BARTOW, FL -- Ina Brown pleaded no contest Thursday to charges of aggravated manslaughter and neglect of a child, agreeing also to testify against her husband, Marcus Brown, of Lakeland.

Prosecutors say Deondray Ashe, 2, died after Marcus Brown beat him with a belt, nearly 30 times last June.

Investigators said there may have been a red flag two months earlier when DCF first received a report of possible child abuse from the Lakeland Regional Medical Center.

Lakeland, FL -- Lyudmilla Fuentes, a Lakeland resident and ninth grader at Kathleen High’s Central Florida Aerospace Academy, won a first place award in a National Association of Teachers Of Singing (NATS) competition held in Bradenton.

NATS is Florida-based and considered the largest association of singing teachers in the world,  http://www.nats.org/.

The NATS competition in Bradenton included vocalists from the central and southwest Florida areas from all grade levels, the college level and adults. Lyudmilla won first place in the first year high school female solo category.

Lakeland, FL -- Three Lakeland boys were arrested by Polk County Sheriff's detectives Tuesday after causing thousands of dollars in damage to a Lakeland church over a three month period.

Salvador Cruz, 12, Eduardo Salazar, 10, and Oscar Salazar, 14, have not only been charged with Burglary, among others, of the church, they are also being charged for their involvement in destructive vandalism of a truck on Monday, April 18.

It all started sometime between 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 17 and 8 p.m. on Monday, April 18 when unknown suspects forced open the north-side double doors of the New Faith Dimensional Church located at 838 Waneta Ave in Lakeland.
 
Once inside, the suspects went throughout the building ransacking property and intentionally damaging and destroying numerous books and documents in the church office.

The suspects also "tagged" the interior of the church with gang graffiti and broke windows.