FL business struggling after owner's arrest, exoneration

Arrogant deputy does a lot of harm

It only took about seven minutes late September for the reputation of a local business owner to be shattered. Now, the previously publicized criminal charges against him have been dropped, but he and his wife are still fighting to restore their name.

Four cameras at the store, which recorded the events and were viewed by the State Attorney's Office, captured the event. If not for the cameras, Dan Ferrena, co-owner of Palm Coast Fine Jewelry & Coins, might still be charged with aggravated assault with a firearm.

At 11:53 a.m. Sept. 30, 28-year-old Josh Newby and his child entered the store looking for a watch. Two other customers, Dan and his wife Edith were already in the store. A minute later, a train of four other small children came in, accompanied by Newby's wife Dariane and a friend, Rosemary Garcia.

Some of the children were grappling onto the store's glass counters, which hold gold, jewelry and coins.

Edith Ferrena said in a News-Journal interview in December that she was worried that the glass would break and hurt the kids. She told the group that a jewelry store isn't for children. This upset the Newbys, who left the store and told the Ferrenas they would take their business elsewhere, according to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office case report.

The phone number provided by the Newbys to law enforcement officials at the time of arrest was disconnected when a reporter tried to reach them for comment. Garcia did not return a call seeking comment.

At 11:56 a.m., Josh Newby reentered the store and told the Ferrenas he'd let all of his colleagues at a local hospital know how awful the store was. An argument ensued, and Newby called Edith two derogatory curse words. That set Dan off. "I said 'Look, you piece of crap. You have some nerve saying that to my wife,' " Dan Ferrena said of Newby's cursing. Dan Ferrena angrily pointed his finger at Newby.

The police reports and video show both men yelling at each other as Newby stood outside of the store's courtyard and Ferrena stood in the store's doorway before taking a few feet into the courtyard.

At 11:57 a.m., Ferrena walked back toward the store's door.

The best camera angle, filmed from the courtyard, is distorted, but an angle from inside the store shows Ferrena quickly turning around as he opens the store's door. He pulled a Walther PPS handgun from his right side.

Newby said in the police reports that Ferrena pointed the gun at him, but it's difficult to see in the video. Ferrena said he never pointed the gun at Newby and kept it at his side after he heard Newby charging toward him.

"Don't you remember what he said?" Edith Ferrena said to Dan during a News-Journal interview. "He said 'I'll kill you, (expletive).' "

Dan Ferrena added: "I turned around and he was charging me" from about 15 feet away. "By this time I've made the determination that he's not normal, so I pulled my gun out so he can see. I had no intention of shooting him." "So as soon as he saw the gun, he stopped. I came in. I started calming the customers down and the next thing I know the cops are here."

Deputies arrived at about noon that day. They interviewed one of the customers inside the store, but not the other.

Dan Ferrena told them he had video of the exchange and that it was self-defense, but the video wasn't viewable right away. It needed to be downloaded. But the deputy didn't call someone in to look at the tape and instead arrested Dan Ferrena.

Florence Devany, a 74-year-old retiree from Palm Coast, was the customer who deputies didn't interview. She didn't find out Ferrena was arrested until she read about it in the newspaper. "I was shocked," she said. "I was in total shock."

Devany went back to the store in late December and said she couldn't believe Dan Ferrena's appearance. It looked like he lost about 20 pounds, she said. "It certainly had a terrible effect on their business," Devany said.

It's that terrible effect that the Ferrenas have been fighting against since the charge was made against Ferrena.

An aggravated assault with a firearm charge supposes that a person unlawfully used a weapon to instill a well-founded fear that violence is imminent in another person. But, self-defense negates that charge.

On Nov. 15, Assistant State Attorney Joshua Davis sent Josh Newby a letter stating that he had reviewed the video from all angles and spoke with three independent witnesses. He told Newby that "this case does not support the charge of aggravated assault with a firearm." Two weeks later, Davis dropped the charge against Ferrena.

But, damage has been done to the Ferrenas. The News-Journal wrote a story from a Sheriff's Office press release, that included a mugshot, at the time of Ferrena's arrest. So did Flagler County newspapers. TV news stations plastered Ferrena's mugshot on newscasts, as well.

"It's been having an effect since the day it happened," Dan Ferrena said.

The store has seen fewer customers at times, but has been supported by a lot of regular customers who have frequented the store since it opened in 2008. "But there's always people out there who are going to be scared to get involved with us because they don't know what to think. They think, arrested? He's guilty," he said.

Flagler County sheriff's spokeswoman Debra Johnson wrote a press release after Ferrena's arrest. A former longtime newspaper journalist, Johnson said four themes typically lead to a press release being issued for an arrest -- if it's in the public interest, informative, unusual and serves as a public service announcement. "Obviously any time firearms are used or people are threatened, that is going to trigger a press release," she said.

When people call her to say a charge has been dismissed, she refers them to the state attorney's office or to reporters.

Johnson said that keen reporters would likely have found the story even if she didn't put the story out. Each arrest's incident report is compiled into a daily report and reporters can pick them up each morning.

Three months after the incident, Ferrena is trying to restore the reputation of he and his wife's store by using the same medium that caused their store to lose business.

A sign says only four people are allowed inside at a time. The couple has also installed a buzzer on the door to the store. They plan on hitting the emergency buzzer anytime a customer gets loud to alert police to a potential problem.

Original report here




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