• Congratulations to ASA Leonard Thompson and Deputy Chief for Special Prosecutions Tim VanderGeisen on receiving a guilty verdict by a jury for Attempted Premediated Murder and Shooting/Throwing a Deadly Missile. The Defendant is facing 25 years to Life with a Firearm which carries a Minimum Mandatory sentence.
While incarcerated, the Defendant learned that his girlfriend was being unfaithful. After being released from custody, he found out the identity of the man. In the early morning hours of September 20, 2020, the Defendant followed the Victim’s vehicle and fired 11 shots at him. Luckily, the Victim was only grazed by one of the bullets. This Defendant has an extensive criminal history, including a previous conviction for murder. It took only 15 minutes for the jury to come back with the guilty verdict.
A special thanks to Victim/Witness Counselors Samantha Mesa and Alexa Perdomo, Travel Coordinator Idalvis Trujillo, Investigator Eric Rodriguez, Giovanni Garcia-Morffi and Tony Nixon, who were critical in effectively putting this case together.
• Congratulations to ASAs Sandra Demirci and Joshua Padron for obtaining a Guilty Verdict on charges of Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer and Resisting an Officer with Violence.
While on mounted patrol, a City of Miami Police Officer felt an object fly by his face. When he turned around, he made eye contact with the Defendant, who was the only person on the street at the time. The Officer and his partner approached the Defendant who cursed at them and threatened them with a metal-tipped umbrella. For Officer and horse safety, the Officer dismounted his horse and began conducting a lawful pat down of the Defendant. The Defendant then threw his right elbow back, striking the Officer in the right shoulder before taking a fighting stance and pulling the Officer to the ground. The Officer was then able to handcuff the Defendant and take him into custody.
A very special thanks to Victim/Witness Specialist Janelle Arguelles for her assistance with this trial.
• Congratulations to ASAs Nicole Navarro and Jonathan Sallah. The jury returned a guilty verdict for Felony Battery even though the Defendant claimed self-defense and refused to accept any plea offers.
The Victim hired the Defendant for a roofing job. After several disagreements over a contract price, the Defendant attacked the Victim and punched him repeatedly in the eyes and bit his fingers. The Victim was transported to the hospital where he remained in the ICU for three days.
ASA Sallah reminded the jury they were in a criminal courthouse, and the case was not a contract dispute or civil matter involving monetary damages. When ASA Navarro cross-examined the Defendant, she highlighted inconsistencies in his self-defense claim. The jury deliberated for two hours before returning the guilty verdict.
• Congratulations to ASAs Pamela Agudelo and Jennifer Hernandez-Garcia for receiving a guilty verdict on a Battery on a Law Enforcement, Resisting Officer with Violence, and Failure to Obey a Police Officer case.
Jury selection began on a Monday at 2:00 p.m. but the first panel was discharged due to their overwhelming bias towards law enforcement. A second panel was pulled the next day and the jurors were sworn in at 1 p.m.
On June 22, 2020, the Defendant was riding his bicycle in Coral Gables against traffic. A Police Officer directed the Defendant to ride his bike in the correct lane. The Defendant uttered some colorful words at the Officer and continued to drive his bike against traffic. Five minutes later, the same Officer spotted the Defendant riding his bike on Miracle Mile which is a violation of the City of Coral Gables Code of Ordinance. The Officer then attempted to stop the Defendant, who resisted the Officer and kicked him in his shin. Multiple officers had to be called to assist with the Defendant’s arrest.
The Defendant scored nonstate prison and rejected the State’s offer of the Pre-Trial Intervention Program. Accordingly, the case proceeded to trial. During deliberation, the jurors requested to hear playback of the Officer’s testimony and of a witness who testified that the Defendant was resisting arrest. After an hour of playback, the jurors came back within five minutes with a guilty verdict on all counts.
The ASAs would like to thank Victim/Witness Counselor John Zoeller for his coordinating efforts during the trial.
• Congratulations to ASAs Katharine Moore and Justus Hogge for obtaining guilty verdicts against the last two co-Defendants in a four co-Defendant Armed Robbery Conspiracy case.
ASA Moore had been on this case since the pre-file stage and took it all the way through trial. She and ASA Hogge previously secured a 27-minute guilty verdict for one of the co-Defendants who received a Mandatory Life sentence as a Three-Time Violent Felony Offender. The fourth co-Defendant pled his case out to 20 years in state prison followed by 10 years of probation. The final two Defendants will receive mandatory life sentences as PRRPs.
On April 25, 2019, one of the Defendants, who was the Victim’s coworker, informed his friends via text message that his co-worker had received a large sum of cash earlier that day. Video footage showed a vehicle parked in front of the Victim’s place of work for more than 20 minutes. When the Victim exited his job, two gunmen exited the vehicle and demanded his wallet. Less than five minutes after the robbery, a detective with MDPD’s Tactical Robbery Unit observed a vehicle matching the BOLO and immediately stopped the vehicle. Each Defendant was in possession of money taken during the robbery. Within the first hour, detectives discovered video evidence of the two Defendants exiting the vehicle and robbing the Victim at gunpoint.
Prosecutors used job logs of the Victim and one of the Defendants, surveillance video, phone records, text message screenshots, Body Worn Camera footage and jail calls as evidence. The jury reached the inevitable conclusion that these Defendants were guilty as charged of Armed Robbery with Firearms, Conspiracy to Commit Armed Robbery, and Felon in Possession of a Firearm.
Special thanks go Support Staff Members Shaun Williams, Angie Davila, Chandra Taylor, Sheila McGregor for their invaluable assistance during this case.
• Congratulations to ASAs Michael Monajemi and Emma Nunn for obtaining a guilty verdict in a case of Possession with Intent to Sell, Manufacture, or Deliver Cocaine.
Officers went to a convenience store during on a proactive enforcement in an area known for drug sales. Once inside, Officers walked to the back room where they found the Defendant hunched over on a bed attempting to conceal drugs. Within arm’s reach was a clear baggie filled with 49 other smaller baggies containing cocaine.
A special thanks to Victim/Witness Coordinator Kelly Usher-Villazan for her assistance and work on this case.
• Congratulations to Economic Crimes Unit ASAs Mary Ernst, Suzanne Von Paulus, and Stacy Cleveland for their well-earned guilty verdicts in a 2016/17 complex financial fraud against a husband-and-wife team. Both Defendants were found guilty as charged for 1st Degree Money Laundering, Organized Scheme to Defraud Over $50,000, and Grand Theft over $100,000.
The Defendants stole $1.8 million from another local family, which was their entire life savings. The female Defendant, a licensed realtor, enticed the Victims to invest in properties to flip together along with her husband, the Co-Defendant who was a handyman. Though the Victims thought they had invested in more than 30 residential properties, in reality, the Defendants simply used their money to fund their lavish lifestyle. This included several foreign vacations and over $200,000 worth of gambling spent at the Miccosukee casino.
The Defendants created fraudulent sales contracts and deeds to promote their money laundering and theft scheme. They would occasionally return small amounts ($20k-$50k) to the Victims from supposed profits from a particular flip sale. Thus, the Victims believed the scam to be real and continued to invest until their life savings were gone.
The trial took an entire week and involved the introduction of multiple sets of bank records, certified deeds, vacation photos, screenshots of wire transfers, Sunbiz records, and 31 packets of fraudulent purchase and sales documentation given to the Victims.
The female Defendant blamed the Victims for being gullible and said that she was “just trying to make money.” However, she did congratulate ASA Ernst for doing a great job organizing all her financial paperwork.
Special thanks go to Victim/Witness Coordinator Tracey-Ann Spencer and Legal Assistant Danielle Richardson who assisted with Victim/Witness Coordination.
