JupiterSunsation
03-15-2010, 08:43 PM
Rich kid was street racing a new Porsche GT2 and lost control near the Elbo room bar and killed two tourists......
Charges filed in Porsche hit-and-run that killed 2 in Fort Lauderdale
Troubled scion of wealthy Chicago-area family accused
8:07 p.m. EDT, March 15, 2010
Fort Lauderdale
A year after a $120,000 Porsche 911 Turbo mowed down two British businessmen and sped away, the car's owner has been charged with the hit-and-run deaths that made headlines here and abroad.
Ryan LeVin, of Hoffman Estates, Ill., was behind the wheel when his sports car jumped a curb along State Road A1A, slamming into Craig Elford, 39, and Kenneth Watkinson, 48, as they walked back to their oceanfront hotel, authorities said Monday. The two men's bodies were not discovered for at least 19 minutes after the crash.
The Broward State Attorney's Office has charged LeVin, 35, with two counts of vehicular homicide and two counts of leaving the scene of an accident causing death. LeVin's whereabouts were unclear Monday night, but Fort Lauderdale police said they have talked to his attorney about his surrender.
Each of the vehicular homicide charges could carry up to 15 years in prison.
The case against LeVin rests on cell phone records from the night of the crash as well as video footage, according to a Fort Lauderdale police report summarizing more than a year of detective work.
LeVin, the troubled scion of a costume jewelry empire, had told authorities that his friend Derek W. Cook was driving the Porsche when the Feb. 13, 2009, crash happened. Cook, 38, surrendered Monday morning at the Broward County Jail after prosecutors accused him of dumping the damaged Porsche for LeVin.
News of the charges reached Britain and the widows of Elford and Watkinson on Monday afternoon, and their attorneys said it justified the families' faith in the U.S. criminal justice system.
"It was just a matter of time," said Jonathan Pavsner, the attorney for Watkinson's widow, Kirsty. "The family is pleased that the coward responsible for murdering Mr. Watkinson is going to have to face justice and they hope he spends a long, long time in jail."
LeVin's attorney, David Bogenschutz, did not return phone calls Monday.
The police report indicates LeVin was stopped by a Fort Lauderdale police officer just 12 minutes before the crash. The officer pulled over LeVin after he "accelerated rapidly" when a light turned green. LeVin was given a verbal warning for having a loud exhaust.
LeVin's traffic stop concluded at 2:13 a.m., according to the report. At about the same time, Cook's cell phone was tracked traveling west and then north to an area around Interstate 95 and Commercial Boulevard. Detective Sandra Knutten noted in the police report that the path was consistent with Cook heading home to Tamarac.
At 2:18 a.m., two video cameras — a Fort Lauderdale municipal camera and one at a hotel on A1A — recorded a pair of cars speeding southbound on A1A and then one losing control, going up on the sidewalk and hitting Elford and Watkinson, according to the police reports.
By 2:22 a.m., police say Cook's cell phone records show he had turned around and was heading southeast toward the oceanfront condo owned by LeVin's parents, Shirley and Arthur LeVin. The LeVins founded Jewels by Park Lane, a Chicago-area business that bills itself as the "world's leading direct sales fashion jewelry company."
Cook logged in with the condo's security at 2:27 a.m., pulling up in his gray BMW to pick up LeVin, according to an eyewitness interviewed by police.
Three minutes later, video taken from a nearby gas station shows the two men pumping gas into Cook's BMW, the police reports show.
About 30 minutes later, police saw the Porsche and BMW and the drivers talking to each other. Officers were unable to stop the damaged Porsche, which sped away from a patrol car at more than 100 mph. It was found minutes later abandoned on the northbound ramp connecting Interstate 595 to Interstate 95.
Police did pull over the BMW and found LeVin driving, the police report states. LeVin said Cook had the Porsche when it hit Watkinson and Elford.
Cook is charged with being an accessory after the fact and aggravated fleeing and eluding. He turned himself in to the jail, and his bail was set at $8,500. His attorney said he was expected to bond out late Monday.
Cook has not given any statements to police, said his attorney, Rocco Marucci.
At the time of the crash, LeVin was on probation in Illinois for a high-speed police chase in Chicago that left one police officer and two drivers hurt. He ended up spending six months in jail in 2009 for violating his probation by failing to complete a drug treatment program.
Since 1992, LeVin has racked up more than 50 traffic violations in Cook County, Ill., and was convicted in another Illinois county of unlawful possession of a controlled substance.
The families of Elford, the father of two young girls, and Watkinson, the father of three, have filed wrongful death lawsuits against LeVin and Cook, seeking unspecified monetary damages.
Seth Miles, attorney for the Elford family, described LeVin as "a time bomb."
"He lived his life irresponsibly and recklessly and eventually someone was going to get hurt by him," Miles said. "The tragedy for these families it was Craig Elford and Ken Watkinson."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fort-lauderdale/fl-porsche-levin-arrest-20100315,0,5612980,full.story
Charges filed in Porsche hit-and-run that killed 2 in Fort Lauderdale
Troubled scion of wealthy Chicago-area family accused
8:07 p.m. EDT, March 15, 2010
Fort Lauderdale
A year after a $120,000 Porsche 911 Turbo mowed down two British businessmen and sped away, the car's owner has been charged with the hit-and-run deaths that made headlines here and abroad.
Ryan LeVin, of Hoffman Estates, Ill., was behind the wheel when his sports car jumped a curb along State Road A1A, slamming into Craig Elford, 39, and Kenneth Watkinson, 48, as they walked back to their oceanfront hotel, authorities said Monday. The two men's bodies were not discovered for at least 19 minutes after the crash.
The Broward State Attorney's Office has charged LeVin, 35, with two counts of vehicular homicide and two counts of leaving the scene of an accident causing death. LeVin's whereabouts were unclear Monday night, but Fort Lauderdale police said they have talked to his attorney about his surrender.
Each of the vehicular homicide charges could carry up to 15 years in prison.
The case against LeVin rests on cell phone records from the night of the crash as well as video footage, according to a Fort Lauderdale police report summarizing more than a year of detective work.
LeVin, the troubled scion of a costume jewelry empire, had told authorities that his friend Derek W. Cook was driving the Porsche when the Feb. 13, 2009, crash happened. Cook, 38, surrendered Monday morning at the Broward County Jail after prosecutors accused him of dumping the damaged Porsche for LeVin.
News of the charges reached Britain and the widows of Elford and Watkinson on Monday afternoon, and their attorneys said it justified the families' faith in the U.S. criminal justice system.
"It was just a matter of time," said Jonathan Pavsner, the attorney for Watkinson's widow, Kirsty. "The family is pleased that the coward responsible for murdering Mr. Watkinson is going to have to face justice and they hope he spends a long, long time in jail."
LeVin's attorney, David Bogenschutz, did not return phone calls Monday.
The police report indicates LeVin was stopped by a Fort Lauderdale police officer just 12 minutes before the crash. The officer pulled over LeVin after he "accelerated rapidly" when a light turned green. LeVin was given a verbal warning for having a loud exhaust.
LeVin's traffic stop concluded at 2:13 a.m., according to the report. At about the same time, Cook's cell phone was tracked traveling west and then north to an area around Interstate 95 and Commercial Boulevard. Detective Sandra Knutten noted in the police report that the path was consistent with Cook heading home to Tamarac.
At 2:18 a.m., two video cameras — a Fort Lauderdale municipal camera and one at a hotel on A1A — recorded a pair of cars speeding southbound on A1A and then one losing control, going up on the sidewalk and hitting Elford and Watkinson, according to the police reports.
By 2:22 a.m., police say Cook's cell phone records show he had turned around and was heading southeast toward the oceanfront condo owned by LeVin's parents, Shirley and Arthur LeVin. The LeVins founded Jewels by Park Lane, a Chicago-area business that bills itself as the "world's leading direct sales fashion jewelry company."
Cook logged in with the condo's security at 2:27 a.m., pulling up in his gray BMW to pick up LeVin, according to an eyewitness interviewed by police.
Three minutes later, video taken from a nearby gas station shows the two men pumping gas into Cook's BMW, the police reports show.
About 30 minutes later, police saw the Porsche and BMW and the drivers talking to each other. Officers were unable to stop the damaged Porsche, which sped away from a patrol car at more than 100 mph. It was found minutes later abandoned on the northbound ramp connecting Interstate 595 to Interstate 95.
Police did pull over the BMW and found LeVin driving, the police report states. LeVin said Cook had the Porsche when it hit Watkinson and Elford.
Cook is charged with being an accessory after the fact and aggravated fleeing and eluding. He turned himself in to the jail, and his bail was set at $8,500. His attorney said he was expected to bond out late Monday.
Cook has not given any statements to police, said his attorney, Rocco Marucci.
At the time of the crash, LeVin was on probation in Illinois for a high-speed police chase in Chicago that left one police officer and two drivers hurt. He ended up spending six months in jail in 2009 for violating his probation by failing to complete a drug treatment program.
Since 1992, LeVin has racked up more than 50 traffic violations in Cook County, Ill., and was convicted in another Illinois county of unlawful possession of a controlled substance.
The families of Elford, the father of two young girls, and Watkinson, the father of three, have filed wrongful death lawsuits against LeVin and Cook, seeking unspecified monetary damages.
Seth Miles, attorney for the Elford family, described LeVin as "a time bomb."
"He lived his life irresponsibly and recklessly and eventually someone was going to get hurt by him," Miles said. "The tragedy for these families it was Craig Elford and Ken Watkinson."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fort-lauderdale/fl-porsche-levin-arrest-20100315,0,5612980,full.story