Judge Karen Miller

The veteran prosecutor whose job it was to go after tennis hottie Anna Kournikova’s mom, Palm Beacher Alla, says Judge Karen Miller is to blame for Alla’s probation, and no jail, after she left her 5-year-old child home alone.

Kournikova’s recent guilty plea for the January incident led to a sentence of three years probation, 100 hours of community service and random drug testing.

And while Kournikova offered no explanation for what she did, the judge withheld adjudication. That means Kournikova’s criminal record won’t show a conviction.

This weekend, socialite Alla then took the 5-year-old, who was injured when he was left alone because he jumped or fell from the second floor of the family home, to North Carolina. He is competing in a big-deal golf tournament for children.

The prosecutor, Assistant State Attorney Jill Richstone, says the judge accepted Kournikova’s plea and imposed the sentence despite the “enormous potential danger to the child.”

Richstone advocated for harsher punishment.

Richstone made her comments in an email about the Page2Live’s coverage of the sentencing.

For more on the email, look below or click (Read more…)

Dean Turney with his wife, Priscila

A popular Palm Beach County Commissioner is arrested, resigns and issues a made-for-TV mea culpa — all in less than 12 hours.

Convenient, isn’t it?

Something about the Jeff Koons scandal smells of a Versailles palace-style intrigue — one that results in the county’s shadowy establishment getting rid of one of its own.

Koons’ well-connected “Judas,” Dean Turney, was not only his closest friend for nearly 25 years — he also ran most of Democrat Koons’ seven political campaigns, five for West Palm Beach Commission and two for Palm Beach County!

“Everyone is dumbfounded about this,” said a local Democratic party operative who asked not to be identified. “Everybody likes Jeff Koons. And Dean is his best friend!”

According to the probable cause affidavit, the 62-year-old Koons left nasty voice messages on to lobbyist Turney’s phone a few weeks ago. Koons took offense with the fact Turney worked for a family that stood in the way of his pet project, and promised to use his elected office to retaliate.

Once upon a time, this sort of spat would have been handled behind closed doors, one-on-one.

Instead,  the recordings ended up in the office of the ambitious new state attorney, Mike “Future Governor of Florida” McAuliffe, and the clock on Koons’ fall from grace started ticking.

For  more, and the poll, look below or click (Read more…)

One lien? Could be an accident!

Three? Looks like a trend!

As soon as contractors on Canadian songbird Celine Dion’s property on Jupiter Island — can’t miss it, it’s the one with the waterpark — paid off one lien, two more sprung up over the past few weeks.

Dion's soon-to-be-finished house in Jupiter Island (Click on the photo for more celebrity homes)

In May, the Pompano Beach-based concrete dealer PreCast Specialties notified the Palm Beach County clerk’s office that the company is seeking $9,297 from Dion and her family three months after installing hollow-core slabs on the beachfront mansion.

And two weeks ago, the Boynton Beach company John J. Churey Construction slapped another one on the singer’s home, claiming in paperwork at the Martin County clerk’s office that nearly half its $68,960-contract to pump concrete into the property is still unpaid.

For more, look below or click (Read more…)

Attaboy, Kellin Deglan! The Major League prospect is accused of ripping off Rothstein minion Howard Kusnick

Poetic justice!

One of the alleged players in the Scott Rothstein Ponzi scheme is going to spend what could be his last few months of freedom chasing a professional baseball player who allegedly ripped him off!

Howard Kusnick, a partner in Rothstein’s now-defunct Fort Lauderdale-Boca Raton lawfirm expected to be indicted for his role in the $1.4 billion scam, last week filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit in a Palm Beach County court.

The lawsuit alleges that Kusnick’s Double Diamond Sports Management represented Major League baseball first-round draftee Kellin Deglan, a catcher prospect of the Texas Rangers. Kusnick supposedly babysat Deglan through the pre-draft weeks — and now Deglan won’t pay the $50,000 he allegedly owes Double Diamond for the work.

That amount of money, according to the lawsuit, represents five percent of the 18-year-old Deglan’s $1 million-signing bonus.

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John Daly

John Daly’s lawyer responded to a Page2Live scoop about the oft-troubled golfer’s lawsuit against the Palm Beach Gardens-based Honda Classic by saying that he tried hard not to bring a children’s charity into the fray.

“Every effort was made not to bring in the charity,” said William DiPetrillo, Daly’s Fort Lauderdale attorney. “We tried not to bring in the PGA Tour either. But the insurance carrier from the resort insisted that we did.”

Two years ago, Daly filed a negligence action against the PGA National Resort, where the tournament is played yearly. Daly claimed he injured his rib cage while aborting a swing when a woman with a camera jumped in front of him as he prepared to drive the ball. He claimed his game hasn’t been the same since, and he wants someone to pay.

The PGA Tour and the Children’s Healthcare Charity, a foundation ran by the family of golf icon Jack Nicklaus where the profits of the Classic go, were added as defendants later.

Each of the three defendants proposed a settlement a month ago, but DiPetrillo said Daly found the offers “insulting.” A person familiar with the case told Page2Live Daly was quietly seeking $100 millio..

What kind of offer? Check below or click (Read more…)

Must be hurting! Daly at the Crowne Plaza Invitational May 29 in Texas (AP Photo)

Golfer John Daly, known as much for his girth and drinking as his powerful swing and funky wardrobe, is no longer looking for a golf payday.

He’s banking on a lawsuit he filed in a Palm Beach County court against several defendants, including a children’s charity.

Daly, 44, wants $100 million because, he says, an injury he suffered at the 2007 Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens has damaged his game.

Daly filed two years ago after a woman taking pictures jumped in front of him in mid-swing. Daly claimed in the paperwork he aborted the movement because he feared killing the woman but felt his rib cage pop out. The paperwork reads that Daly and other players unsuccessfully tried three times before the incident to have security kick the unidentified woman off the course.

Daly blamed the injury’s recurrence for his withdrawal from several tournaments this year. He even twittered about retirement.

Now, Daly wants someone to pay for that retirement. The original defendant were the owners of the PGA National Resort, the tournament’s venue. The PGA Tour and the Children’s Healthcare Charity, a local non-profit funded almost entirely with Honda Classic profits, were added later as entities that Daly wants held liable.

For more, and the poll, look below or click (Read more…)

Kahlert

One of Palm Beach County’s largest land barons is facing dozens of liens on hundreds of acres today after his ex-wife sued him for not paying her some of the goodies promised in their divorce settlement.

Former Palm Beach County engineer Herb Kahlert — a close friend of County Commish Karen Marcus whose government job gave some the willies because of his power to build roads that could increase the value of his properties — defaulted on his first bi-yearly payment of $2 million to his ex, Patricia Kahlert, according to court records.

Good thing he’s been sending Trish the settlement’s $54,000-a-month support checks!

Kahlert, 67, who runs his development business through a maze of shell companies, could have been worth as much $150 million at the time of the divorce, in 2007.

For more, look below or click (Read more…)

The attorneys defending Wellington polo mogul John Goodman in a vehicular homicide case that could land him in jail for 30 years contributed several thousand dollars to the campaign of State Attorney Mike McAuliffe.

McAuliffe’s the man whose job it is to put Goodman behind bars.

Perp walk: John Goodman (middle) is released on bond Wednesday. He's flanked with attorneys Guy Fronstin (left) and Mark Shapiro (right) (Click on the photo for more)

According to state campaign records, Goodman’s star defender, Miami lawyer Roy Black, made two maximum yearly contributions of $500 in 2007 and 2008, the year McAuliffe was elected, as did Black’s law partner Scott Kornspan.

Boca’s Guy Fronstin, the local pointman on Black’s defense team, and members of his family contributed a total of $2,500 toward McAuliffe’s election. Fronstin’s in kind contributions included food and drinks for McAuliffe’s fundraisers.

For more, and the poll, look below or click (Read more…)

Newell (Click on photo for more)

Warren Newell, the former Palm Beach County commissioner sentenced to five years behind bars as a result of a sweeping political corruption investigation, has been released from the Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola more than two and a half years early.

Several sources tell Page2Live that the 55-year-old former Lake Worth city leader returned to the county he once ruled Monday and is currently undergoing orientation in a halfway house.

Newell, a four-term county commish, was given a two-year sentence reduction after he ratted out former County Commish Mary McCarty, who’s serving a three-and-a-half-year sentence.

Newell is expected to remain at the halfway house, the Salvation Army’s Center of Hope on Military Trail, through the summer. His stay is designed to help the former boating enthusiast’s return to society.

“He’s been here for two days and he’s going through orientation, so he can’t leave yet,”  a fellow inmate said this morning, as he smoked a cigarette on the center’s campus. The inmate asked that his name not be used. Two other residents confirmed that Newell indeed had arrived.

“He’ll see a psychiatrist, among other things, and they’ll tell him the hundreds of rules,” the inmate said. “Then he’s going to go look for a job. Warren’s a smart man. He’ll come out just fine. His family already visited him.”

For more, and the poll, look below or click (Read more…)

WeTheCounty has struck again.

The anonymous group, or person, that spoofs Palm Beach County government just posted on YouTube its latest video. This one is inspired by the catfight between Palm Beach County commissioners Steve Abrams, of Boca, and Jesse Santamaria, of the western suburbs of West Palm Beach. Last week, Santamaria accused rookie commissioner Abrams of arrogance, and of trying to elevate himself by putting Santamaria down. Santamaria voiced his displeasure in a “nasty-gram” to Abrams.

Why can’t they just get along, sorta like the health nuts in this WeTheCounty’s masterpiece: