In 2025, prominent New York attorney Marc Fernich was captured on video harassing a group of Jewish demonstrators outside a federal courthouse building in Manhattan. The antisemitic slurs he shouted were so disgusting that even the spittle stuck to the side of his mouth was appalled.

Dressed in black, and wearing dark glasses, the former defense attorney for Jeffrey Epstein and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman happened upon a group of people rallying around a banner that read “Jewish Artists for Palestine.’’ The incident - which took place on Sept. 29, 2025 - was near the two-year anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel.

Fernich, who is Jewish and was named the Criminal Lawyer of the Year by the Institute of Jewish Humanities in 2014, became irate. You could tell by the veins bulging out of his neck as he tried to infiltrate the circle of people by pushing himself in.

Fernich’s physical actions were startling - at one point he had his arms around a man’s neck - but the words he said to the demonstrators were worse:

“You’re a (expletive) animal. You are worse than a Muslim.’’

“You should have been aborted. You should have been thrown into an oven. I’d throw you in myself if I could.’’

“You should have been dead in the Holocaust, not your grandparents. Your grandparents would (expletive) slit their own throats if they saw what you are up to.’’

“You suck (male genitalia). You think the Goyim and the Arabs are going to like you better?

“We are always going to be here … in you’re (expletive) face. Always. Got it? Always. There’s always going to be an Israel, and it’s always going to be in your (expletive) face.’’

Fernich also called one person three slurs for a Jewish person.

At one point, two police officers watched the fracas from the steps of the courthouse and did nothing to stop Fernich.

The video - which lasts just under three minutes and can be seen here - has been posted with captions on social media for a few months now, and surprisingly it hasn’t attracted much attention. You could argue that the video is fake, or AI generated. Maybe that’s really him, but not his voice. Or maybe that’s not him at all.

Fernich, however, confirms it’s him.

And that confirmation appears in the unlikeliest of places:

In the court documents of a capital murder case in Sarasota, Fla.

'It’s cool to be a pedo'

On May 23, 2026, in Sarasota, Fla., a man named Nicholas Novickis was arrested for allegedly shooting his 6-year-old son Phoenix in the face in front of his mother with a shotgun. The murder, according to court documents, was captured by a camera in the lanai area of the home.

Novickis is also alleged to have killed his 34-year-old girlfriend, Allie Novickis, and Ishka, the family husky.

In the aftermath of the murders, Novickis allegedly made several references to pedophilia to sheriff’s detectives, including a statement that “it’s cool to be a pedo.’’

That may explain why Fernich was recently enlisted on Novickis’ defense team - he has represented Epstein, sex trafficker of underage girls, as well as sex cult leader Keith Raniere.

Fernich was also paid $25,000 to counsel a group connected to Matt Gaetz, the disgraced former Congressman from Florida and once President Trump’s choice for Attorney General. Gaetz was found by the House Ethics Committee to have had sex with a 17-year-old girl.

Because Fernich is not licensed to practice law in Florida, he had to file what’s known as a Motion to Appear Pro Hac Vice. Per court approval, that means he can represent Novickis if he works with a local member of the Florida Bar. Prominent Sarasota attorney Derek Byrd, who is licensed in Florida, is listed as a defense attorney for Novickis.

On August 21, 2026, a motion was filed in Sarasota County Court for Fernich to Appear Pro Hac Vice.

In the motion, Fernich admitted to harassing the demonstrators in Manhattan, though he makes no reference to the antisemitic slurs he used.

Here is what Fernich wrote in the Sarasota County Court filing:

On August 25, 2026, a judge in Sarasota County granted Fernich’s motion to appear as co-counsel.

It is not known how Novickis - who is 34 and is listed in court documents as “retired’’ - can afford the most high-powered defense team in the history of Sarasota murder cases, but there are indications he has money.

His arrest report lists his residence as being at Aster & Links, an upscale complex in downtown Sarasota. Property records, as well as a court document, also reference a home on Lido Key beach that was purchased by a “Nicholas Novickis’’ for $4.75 million in 2025.

'What did you do? Why?'

In the morning of May 23, 2026, Novickis went to the home of his mother, Donna Novickis, along with his girlfriend and son. The home is in Sarasota’s Artistry neighborhood. Novickis told his mother they were there to swim, so she went back to sleep. She awoke to the sound of breaking glass on the lanai and walked out to investigate, records show.

Donna Novickis saw Phoenix standing in the doorway before Nicholas walked out to the lanai, racked a shotgun and shot his son once in the face, instantly killing him, according to records.

The murder was captured by a security camera.

As Donna was calling 911, Novickis shot the family dog. It was taken to an emergency vet, where it later died.

Donna grabbed the shotgun off the floor and as she fled the house she found the deceased body of Allie Novickis.

Though they shared the same name, authorities were unable to determine if a marital link existed.

In a recorded statement after the murders, Donna Novickis asked her son: “What did you do? Why?’’

“There’s a thumb drive and it has something on it,’’ Novickis said, according to a court document.

Later, in front of detectives inside the interview room at the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, Novickis allegedly said: “It’s (f-----) up that I killed my wife and my son and my dog. I don’t know what I was thinking. I know I am not a pedophile.’’

Detectives recovered one of Novickis’ phones at the crime scene. It is not clear if the statement that referenced the thumb drive was recorded on the phone, or if Donna Novickis provided it to detectives.

Detectives later went to Novickis’ residence in downtown Sarasota with a search warrant and obtained another cell phone as well as three laptops.

Prosecutors filed a Motion to Compel in court on July 29, asking a judge to force Novickis to provide passwords to the devices.

“Reasonable grounds exist to believe that the defendant used his cellphone as well as these other devices in furtherance of his criminal conduct,’’ prosecutors wrote.

“There is probable cause to believe the cellphone (from the crime scene) interacts with the above- described devices, and thumb drive referred to by the defendant, along with his cellphone and electronics seized from his residence, contains evidence of intent and premeditation in the killing of his girlfriend and son.’’

Novickis was originally charged with two counts of second-degree murder.

The case went before a Grand Jury on July 10, and Novickis was charged with two counts of first-degree capital murder.

The state has indicated it will seek the Death Penalty.

Novickis has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

'It’s cool to be a pedo'

After allegedly killing his 6-year-old son and girlfriend, Novickis made several spontaneous references to pedophilia in the presence of detectives.

According to court records, here are some of the random statements Novickis allegedly made.

“I will not be a pedophile on this earth ever again. I will not look at children.”

“We are all pedos from top to the bottom.’’

“It’s cool to be a pedo.’’

These statements may help explain why Fernich was enlisted as co-counsel in the Novickis case. He has experience representing pedophiles.

Here are some of the clients Fernich has represented:

Jeffrey Epstein

Before hanging himself inside a Manhattan jail cell on August 10, 2019, Epstein had been charged by federal prosecutors with sex trafficking of girls as young as 14, and sex trafficking conspiracy.

Fernich, who was part of the defense team, had visited Esptein in jail only two days before his death, records indicate. Fernich publicly blamed Epstein’s death on overzealous prosecutors and compliant judges, politicians and jail officials for “recklessly putting Epstein in harm’s way.’’

Matt Gaetz

On Dec. 23, 2024, the House Ethics Committee released a scathing report on U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). The Committee found “substantial evidence” that Gaetz had broken House rules and law, citing allegations of sexual misconduct, including with a 17-year-old girl, paying for sex, drug use and obstruction of the investigation, which took nearly five years to complete.

The report was released several weeks after Gaetz had withdrawn from President Trump’s nomination of Gaetz for Attorney General, and his resignation from Congress.

In 2021, according to a filing by the Federal Election Commission, Fernich received a $25,000 payment from Gaetz’s campaign for “legal consulting.’’

Fernich told the FEC that “any payments my office received from (Friends of Matt Gaetz PAC) were for legal services performed for and on behalf of Friends itself, not Rep. Gaetz personally.’’

Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman

As if this story wasn’t crazy enough, El Chapo is added to the team photo.

Fernich represented El Chapo after he was accused of trafficking $14 billion worth of drugs in the United States. In 2019, El Chapo was convicted and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years without parole and ordered to pay $12.4 billion in asset forfeiture.

Also representing El Chapo was Manhattan attorney Jeffrey Lichtman. He once had a successful representation of Gotti, Jr., who took over the Gambino family when his father, the infamous John Gotti, was sent to prison.

Lichtman was able to secure a dismissal of three murder conspiracy charges against Gotti, Jr. in 2005.

After having his Pro Hac Vice motion granted by a Sarasota County judge, Lichtman is also serving as co-counsel with Fernich in the Novickis murder case.

Lichtman and Fernich have a history together beyond the El Chapo case.

They also represented sicko sex cult leader Keith Raniere.

Keith Raniere

Raniere was the leader of something called Nxivm, which on its face offered self-help workshops that were particularly popular in Hollywood.

It was really a sex cult.

In 2020, Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison for sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy, racketeering, extortion and creation and possession of child pornography.

At the sentencing hearing there was testimony from 15 victims. One woman testified Raniere forced her to have sex when she was 15 and he was 45. She had to available for sex 24 hours a day, she said, and was not allowed to weigh over 100 pounds. She attempted suicide on at least one occasion.

Raniere was known as “Vanguard,’’ and some women who were called “slaves’’ were ordered to lay on tables and say, “Master, please brand me.’’ According to testimony and reports, some women were branded with a two-inch square symbol just below their waist.

“For hours, muffled screams and the smell of burning tissue filled the room,’’ one woman testified.

A judge awarded the victims $3.5 million in restitution. Part of the money was for the women to have the branding on their skin removed.

Fernich served as an attorney for Raniere’s sentence appeal, and there was one particular exchange with Judge Nicholas Garaufis that put Fernich’s temper on full display.

During a hearing, according to the Courthouse News Service, Fernich requested an hour-delay in the proceedings for at least an hour to attend a family friend’s funeral.

According to the report, Fernich raised the issue after the hearing, saying that granting his request was “human decency and professional courtesy.”

Garaufis did not exactly embrace the admonition. He reportedly held up a box of tissues and sarcastically told the law clerk to “give him this to go cry.’’

He then ordered Fernich to “be seated or I’ll have you arrested.”

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Garaufis said.

“Nor have I,” Fernich replied.

According to the report in the Courthouse News Service, “a staring contest between the two men ensued, and for 30 minutes, the courtroom sat in near silence. Garaufis began to look around the room, gently swiveling in his chair. Fernich took a swig from a Poland Spring bottle.

Finally, Fernich stood and addressed Garaufis.

“Your Honor,’’ he said, “I apologize for losing my head.’’

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A windshield rarely shatters all at once. The damage begins at a single point of impact, then jagged fractures ripple outward, branching into an increasingly intricate pattern.

The story of The Crossings unfolds in much the same way: one connection leads to another, until the outlines of a much larger picture begin to emerge.

The Crossings, a residential treatment facility for people in recovery, is located in Oneco, an unincorporated community between Sarasota and Bradenton on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Because it operates as a religious nonprofit, it is not required to be licensed by the state.

Its presence has been controversial in the surrounding neighborhood. Residents have said they support addiction recovery but question whether a residential treatment facility belongs in their blue-collar community. In March, a group of residents went before the Manatee County Commission to voice their concerns.

Among their questions: Who, exactly, was living at The Crossings?

The facility assured commissioners that prospective clients underwent rigorous screening. It was safe. The commission voted 5-1 to allow The Crossings to remain.

Then, on June 28, a man named Jacob Sulzman showed up at a nearby resident’s home. According to the sheriff’s office, Sulzman unscrewed the porch light and attempted to break into the house. Inside, a woman hid in a closet with her three crying grandchildren until deputies arrived. She said she feared he was there to kill them.

Sulzman had been released from prison two months prior after serving four years for attempted murder in Pinellas County. According to a police report, Sulzman missed his girlfriend’s head with a bullet by two inches.

He had been living at The Crossings at the time of the attempted break-in.

Sulzman’s arrest prompted a closer look at The Crossings, and that investigation led somewhere unexpected.

It led to a Sarasota-based auto-glass company that has been sued for fraud by two of the largest insurance companies in the nation.

The company’s owner, William Camp, was also accused in a lawsuit by a former employee of swindling $1.4 million, including $300,000 allegedly used to purchase a Lamborghini.

Camp is the sole director of The Crossings.

The art of auto glass fraud

They were known as “harvesters’’ and they would act on behalf of unethical auto glass companies. Harvesters roamed neighborhoods and car washes and grocery store parking lots - some were even placed in car dealerships - and they searched for cracked windshields. Sometimes, if a crack did not exist, they’d create one themselves. There is video, in fact, of one person cracking a windshield with the point of a spark plug.

Then came the sales pitch: Our company can fix your damaged windshield for free, they’d insist. Your comprehensive insurance plan covers it, they’d explain. All we need is a signature.

And just for a little incentive, some would even throw in a free steak dinner, or an offer for a discounted hot tub.

People were coaxed into signing ‘‘Assignment of Benefits’’ forms, which allowed unsuspecting insurance policyholders to give repair shops authority to file claims on their behalf and collect payment from insurers without the policyholder’s involvement.

Insurance companies were essentially forced to pay speculative, unsupported and/or overpriced claims on work that was done - or in some cases, not done.

Florida was the worst in the nation for auto glass scams.

The “Assignment of Benefits’’ forms also allowed auto glass companies to file suit against the insurers and collect substantial attorney’s fees. Between 2006 and 2019, auto glass lawsuits increased 8,650 percent in Florida.

The cost of attorneys for the insurance companies to fight these lawsuits was passed on to the policyholder, thus the high price of auto insurance.

In 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law that banned the use of “Assignment of Benefits’’ in auto glass claims immediately. Litigation cases dropped substantially in the aftermath.

There was one company that, according to a lawsuit filed by Liberty Mutual, allegedly took the “Assignment of Benefits’’ process one step further.

At Home Auto Glass, according to a lawsuit, forged signatures on the “Assignment of Benefits’’ forms.

The same At Home Auto Glass owned by William Camp.

'Unconscionable, immoral, unethical, oppressive and unscrupulous'

William Camp started At Home Auto Glass in 2017, state records show, and it remains an active company.

When you google At Home Auto Glass, however, you are taken to a site for Service Pros Auto Glass, a company that does not seem to appear in state records searches. Based in Sarasota, the company does business in 12 cities in Florida and three in South Carolina, its website says.

The address for Service Pros is a building purchased on February 4, 2025 for $5.24 million by Bill Camp Real Estate Investment LLC., property records show.

“Service Pros Auto Glass is employee-owned — no private equity, no national call center, no corporate parent based out of Australia,’’ the web site states. “We’re in your backyard: sponsoring Little League teams, knowing your neighborhoods, and answering the phone ourselves.

“We come to you across Florida and South Carolina. Notice a crack and we handle it from the first call: come to your home, work, or wherever you are, replace or repair the glass, and recalibrate your safety systems in the same visit.

“We assist with the insurance claim, so most drivers with comprehensive coverage pay no cost out of pocket.’’

As At Home Auto Glass, the company was a defendant in three lawsuits, records show.

In 2021, State Farm filed a $1.4 million federal lawsuit against At Home Auto Glass, arguing that the company acted deceptively by obtaining “assignments of benefits’’ from customers.

“The conduct was contrary to Florida public policy,’’ the lawsuit stated, “and was unconscionable, immoral, unethical, oppressive and unscrupulous.’’

A judge ruled against State Farm.

On August 28, 2025, Liberty Mutual filed a lawsuit against At Home Auto Glass (AHAG), claiming the company was forging the signatures of insured customers statewide on “assignment of benefit’’ forms.

“AHAG also forged signatures on work orders to suggest their customers and Liberty Mutual insureds had agreed to the prices charged by AHAG. These forged signatures were intended to deceive Liberty Mutual into believing the customers/insureds approved and supported the amounts claimed. In truth, many of AHAG’s customers were astonished at the inflated prices charged by AHAG,’’ the lawsuit stated.

“AHAG did this to induce Liberty Mutual to pay inflated prices for windshield replacement and to induce Liberty Mutual to believe the customers/insureds supported that the windshields needed to be replaced at a higher price and could not be repaired at a lower price.’’

A settlement in the case was reached on January 14, 2026.

In 2022, a former At Home Auto Glass employee named Briana O’Brien filed a lawsuit against the company in Sarasota County. O’Brien’s lawsuit stated that she and Camp agreed to part ways and that the company would buy her shares - she owned 12.84 percent of the company.

O’Brien’s lawsuit alleged Camp took extraordinary measures to devalue the company to decrease the value of her shares.

The lawsuit accused Camp of swindling nearly $1.5 million in “distributions’’ from the company, and that he used $20,530.22 for personal expenditures, including trips to Las Vegas.

The lawsuit also alleged Camp conspired with the company’s accountant to reclassify a $300,000 payment to himself as an “owner’s drawing’’ after using the money to buy a Lamborghini.

Records show the two parties settled the case in 2023.

Crossings not entirely checked

On March 6, 2026, a lengthy, impassioned meeting took place before the Manatee County Commission in Bradenton, Fla.

At issue was the Crossings, the residential treatment facility consisting of 90 beds. Essentially, the Crossings was seeking zoning approval to stay in the neighborhood. Over 250 petitions signed by local residents were against it.

The facility was not compatible with the neighborhood, they argued. Residents were also concerned about who would be participating in the program. If they had a criminal past, what was the nature of their crimes?

Jim Rouches, one of the Crossings’ founders, assured everyone at the meeting that a “rigorous’’ background check was done. No one, for example, who had served prison time for attempted murder would be allowed.

Rouches served roughly 18 years in various state prisons for felonies such as armed robbery and credit card fraud.

In 1993, court records show, he broke into a couple’s home in Port Charlotte while they were watching the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Green Bay Packers 23-16 on Monday Night Football. Armed with a gun, and wearing a black stocking over his face, he ransacked their home for valuables to sell for drugs. He even tried to steal the women’s wedding ring. After the robbery, he took off for Mexico and was eventually arrested in Texas, where he fought extradition, partly because the food was better there, he has said.

Rouches also has a jail escape on his criminal record – though not a very successful one. After slipping out of a window, he was captured the next day in a Charlotte County motel with several other escapees.

All the crimes he committed, he has said, were for drugs. He has been sober since 2004, he said. He is now president of the Crossings.

The county commission voted 5-1 in favor of the Crossings staying in the neighborhood. Commissioner Amanda Ballard was the lone vote against.

During the lengthy meeting, several former addicts gave heartfelt testimony about how the Crossings turned their lives around, and the positive impact Rouches has had on them.

What no one mentioned was the name of William Camp.

Camp and the Crossings

Roughly three months after Liberty Mutual filed its lawsuit against At Home Auto Glass, state business records revealed something interesting.

On December 2, 2025, Camp - out of nowhere, it seemed - was added to the Crossings as a Vice Director. There was no prior indication of Camp having any association with the Crossings, or Rouches.

The CEO of the Crossings at that time was a woman from Wauchula, Fl., named Lori Porter. Her husband Duane was also a director.

On July 16, 2026 - not long after Sulzman was arrested for prowling in the neighborhood - Lori Porter and her husband were removed from the company, business records show.

Jim Rouches became president of the Crossings, with Camp taking on a new role as secretary.

Also on July 16, The Crossings Ministries changed its mailing address from a P.O. Box in Wauchula, Fl. to 6425 15th St. East in Sarasota, which is a facility Bill Camp Real Estate Investment LLC. purchased for $5.24 million in 2025.

At Home Auto Glass lists the same address, as does an entity called The Camp Healing and Wellness LLC.

Among those listed as directors of The Camp Healing and Wellness are Rouches and a Sarasota doctor named Harold J. Lawler III.

'An immediate and serious danger to patients’

In 2016, the Florida Department of Health issued an order of emergency restriction of license after alleging that during a period of nearly a year Lawler overprescribed medication to an undercover agent for the Osceola County Investigative Bureau.

According to a complaint, the agent visited Lawler and complained of severe back pain. After taking an MRI of the agent's back, Lawler concluded there appeared to be no apparent source of the pain, but still provided the agent with prescriptions for four different medications.

The DOH called Lawler an “immediate and serious danger to patients’’ and that the “conduct he is alleged to have committed will continue in the future.’’

A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal, however, overturned the order of emergency restriction of license against Lawler in the case.

“While the alleged course of treatment as to this patient is distressing, and if proven may be a basis for discipline, the factual support for a genuine emergency to the public is lacking,’’ the panel of judges wrote.

In 2021, a Sarasota woman filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Lawler in Sarasota County Court.

She claimed that Lawler was using the name “Advanced Integrative Regenerative Medicine.’’ No such name has ever appeared in state business records.

According to the lawsuit, the woman was an 83-year-old ballroom dancer when she went to Lawler to treat her knee in 2018.

The lawsuit alleged Lawler injected her with an umbilical stem cell product that was not approved by the FDA and couldn’t “lawfully be injected into a human.’’

According to the lawsuit, the woman sustained an E. coli infection in her knee that required surgery. The lawsuit was settled in 2024.

Along with Rouches and Lawler, an entity called the IOP Consulting Group is listed in state records as being a director of Camp Healing and Wellness.

Among the directors of the IOP Consulting Group is William Camp.

Through IOP Consulting, William Camp is tied to Camp Healing and Wellness, which is expected to be a “clinical integration partner’’ with the Crossings, according to its website.

The Crossings stated that “licensed clinical staff’’ will be provided by Camp Healing and Wellness.

Board approval should not be a problem.

William Camp is the only member of the board.

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Jacob Sulzman unscrewed the porchlight, then rattled the doorknob in the sudden darkness.

Inside, Nancy Rodriguez was hiding in a bedroom closet, her twin 9-year-old grandsons and her 10-year-old granddaughter trembling in her arms.

She watched the security camera feed on her phone as Sulzman twisted the handle again and again, praying the deadbolt would hold.

“Don’t be scared,” she whispered to the children. “Grandma’s with you. I won’t let anything happen.”

Rodriguez did not know Sulzman had been released from a Florida prison two months earlier. She did not know he had served four years for attempted murder — or that police calculated one of his bullets had missed his girlfriend by only two inches.

She did not know he was living at the Crossings, either, a residential treatment facility at the bottom of her dead-end street for people recovering from substance abuse that had drawn fierce opposition from neighbors.

She only knew she was inside a closet with three crying children, wondering if the shirtless stranger on her darkened front porch had come to kill them.

What would Jesus do?

The Manatee County Commission meeting on March 6, 2026, lasted longer than most people go on vacation.

At issue was the Crossings.

And a vote on whether the treatment facility should stay in a residential neighborhood in Oneco, Fl. against the wishes of those who owned homes there.

The Crossings is a religious non-profit organization exempt from taxes and does not need state licensure to operate.

The non-profit offers a faith-based, long-term treatment program for those struggling with addiction, and dozens of troubled people have credited the Crossings with turning their lives around.

The 90-bed residential facility run by the Crossings is at the end of 24^th Street East, not far from the post office and elementary school and Salvation Army in Oneco, an oil leak of a town between Sarasota and Bradenton on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

For years, starting in the late 1980’s, the facility was owned by someone else and was used for elderly patients with dementia. There wasn’t much concern. Kids in the neighborhood rode bikes and trick-or-treated without care, and if a resident wandered from the facility, a neighbor would return them with a wink and a smile.

By the time the Crossings had inhabited the property in 2023, residents were concerned and had questions. Will convicted felons be residing there? What is the screening process like? When does the fence you promised go up?

There was a zoning issue as well. Because the 36,449-square-foot facility was on a dead-end road with only one way in and one way out, and was in a residential neighborhood, it was labeled as “non-conforming’’ by county code.

Thus, the commission meeting. The Crossings was seeking permission from the county to operate as a residential treatment facility through a General Development Plan application. The public would speak. The commissioners would vote.

The commissioners were faced with a dilemma as moralistic as it was procedural:

Vote in favor of the Crossings, and discard the concerns of hard-working residents who are concerned about the safety of themselves and their children.

Vote against, and discard the belief that addicts can recover and become productive members of society.

“What kind of person would I be if I looked away while others struggled?’’ said Commissioner Jason Bearden during deliberations. “I have to ask myself, if Jesus were up here as a County Commissioner, how would he make this vote today?’’

‘All we’re asking for is a chance.’

If anyone understood second chances, it was Jim Rouches, program director and president of the Crossings.

Rouches served roughly 18 years in various state prisons for felonies such as armed robbery and credit card fraud.

In 1993, court records show, he broke into a couple’s home in Port Charlotte while they were watching the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Green Bay Packers 23-16 on Monday Night Football. Armed with a gun, and wearing a black stocking over his face, he ransacked their home for valuables to sell for drugs. He even tried to steal the women’s wedding ring. After the robbery, he took off for Mexico and was eventually arrested in Texas, where he fought extradition, partly because the food was better there, he has said.

Rouches also has a jail escape on his criminal record – though not a very successful one. After slipping out of a window, he was captured the next day in a Charlotte County motel with several other escapees.

All the crimes he committed, he has said, were for drugs. He has been sober since 2004, he said, and is well-known in faith-based recovery circles.

In addition to running the Crossings, Rouches is on the Sarasota Criminal Justice Commission, serving with state attorney Ed Brodsky, public defender Larry Eger and Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman.

At the Manatee County Commission meeting on March 6, 2026, several participants in the Crossings program spoke about how Rouches changed their lives.

Among them was Kimberly Vaught, who said at one time she was a homeless disabled veteran with a drug addiction.

“I got into the Crossings when I didn’t care if I lived or died,’’ she told commissioners. “The Crossings gave me reason to believe I could be something other than a piece of trash on the side of Bradenton’s roads.

“If it wasn’t for Jim Rouches and the respective people at the Crossings, I may still be on the street. We’re not hurting anyone. They only person I hurt was myself.’’

Another person who spoke was 25-year-old Felicity Case.

“I was raised among addicts from the time my mother was pregnant with me at 15 years old,’’ she said. “I had never known anything other than drugs and manipulation.

“Jim Rouches taught me how to love other people just because they are people. I wouldn’t have that if it weren’t for him. I would probably be in a homeless park on drugs with almost everyone else in this community.

“I had a terrible mother and I now I have three beautiful children with my husband. I am able to confidently look my children in the eye and know that I am loving them correctly because Jim Rouches gave me a second chance.

“And there is nothing I will be able to do but the next right thing in order to repay him for surrendering his life to people like me.

“All we’re asking for is a chance because people can change.’’

Neighbors voice strong opposition

Parts of Oneco, with strip malls full of used tire shops and cell phone stores, look like a giant flea market. Homelessness has been a problem. Drugs, too. On one street in Oneco, there are 18 registered sex offenders living in three small houses. It is a town with a reputation.

But drive down the half-mile stretch of 24^th Street East and all you see are middle-class homes in a middle-class neighborhood, roughly 250 in fact. Proud residents who have lived there for decades and insist the reputation is not reality.

Despite the Crossings having assured residents that background screenings are “thorough,’’ “comprehensive’’ and “rigorous,’’ and that no “serial violent’’ criminals are permitted, the neighborhood residents were still apprehensive. They submitted a 260-signature petition against the Crossings to the commissioners.

Margi Nanney, an Oneco resident since 1985, said to commissioners “we don’t know what crimes the individuals are accused of committing, but they are permitted to come in and out.

“How would you feel having this next to your home?”

A woman named Anna Joli McElroy told commissioners she grew up about 400 feet from the site and was a third-generation resident.

“I want to stay here and raise my own children here someday, but sadly, I cannot safely give them the same freedom I was given growing up in this neighborhood,” she said.

Of the county commissioners, Amanda Ballard was the most outspoken in opposition. Ballard’s district includes the Oneco residents. She made it clear she supports recovery facilities, just not in this particular neighborhood.

She said her constituents were “being gaslighted” by being told “what they’ve seen in the past year is not happening.’’

She added that the residents “look heartless if they say they want to be safe in their own neighborhood.’’

Ballard asked the other commissioners what they would think if an addiction treatment facility came to the neighborhoods they represented, with some being the most affluent in the county.

“Are we looking at the hard-working residents of Oneco and saying, ‘You don’t matter because you live in Oneco?” she asked.

‘I’m putting faith in you’

Prior to the vote, commission chairman George Kruse had the final word.

“I’m not going to prevent (the Crossings) from trying,’’ Kruse said. “I’m not going to assume the worst of someone who I believe is trying to do the best.

“I support this project, and I’m going to hope they are doing it the right way and we are going to watch them, and I’m going to visit them.

“I’m going to make sure people are going to get the help that, god-willing, you are actually going to give them.

“I’m putting faith in you.’’

The vote passed 5-1, with Ballard the lone vote against.

The Crossings could stay.

Attempted murder

On January 9, 2022, Becky Wilson received a text. It was from Jacob Sulzman.

“Answer your phone bitch,’’ the text read, ‘‘or you daughter’s going to (expletive) die.’’

Sulzman and Wilson’s daughter were living together in Clearwater when they got into an argument over the amount of alcohol Sulzman had consumed, court records show.

According to a probable cause affidavit in Pinellas County, Sulzman pulled a Ruger .38 from his pants, stated he was going to kill the victim and fired several shots at her. One shot, according to the document, was determined to have missed her head by two inches.

At one point, according to the PCA, Sulzman cornered the victim in the living room, put the gun within an inch of her face, said he was going to kill her and pulled the trigger.

Click.

Empty.

In November 2022, Sulzman pleaded no contest to attempted murder and battery. He was sentenced by a Pinellas County judge to five years in prison with nearly a year of credit for time served and received four years of probation.

He was released from prison on April 22, 2026, records show.

As a condition of his probation, Sulzman was ordered to enroll in long-term treatment by the Phoenix House Florida “or a comparable program’’ upon release from prison.

The Phoenix House Florida is licensed by the Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) and accredited nationally by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF).

But Sulzman didn’t go there.

For reasons unknown, Sulzman ended up at the Crossings, which is not licensed or accredited, and insisted to commissioners that it does not accept anyone outside of the county.

The Crossings also assured the residents of Oneco that a person with Sulzman’s past would not be taken into the program, that their neighborhood was safe.

As Nancy Rodriguez trembled inside her closet, she wasn’t so sure.

The nights remain frightening

As Sulzman was trying to break into her house on June 28, 2026, Rodriguez was able to call 911. When the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office arrived, Sulzman was asleep on a couch located on the porch. According to court records, 1.1 grams of methamphetamine was found in a pink baggie inside his wallet.

The 28-year-old Sulzman was arrested and charged with loitering and prowling as well as felony possession.

Court records show that on the date of Sulzman’s arrest he was unsuccessfully discharged from the Crossings’ program.

Meanwhile, Rodriguez recently said through an interpreter that her grandchildren are scared when the doorbell rings, or when there is a knock on the door, or when they hear any unfamiliar noise, for that matter. They now sleep with her at night.

“The children,’’ she said, “are still afraid he is coming back.’’

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Nicholas Novickis - who was recently indicted by a grand jury on first-degree capital murder charges for killing his six-year-old son and girlfriend in Sarasota County and has since retained the former attorney for El Chapo and John Gotti, Jr. - made references to being a pedophile after his arrest, court records show.

In the aftermath of the murders, Novickis, 34, said in the presence of Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office detectives that it was “cool to be a pedo,” according to records.

In addition, prosecutors recently filed a motion seeking passcodes from Novickis for a cellphone and three laptops lawfully seized from Aster & Links, the downtown Sarasota luxury apartment complex where he resided. They believe the devices contain “evidence of intent of premeditation in the killing of his son and girlfriend.”

Prosecutors are also interested in a thumb drive that Novickis said in a recorded statement “has something on it,” records show.

On May 23, 2023, Novickis was arrested by deputies for shooting his son Phoenix in the face in front of his mother, as well as killing his 34-year-old girlfriend, Allie Novickis, and Ishka, the family husky.

Inside the Sheriff’s Office interview room, Novickis made several spontaneous statements that referred to pedophilia, according to court records.

Among them:

“It’s (f-----) up that I killed my wife and my son and my dog. I don’t know what I was thinking. I know I am not a pedophile.

“I will not be a pedophile on this earth ever again. I will not look at children.”

“I won’t be a pedophile molester for the rest of this reset code, or again ever in the future and I am sorry for being a (f-----) up individual.’’

“We are all pedos from top to the bottom.’’

“It’s cool to be a pedo.’’

On the morning of May 23, Novickis went to the home of his mother, Donna Novickis, along with his girlfriend and son. The home is in Sarasota’s Artistry neighborhood. Novickis told his mother they were there to swim, so she went back to sleep. She awoke to the sound of breaking glass on the lanai and walked out to investigate, records show.

She saw Phoenix standing in the doorway before Nicholas walked out to the lanai, racked a shotgun and shot his son once in the face, instantly killing him, according to records.

The murder was captured by a security camera.

As Donna was calling 911, Novickis shot the family dog. It was taken to an emergency vet, where it later died.

Donna grabbed the shotgun off the floor, and as she fled the house she found the deceased body of Allie Novickis.

Though they shared the same name, authorities were unable to determine if a marital link existed.

In a recorded statement after the murders, Donna Novickis asked her son: “What did you do? Why?’’

“There’s a thumb drive and it has something on it,’’ Novickis said, according to a document.

Detectives recovered one of Novickis’ phones at the crime scene. It is not clear if the statement that referenced the thumb drive was recorded on the phone, or if Donna Novickis provided it to detectives.

Detectives later went to Novickis’ residence in downtown Sarasota with a search warrant and obtained another cell phone as well as three laptops.

Novickis resided on the ninth floor of Astor & Links, a luxury high rise in downtown Sarasota, records show.

Prosecutors filed a Motion to Compel in court on July 29, asking a judge to force Novickis to provide passwords to the devices.

“Reasonable grounds exist to believe that the defendant used his cellphone as well as these other devices in furtherance of his criminal conduct,’’ prosecutors wrote.

“There is probable cause to believe the cellphone (from the crime scene) interacts with the above- described devices, and thumb drive referred to by the defendant, along with his cellphone and electronics seized from his residence, contains evidence of intent and premeditation in the killing of his girlfriend and son.’’

Novickis was originally charged with two counts of second-degree murder.

The case went before a Grand Jury on July 10, and Novickis was charged with two counts of first-degree capital murder.

The state has not indicted whether it will seek the Death Penalty, or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Novickis has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

He is being represented by Sarasota attorney Derek Byrd as well as Jeffrey Lichtman, a prominent attorney from Manhattan who has represented drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo’’ Guzman, his wife and son, as well as John Gotti, Jr., former mob boss of the Gambino crime family.

Lichtman represented El Chapo after he was accused of trafficking $14 billion worth of drugs in the United States. In 2019, El Chapo was convicted and sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years without parole and ordered to pay $12.4 billion in asset forfeiture.

Lichtman had a successful representation of Gotti, Jr., who took over the Gambino family when his father, the infamous John Gotti, was sent to prison.

Lichtman was able to secure a dismissal of three murder conspiracy charges against Gotti, Jr. in 2005.

Meanwhile, services were held in June for Allie and Phoenix Novickis in Illinois, and their obituaries shed detailed light on their lives.

“Allie Kathleen Hoehn-Novickis, age 34, passed away unexpectedly with her son at her side on May 23, 2026,’’ her obit began.

“After Phoenix was born, Allie’s life changed in the most wonderful way. Her main priority was taking care of Phoenix, getting him ready for school, and doing fun things like taking him to the beach and his favorite trampoline park.

“Allie really loved her family, and most of all loved being a mom to Phoenix.’’

The obituary of Phoenix Novickis also professed his love for his mother.

“Phoenix Alexander Novickis, age 6, passed away unexpectedly with his mother at his side on May 23, 2026.

“Anyone who knew Phoenix, knew that he loved to watch music videos and he loved all the different types of musical instruments. He could see a musical instrument and tell you what family they belonged to. His favorite instrument was a guitar (he would turn anything into a guitar) and play along with the music videos. Phoenix especially loved to listen to Jack White.

“Phoenix was a little bit of a picky eater when it came to food, but he loved angel hair pasta and Mickey mouse waffles. His favorite thing to do was go to Culver’s and eat chicken tenders and then get vanilla ice cream with blue sprinkles. The sprinkles had to be blue, because that was his favorite color.

“Phoenix also loved being outside all the time. He loved looking at houses that had flags and had umbrella tables. His biggest thing to do was to look for any type of barbecue grill, and he loved to walk around the neighborhood to check out and see if anybody had one in their backyard.

“Phoenix was a bright light and was always smiling. He just recently learned how to count to ten in Spanish and was so happy he could. Phoenix loved his grandparents: Gigi, Mimi, Papa, & Papi, and loved sleeping over with them whenever he could.

“Phoenix did not have any siblings. His best friend was his dog Ishka, who was always by his side.

“Most of all Phoenix really loved his family, especially his mom Allie, with all his heart.’’

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