for their biological child after the mix-up, and hopes to find the parents of the baby they gave birth to.

“While we are beyond grateful to have her in our lives and love her immeasurably, we also recognize that we have a moral obligation to find her genetic parents. Our joy over her birth is further complicated by the devastating reality that her genetic parents — whom we do not yet know — or possibly another family entirely, may have received our genetic embryo. We are heartbroken, devastated, and confused,” the couple said to WESH 2.

According to the complaint filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court, the couple used their own egg and sperm to create three viable embryos at the clinic.

In March 2025, one of the embryos was implanted in Jane Doe, resulting in a successful full-term pregnancy. The couple’s healthy female child, Baby Doe, was born on Dec. 11, 2025.

The parents became suspicious when Baby Doe displayed physical characteristics of a child who was not racially Caucasian, despite both John and Jane Doe being Caucasian.

Genetic testing subsequently confirmed that Baby Doe has “no genetic relationship to either of the Plaintiffs,” indicating the implanted embryo was not one of the couple’s.

While the couple expressed a deep emotional bond with the child they carried and delivered, the lawsuit states their belief that their baby “should legally and morally be united with her genetic parents.”

The couple also fears that another person may be pregnant with or raising one or more of their own embryos or children.

“We’re trying to both identify who got the patients’ embryos, as well as — we’re trying to identify what set of parents the baby’s embryo comes from,” said the couple’s attorney, Mara Hatfield.

The couple claims they notified the defendants on Jan. 5, 2026, requesting cooperation to unite Baby Doe with her genetic parents and to determine the disposition of their remaining embryos. They have received no “substantive response.”

However, on Wednesday, during a virtual emergency court hearing, the couple received some movement toward getting answers.

“Until yesterday [Wednesday], the clinic has been entirely uncooperative and refused to provide any verifiable information or a timeline as to when such information would be provided. Faced with the prospect of a court order at yesterday’s hearing, the clinic has now promised cooperation, but that promise has not yet been fulfilled. We hope it will be,” the couple tells WESH 2.

The couple’s attorney laid out seven requests for the clinic and doctor, including:

Immediately notifying all patients who had embryos in storage before Jane Doe’s implantation about the allegations in the complaint and providing them with a copy.

Paying for free genetic testing for all patients and their children whose births resulted from embryo implantation through the defendants’ services over the past five years.

Disclosing any parentage discrepancies discovered through this testing.

“Our clients are falling more and more in love with their baby every day,” Hatfield said.

“Our baby was born just over a month ago via emergency C-section. Her birth was the result of the miracle of in vitro fertilization—a journey that took years of careful medical procedures, tremendous expense, and deep emotional and physical sacrifice. The result is a beautiful, healthy baby girl whom we love more than words can express.

“I have a million things I want to say and so many emotions I wish I could share, but for now, this is what we are able to tell you: due to a medical error — the wrong embryo implanted by the doctor — our baby is not genetically related to either of us.

“While we are beyond grateful to have her in our lives and love her immeasurably, we also recognize that we have a moral obligation to find her genetic parents. Our joy over her birth is further complicated by the devastating reality that her genetic parents—whom we do not yet know—or possibly another family entirely, may have received our genetic embryo.

“We are heartbroken, devastated, and confused.

“This situation has completely dictated and complicated our lives since the moment of her birth.

“Aside from necessary outings where we have been forced to pretend everything is okay, we have been living like prisoners in our own home. We hope that by sharing this it will allow us to begin living more freely and to finally celebrate the one beautiful thing that has come from all of this: our daughter.

“Our baby girl is completely innocent and so undeserving of any of this. We’re also sharing this to prevent harmful rumors or misinformation, as we’ve already seen inaccurate information circulating in a few stories and articles.

“Please bear with us as we navigate this deeply confusing and painful time, living with the heartbreak of not knowing what happened to our genetic embryos or whether we may have a biological child (or children) somewhere out there in the hands of strangers. The added fear that our daughter could be taken from us at any time is almost unbearable.

“There are so many details and potential outcomes to this story, but for now, we will leave it here until further progress has been made by our legal counsel. Until then, please keep our family in your hearts and prayers, and if you have any information on the family who might be at the other side of this, please contact us.”

“We are actively cooperating with an investigation to support one of our patients in determining the source of an error that resulted in the birth of a child who is not genetically related to them. Multiple entities are involved in this process, and all parties are working diligently to help identify when and where the error may have occurred. Our priority remains transparency and the well-being of the patient and child involved. We will continue to assist in any way that we can, regardless of the outcome of the investigation.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Justin Schecker

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    ORLANDO, Florida (WESH) — WESH 2 Investigates has learned the wrongful arrest of a Central Florida man for crimes he did not commit last year was the result of an Orlando Police officer’s use of facial recognition technology.

Back in November, Orlando Police Department’s Chief of Staff David Arnott denied in an email that facial recognition was used to identify Beau Burgess as a suspect.

But the department’s own internal investigation revealed an officer relied on what’s known as the FACES database.

The look on Burgess’ face said it all.

Body camera video obtained by WESH 2 Investigates showed Burgess was shocked when a Volusia sheriff’s deputy, whom he recognized at a Home Depot, placed him in handcuffs in August.

Burgess, who lives in New Smyrna Beach, was arrested on two warrants for fraud and theft crimes last June at Universal Orlando Resort Hotels.

“This could happen to anybody,” Burgess said. “I mean, it could happen to you.”

Burgess filed citizen complaints against two officers involved in his arrest.

An internal affairs investigation found one of them identified Burgess with a still image, “which appeared to be taken from the BWC of the Cabana Bay trespass.”

“So, basically it’s gonna be a trespass from all Universal Studios properties,” an officer is heard telling the man in the video.

A hotel company employee told police the subject, who racked up more than $4,400 in unpaid charges, received a trespass order from an OPD officer on June 22.

Police believed the man in the video gave a fake name.

While WESH 2 Investigates is not showing his face, the man is clearly not Burgess.

“In the video, he has shorts on,” Burgess said. “He has no tattoos at all on his legs. And my legs are covered in tattoos. And you can see it plain and clear.”

The OPD internal affairs report said the officer ran the still image “through the FACES database.”

Florida’s “Face Analysis Comparison & Examination System” is operated by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.

It contains millions of driver’s license images and jail booking photos.

“An individual could have multiple images in a database if they were arrested multiple times,” said Dr. Michael King, a professor at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne.

Dr. King said he worked on developing facial recognition technology during his 15 years in the federal government’s intelligence community.

“So, this is a form of artificial intelligence in the broader sense,” he said.

King told WESH 2 Investigates that more education is needed “from the officer to the judges that actually sign off on the warrant and those that actually adjudicate at trial, that the technology is not infallible.”

He also served as an expert witness when the ACLU brought a landmark lawsuit against the City of Detroit for the wrongful arrest of Robert Williams in January 2020.

“It was the first one that came to light that indeed someone was arrested when they were not involved in the crime at all on the basis of a face recognition search,” King explained.

King said this technology that extracts unique facial features is a vital tool for investigation, but he added, “It is absolutely vital that law enforcement, when using the technology, uses it in a manner where they understand that the technology only produces a lead, it does not confirm identification.”

The internal affairs report references the Orlando Police Department’s Policy and Procedure for facial recognition, which states, “The result of a facial recognition search shall only be considered as an investigative lead and IS NOT TO BE CONSIDERED A POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION OF ANY SUBJECT OR PROBABLE CAUSE FOR ARREST.”

In the case against Burgess, it was a decade-old booking photo that matched the image from the body camera.

Police said the hotel employee who reported the alleged crimes picked his picture out of a lineup of six.

“I just got a new DMV picture,” Burgess said. “They didn’t even look at that.”

The internal affairs investigator wrote that OPD legal “advised that officers are not obligated to collect or review new exculpatory evidence offered by a defendant after an arrest has occurred.”

Burgess said police should have contacted him before his arrest, so he could have shown them his tattoos or the timecard validating he was nearly 70 miles from the hotels on the dates of the alleged offenses.

“Right, when they got that facial recognition, they just said, that’s him, and like, I was, I’ve never been so stunned in my life,” Burgess said.

The internal affairs investigation exonerated both OPD officers of any policy violations.

Fortunately for Burgess, the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office has dropped both criminal cases.

Dr. King said this case is now the 11th publicly reported example nationwide of facial recognition leading to a wrongful arrest.

Orlando police sent WESH 2 Investigates this statement regarding the wrongful arrest and use of facial recognition:

“The Orlando Police Department utilizes an analysis system called FACES which is ‘Facial Analysis Comparison & Examination System.’ This system compares submitted photos to Florida driver’s licenses/identification cards and booking photos that participating Florida counties share. This analysis system is for law enforcement only. The photos compared never identifies a subject. It is not considered a positive identification of any subject or probable cause for arrest. The comparison simply provides law enforcement with a possible lead which can be investigated further.

“The Orlando Police Department does not utilize a Facial recognition system that compares photos to open-source photos such as social media and other public information. A policy is in place regarding the use of FACES, along with training the Officers receive that are authorized to utilize it. The Police Department Legal Advisor has ensured that Officers acknowledge results from FACES are strictly for investigative leads. Officers are only to take law enforcement action based on their own identity determination.

“The Universal employee positively identified Burgess as the suspect involved in this incident which enabled (the officer) to develop probable cause to obtain an arrest warrant signed by a Judge. As for the prosecution of this case, the Orlando Police Department will not comment on the decision made by the State Attorney’s Office.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Allison Petro

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    VOLUSIA COUNTY, Florida (WBBH) — A woman was arrested after deputies caught her in the process of an apparent murder-suicide with her great-granddaughter, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies said the woman, Deborah Collier, 69, faces an attempted first-degree murder charge.

It all started when Collier’s family found a suicide note.

Deputies began looking for her after she left her home in the Daytona Park Estates area of DeLand and left behind a suicide note.

A VSO deputy spotted her vehicle and conducted a traffic stop for a well-being check.

Collier was located behind the wheel, while her 13-year-old disabled great-granddaughter was unconscious in the passenger seat, according to the VSO.

Deputies said the child had white pill residue on her and found her totally unresponsive.

Inside Collier’s purse, authorities found prescription pills and a typed note explaining she was ending her and her great-granddaughter’s lives to spare the family further stress.

Detectives learned that the victim has brain damage due to her mother’s drug use during pregnancy. The 13-year-old reportedly has cerebral palsy and requires 24-hour care because of her disabilities. Collier and her husband have been her sole guardians since birth.

According to Collier, because the girl was overweight, caring for her had become increasingly difficult. Her husband also reportedly has a heart condition with stress-related symptoms.

VSO said the demands of caretaking have contributed to significant stress in the family.

Because Collier opposed placing the victim in an assisted living facility, she acted out of desperation and decided to end both her great-granddaughter’s life and her own, according to deputies. The arrest affidavit states Collier intentionally provided the young girl with medication that contained Amphetamines and Benzodiazepines.

Collier believed that no one would care for her like family.

Deputies said she was transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail and is currently being held without bond.

The 13-year-old was airlifted to an Orlando-area hospital and immediately transferred to the pediatric ICU.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Jennifer Franciotti

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    WOODSTOCK, Maryland (WBAL) — A small museum in Woodstock is dedicated to two historians who were passionate about the history of African American life in Baltimore County.

Black history is being preserved inside a restored church from 1887 in Woodstock. The church itself served the Black community after emancipation and the Civil War.

Today, it’s home to the Diggs-Johnson Museum, which is named after Lenwood Johnson, a former Baltimore County government planner, and for Louis Diggs, an author.

“(They’re) two historians, local historians, who researched 40 African American communities and Mr. Diggs put those communities (into) 13 books,” said Betty Stewart, the museum’s historian.

The museum houses many of Diggs’ books that chronicle African American life throughout Baltimore County, starting with his first book, “It All Started on Winters Lane.”

He wrote books on African Americans from Baltimore County who served in various wars, and those he called the “forgotten road warriors” of an all-African American Maryland National Guard unit, of which he was a member.

“He was a substitute teacher at Catonsville High School, and the kids were doing genealogy, and the kids would ask him, ‘Mr. Diggs, we can’t find our history.’ This was the African American kids,” Stewart told WBAL-TV 11 News.

So, he found their history, writing about life in 40 communities. While Diggs died in 2022, his legacy lives on in traveling storyboards created for each community that he wrote about. There is one about the Granite community that focuses on its residents. Stewart said it’s quite emotional for those who see them.

“One lady stood here, crying, saying, ‘My goodness, that’s my mother and father.’ These are the things that some of them have never seen before they asked me. ‘Can I take a picture of it?'” Stewart told WBAL-TV 11 News.

Stewart has made it her mission to keep Diggs’ legacy alive and said it’s fitting that the museum is in a church.

“The church anchored communities, and he wanted the stories (to be told) about not just the people that the communities, (but) the churches, the schools that he thought were so important. He just said ‘Betty, it’s too much to not be told,'” Stewart told WBAL-TV 11 News.

The museum takes visitors by appointment only. Stewart is leading a Black History Month event at the Halethorpe community center on Feb. 28 replete with storyboards of that community and several others nearby.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Ukee Washington

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    PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — Two Black women in Philadelphia are becoming changemakers in their communities and revolutionizing the way Black men access therapy.

To understand their mission, look no further than their powerful and to-the-point moniker, Black Men Heal.

The nonprofit was created by a pair of visionary and dedicated women, both of whom are driven to spark change: Tasnim Sulaiman and Zakia Williams.

“They’re our brothers. They’re our cousins. They are my son,” Williams said. “So Black men, it’s like, this is for you by us.”

“It started about wanting to create initiatives for men, Black men, men of color to come into therapy because that is something that has been more traditionally stigmatized for men,” Sulaiman said.

The two women are good friends and both are clinical therapists, but that’s not all they have in common.

“We both have fathers who struggled with mental illness and other issues as well,” Sulaiman said. “And when I think about it, my father was a Vietnam veteran, 100% disabled, PTSD.”

The organization started with an Instagram post offering free therapy for Black men. Much to their surprise, compelling and personally eloquent letters flooded their inbox.

“I remember another one that said, ‘I didn’t have a good relationship with my mom. And I’ve noticed that I have really toxic relationships with women, and I am verbally abusive to women,'” Sulaiman said. “They were so wrong. They were so vulnerable, they were so transparent.”

That was what they needed to launch Black Men Heal in 2018. The group instills a rigorous process to connect Black men with a therapist — one they can trust.”

Black Men Heal will often host mental health retreats, hikes and various events to speak to the root of mental health issues.

“We’re born into trauma even before we’ve gone through our own experiences of trauma,” Sulaiman said, “because we’re carrying the weight of the trauma that our ancestors carried even before us.”

Williams said they provide eight free therapy sessions with Black men and pair them with clinicians of color.

Abdul Brahin Tabb found out about BMH at a conference for Black men in education. He’s been working virtually with his therapist, Crystal Johnson, for nearly two years now. And Johnson says it’s been almost 24 months well spent.

“When I say it was the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done in my life, just seeing our young Black men become their better selves,” Johnson said.

“I go to the barbershop weekly, and I say all the time, I advocate,” Tabb said. “I advocate, and I say, ‘Men, go and speak to someone.'”

“You hear stories of transformation, but to actually be a part of it and knowing that you had some input in it,” Johnson said. “I tell my clients all the time, I’m here to learn from you as much as you are learning from me.”

Educating others. The lesson plan of Black Men Heal is a powerful and straightforward assignment, designed to break generational cycles and flat-out change the course of direction and perception about mental health.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.