Here's what we know: This past Tuesday, Chad Fleming, 31, from Deerfield Beach was delivered to a Massachusetts hospital -- after he had already died. In fact, doctors found he'd been dead for several hours. Fleming had been beaten to death. The man who dropped him off at the hospital, Nelson Melo, was arrested -- but not for murder. Rather, for witness intimidation.
Here's what we don't know (and it's plenty): Did Melo kill Fleming? His attorney denies that, of course. And if he did, then why did he take Fleming to the hospital? What witness did Melo intimidate? As you can see from this AP story, police are still investigating.
Just slap on those handcuffs. His name may be David R. Forget, but he remembers this drill. According to police, the registered sex offender who lived in Plantation believed -- truly believed -- that when he arrived at their meeting place, he would see the 15-year-old girl with whom he'd been having amorous online chats.
But we know how these stories end. The 27-year-old was pounced upon by the Fort Lauderdale Police, and now he's facing a new batch of child sex charges. Full release after the jump.
If the man who stole the bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue from the Weston liquor store thought that this blog -- which covers only major breaking crime stories -- was going to overlook this case, well, that person does not know this blog. We will solve this case, and we all we ask in exchange is for the victim to make a gift of that bottle to the New Times newsroom. But there will be plenty of time to talk about rewards. Let's look at the Broward Sheriff's Office release for clues on this caper:
The suspect was slick about his approach. After removing the bottle from the plexi-glass case where it was displayed, he grabbed another bottle and put that in its place. Store employees didn't notice the item was missing until Monday, November 2, but the entire heist was caught on surveillance video.
The tape shows a heavy-set man walking into the store Friday, Oct. 30, at around 6 p.m.
Poor Frank Sarcona, AKA Frank Sarcone, AKA Dave Johnson. Whatever the chap's name, he lacks the creativity to concoct new scams. Sarcona -- let's stick with that -- was convicted last week by a federal jury for a host of fraud charges, after he violated the terms of an injunction that barred him from "deceptive marketing practices." Sarcona's specialty: weight-loss drugs that promised impossible results.
This criminal conviction came ten years after a civil regulator, the Federal Trade Commission, won a judgment against Sarcona for exactly the same kind of scam. A 1999 Sun-Sentinel article (sorry, but there isn't a link) explains how in the mid-1990s, Sarcona promised "SlimAmerica" buyers they could lose 49 pounds in 29 days without diet or exercise.
The physician who backed this improbable claim: Dr. Howard Retzer, who apparently knew nothing of it. FTC attorneys found Retzer in a nursing home -- the elderly man suffered from dementia and hadn't practiced medicine for years.
Usually, we're skeptical when a campaigning politician cites a breaking news story as a basis for new legislation, but we'll suspend that cynicism for the moment. State Sen. Dan Gelber, Democratic candidate for Florida attorney general, has seized on the recent corruption cases in Broward County to demand new laws against official misconduct.
This issue is right in Gelber's wheelhouse: He used to work in the public corruption unit of the federal prosecutor's office in Miami, meaning he worked on cases exactly like the ones those against Broward County and School Board officials. He knows the advantages that a federal prosecutor has in working with an "honest services" statute.
But now that he's a state lawmaker, Gelber also understands how much weaker Florida public corruption laws are. Here's the passage of that blog post that makes a muckraker's heart flutter:
A spokesman for Gibraltar Private Bank and Trust, Peter Whalen, just released the following statement about its association with suspected Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein.
The law firm of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler maintained traditional banking accounts with Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust for law firm operations, including payroll. Gibraltar Private immediately reached out to the court-appointed receiver for the law firm, Herbert Stettin, regarding disposition of the balances of the accounts. Gibraltar Private has not been contacted by any governmental agencies or authorities; however the bank will provide full cooperation.
The Fort Lauderdale Police Department has provided new information on the shooting by its officer yesterday afternoon near the bus station downtown. The man shot has been identified as 20-year-old Jonas Joseph. From the release:
Sergeant Dean Schoen, a 12-year-veteren, received information from a citizen that the suspect, Jonas Joseph was armed with a knife. Sergeant Schoen located and approached the suspect at which time Joseph brandished a knife. According to multiple witness accounts, Sergeant Schoen repeatedly demanded Joseph to drop the knife. Joseph did not comply and instead advanced towards the sergeant. Sergeant Schoen, in fear for his life, fired rounds at the suspect and struck him. Joseph ran away and collapsed in front of the bus terminal. He was rushed to Broward General Medical Center and does not appear to have life-threatening injuries. He will be charged with Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon on a Law Enforcement Officer.
During the incident, a bystander, Luis Redina, 1/1/56, was inadvertently struck. He has been treated and released.
The Rock of Gibraltar: a more stable fixture on the globe than Rothstein's Gibraltar Bank accounts.
With investigators already sifting through the documents left behind in Scott Rothstein's law office on Las Olas, it's only a matter of time before they take their warrants across the street to the front doors of Gibraltar Private Bank and Trust.
The Sun-Sentinel coverage has focused on TD Bank, which is also across the street. But my sources tell me that Gibraltar just might be home to the mother lode.
The man who presides over Gibraltar's office, John Harris, told me yesterday he couldn't comment on the case. He directed me to the bank's marketing department, which in turn directed me to a public relations firm. I asked that spokesman, Peter Whalen, whether his clients at Gibraltar held assets for Rothstein. "They're not going to confirm or deny that," he said, citing federal banking privacy laws.
But today, along with this article, the Miami Herald has posted an inventory of the documents being seized from Rothstein's office, and that's turned up plenty of Gibraltar accounts.
This week's feature follows one kind of internet scam: 419 fraud, usually originating in Africa or Asia, and the people fighting the scammers at 419Eater.com. But one of the fastest growing scams in tough economic times is the "work from home" fake employment scam, and many of these can be traced to scammers in the U.S.
New Times' classified ad department receives hundreds of
employment scam ad insertion orders every year. Most of the ads claim you can
work a few hours a week and earn as much as $2,000. Take this ad, which landed
in our in-boxes this week. It's identical to ads placed on monster.com,
usjobscatalogue.com, hotjobs.yahoo.com, and newspapers like the Fort Meade
Ledger:
It's a good thing Scott Rothstein isn't a more diabolical criminal mastermind. On Tuesday, I pulled county documents that show how he transferred several Fort Lauderdale properties -- whose total value came to about $13 million -- into the hands of individual private corporations registered in Delaware, which happens to be the state that most closely guards the identity of a corporation's owners. It stands to reason that these maneuvers aimed to protect those assets from seizure in the inevitable event that his scheme was discovered.
But if that was the reason, it seems Rothstein overlooked the most obvious means for protecting his own Fort Lauderdale home: the Florida homestead exemption.
Records show that Rothstein took out a $4.5 million private mortgage
Cliff Claven endorses mouthwash as a mailman's way out of a DUI. Just don't drink the whole bottle.
Just after noon today, Boynton Beach Police responded to a report that a mailman was slumped over the wheel of his mail truck. Cops say that the mailman, Kevin Michael Crocilla, then scored a spectacular .264 on a Breathalyzer test -- more than three times the legal limit. From the police press release:
When officers arrived, it immediately became apparent that Crocilla, 29, was intoxicated. He fell asleep while officers were speaking to him, smelled of mouthwash and alcohol, couldn't stand on his own and his eyes appeared red and watery.
He told officers with the Boynton Beach Police Department's Traffic Unit that he drank wine all night and then drank half a bottle of mouthwash in an attempt to cover the smell.
Crocilla was taken to the Palm Beach County Jail.
And I daresay that no inmate had breath as minty fresh as Crocilla. Shame that there's so much alcohol in mouthwash though.
John Hammond, a 37-year-old man who had been in the Broward Main Jail since last week for stealing a car, committed suicide Tuesday night, according to a Broward Sheriff's Office news release:
On November 3, a BSO detention deputy was conducting a security check around 9 p.m. when he was alerted by an inmate that his cellmate had just hanged himself. The deputy immediately got the victim, John Hammond, down and started cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) until relieved by medical staff. Hammond was transported to Broward General Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 9:48 p.m.
Details remain vague, but Fort Lauderdale Police are investigated a shooting that occurred near the Broward County bus terminal downtown involving an off-duty officer. From the release:
Preliminary investigation has revealed that a Police Sergeant was working an off-duty detail at the Broward County Main Bus Terminal. The Sergeant was advised that there was an armed male at 300 Northwest 1 Avenue. The Sergeant advised via radio that he needed an emergency back-up to his location. A few moments later the Sergeant advised via police radio that shots had been fired and he requested EMS. The suspect, who was shot, ran away on foot southbound towards the main bus terminal. The suspect was apprehended at the bus terminal and was transported to Broward General Medical Center. The suspect is currently in surgery.
A second person was struck at 300 Northwest 1 Avenue. Detectives are currently working with witnesses to determine exactly how that person was shot.
The Fort Lauderdale Police Department will have a press conference in one hour to give information on a shooting that involves a cop. That's all the information that's available at the moment. We'll update when there's more.
South Florida's Jewish community just can't catch a break. First Bernie Madoff, now an alleged Ponzi scheme by Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein -- what gives?
Madoff lured Jewish friends at the Palm Beach Country Club to be investors in his Ponzi scheme, and when his fraud collapsed, Jewish charities lost hundreds of millions of dollars. It's not yet clear how Rothstein's scandal will impact Jewish investors -- although Yeshiva World News is buzzing with rumors that the Orthodox community in Brooklyn may have lost millions.
One thing is obvious: Rothstein's imprint on the Fort Lauderdale Jewish community is indelible and very visible. The chabad center on Broward Boulevard bears his name -- the Rothstein Family Downtown Jewish Center Chabad.
ESPN's Jeremy Schaap (the best sports journalist in television for our money) put together a fantastic package on the former Yankees catcher and one-time World Series hero that included Leyritz's first televised remarks about the drunk driving accident that killed a Fort Lauderdale woman two days after Christmas 2007.
Three hours after the crash, Leyritz's blood-alcohol level was .14, nearly twice the legal limit. Fredia Veitch, the mother who died on the scene, had a .18 at the time of the wreck. Though he is charged with DUI Manslaughter, Leyritz put the blame on Veitch.
Picture of 15-year-old burn victim, Michael Brewer
Joe Kessling isn't ready to start naming names, but suffice to say they're big -- literally. He has commitments from Miami Dolphins, among other South Florida athletes, all dedicating part of their Saturday, November 21 to raising money for Michael Brewer, the Deerfield Beach 15-year-old who was set on fire by kids who were angry at him for spoiling a bike theft.
"I like to call them big guys with big hearts," Kessling
told me yesterday. "We're all
here to help the Brewer family with their astronomical medical bills."
The one name that Kessling did give me: The Donald. A South Floridian who with a wave of the wallet can make the biggest medical bills vanish. The event will also attract the usual scrum of politicians.
Ever since lawyer Scott Rothstein went missing last week, only to return to the country amid allegations of running a $400 million Ponzi scheme, some observers have wondered how this news might affect one of the story's subplots: the March 2008 murder of Melissa Britt Lewis, a young attorney who worked in Rothstein's firm.
In this article by Bob Norman, Rothstein told Norman that Debra Villegas, another employee, handled all of his accounting. Villegas's husband, Tony Villegas, was eventually charged with the murder of Lewis. The motive was supposedly revenge for Lewis's closeness with Debra. As the murder story unfolded last year, Bob Norman described the case as "mind-boggling" and reported how Debra Villegas had given seemingly conflicting statements to separate media outlets.
This week's New Times feature details my foray into the world of scambaiting -- the practice of turning the tables on email scammers by playing along as a gullible victim -- with advice from a worldwide scambaiting site called 419Eater whose main administrator lives in Broward County.
In Nigeria, the people who run 419 scams -- those pesky, fraudulent emails that fill up your spam folder promising payouts of millions of dollars -- call themselves "Yahoo-yahoo Boys," after their favorite email service. It's been estimated that 250,000 internet scammers operate in Lagos alone, and the promise of easy money from gullible Europeans has created an industry centered around internet cafes, where teen-aged boys and girls congregate to send out mass emails. Or, as pictured in the video after the jump, they just work from home (discussed in this excellent article).
Above, African hip-hop artist Olu Maintain celebrates the Moet and Hennessey that goes along with being a Yahoo Boy. And after the jump, another much more explicit new song by Prince Hollywood -- not in English, but you get the drift. Those are definitely "Benjamins" they're throwing around.
Just got hold of Debra Villegas, the chief operating officer of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, who Scott Rothstein claimed handled his financial affairs. Earlier today I wondered aloud whether Villegas knew that there was something fishy about Rothstein's investments. I asked her that question. She said: "I have no comment to the media whatsoever."
Last year, Villegas' estranged ex-husband Tony was arrested for the murder of Melissa Britt Lewis, an attorney at Rothstein's firm and Debra Villegas' best friend. That incident was the reason Rothstein cited for hiring a security detail off-duty cops to guard his home.
As Daily Pulp reported, Rothstein himself returned to Fort Lauderdale this afternoon. The lawyer is said to be negotiating a deal with federal officials.
Starting this past July, attorney Scott Rothstein began a series of deed transfers that, given the allegations about his financial misdeeds, figure to interest his many investors. Broward County records show that on July 22, Rothstein transferred a $1.9 million property on Castilla Isle in Fort Lauderdale from his name to a Delaware limited liability corporation, CI 08. The Broward County Property Appraiser's website shows that he paid $2.73 million for the property in 2005.
A few weeks later, on August 10, Rothstein did the same with another parcel he owned on Castilla Isle, transferring this $2.2 million property into a Delaware corporation called CI 27. That same day he transferred this $1.33 million parcel to CI 07 and this $1.4 million parcel to CI 16. That's nearly $8 million in real estate that figures to grow in value when the economy bounces back -- all controlled by corporations in Delaware, which the Tax Justice Network found to be the world's most notorious tax haven.
David Friehling, an accountant with South Florida roots, is going to follow Bernard Madoff into prison. The Miami native entered a guilty plea today to nine felony charges. Hilariously, Friehling maintains to this day that though he rubber-stamped Madoff audits and invested with Madoff, he didn't know that the Palm Beach-dwelling swindler had engineered a massive Ponzi scheme.
Totally unrelated question: How much did Debra Villegas know about the accounts of Scott Rothstein? After all, Rothstein himself told Bob Norman last year:
"I'm a lunatic about money. Debra Villegas handles all my finances."
We know the first part of that is true. As for the second part, you can bet an FBI agent or two has taken an interest.
Both Chernick and that other defendant, Steven Michael Rubinstein of Boca Raton, had traded a guilty plea and their cooperation in catching Swiss bank officials who helped clients evade taxes, in exchange for which they stood to receive leniency.
But then, Chernick may have played a more active role in the tax cheating than did Rubinstein. This post on the Vile Plutocrat cites court documents that explain how Chernick moved the money between the U.S. and accounts in Hong Kong.
"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world..."
Over on My Acts of Sedition, blogger Chaz Stevens claims to have picked up the trail of Scott Rothstein. Or at least he makes a very plausible guess about the identity of the single reader in Casablanca who has an interest in his blog. It appears that same reader followed Stevens from a comment he made on Daily Pulp.
That's pretty twisted. It's one thing to screw over investors, your law firm, and a slew of charities. But shouldn't the guy at least have enough guilt to avoid reading about himself?
Well, no. Everything we know about Rothstein suggests he's too damned egotistical to resist basking in the attention he gets, even when it's the lynch mob variety. Also, it's just like him to have stranded himself in Casablanca, the old romantic.
I just returned from a very brief interview with Moe Sohail of Ultimate Cigars and Fine Wines on Federal Highway near downtown Fort Lauderdale. I walked in. I introduced myself. Sohail pointed to the door. "I have nothing to say to you," he said. "Have a nice day." I showed myself out.
It's hard to blame Sohail for being terse. This past week, he's seen his ambitious plans for a cigar and martini bar go up in smoke. Bova Smoke was to be Sohail's venture with Scott Rothstein and Jack Jackson, former owner of the eponymous downtown steak house.
Today, Bova Prime on Las Olas remains open, but Bova Ristorante in Boca closed, somewhat mysteriously, late last month.
Fortunately, they're enabled by very lazy bank tellers. Just when we finally nab the withdrawal bandit, South Florida has a new and even more complacent serial thief, who has yet to be formally nicknamed. Above, that's him from his Halloween heist. We'll work on that nickname after the jump. This is from the BSO release:
Broward Sheriff's Office detectives are looking for a brash bank robber who hit the same bank so often that the tellers recognized him when he showed up Saturday afternoon to rob them for a third time.
"It's him again," one beleaguered bank employee said when the portly, dread-locked thief sauntered into the lobby of a Bank Atlantic on Commercial Boulevard in Tamarac.
Stephanie Slater, spokeswoman for the Boynton Beach Police Department, just sent across a list of the people charged in connection with alleged crimes at Platinum Showgirls gentleman's club. It's a long list, and it starts with the owners, who face the severest penalties:
Matt Barrow, 11-29-56, Lake Park, racketeering, felony public nuisance, unlawfully possessing property for sale of controlled substance, deriving support from proceeds of prostitution, allowing employees to engage in prohibited acts
Gregory Lenox, 4-25-75, Lake Worth, racketeering, felony public nuisance, deriving support from proceeds of prostitution, allowing employees to engage in prohibited acts
For four months, the Boynton Beach Police Department has been investigating the Platinum Showgirls strip club on North Federal Highway, and tonight they swooped in. According to a just-issued department release, some 50 police officers have swarmed the club in what spokeswoman Stephanie Slater is calling "an extremely active scene."
In the last few weeks, we've brought you the story of Ronald Murphy, the convicted rapist forced to sleep on a bench outside his parole officer's building in Delray Beach. (You can read some background here, here, and here.)
Well this week Murphy moved from his bench to a new address in Broward County, where his sex offense originally occurred.
While it's still not clear whose idea it was for Murphy to sleep on the bench for nearly two months, a Florida Department of Corrections spokesperson explained that Murphy and his parole officer had been unable to find a permanent residence that fit the local and state sex offender ordinances, like the code that forces registered sex offenders to live at least 2,500 feet from every school, playground, and park.
Manalapan Police Chief Clay Walker says his investigators are wrapping up their case against the two men involved in the knife fight Monday night at the Ritz Carlton, where Nazi historian David Irving was giving a speech. He expects to deliver investigative findings to the Palm Beach State Attorney's Office on Monday.
"We did not make arrests that night," says Walker, "because there wasn't enough information." Also, both combatants had to be treated for wounds. According to police, they are Christopher Nachtman, 31, and John Kopko, 43.
The last few days, police have been able to interview witnesses, but Walker declined to offer any clues what his investigators have learned. "The State Attorney's Office considers it an open investigation," he says.
Contributors: Eric Barton, Michelle Centrone, Deirdra Funcheon, Keith Hollar, John Linn, Michael J. Mooney, Bob Norman, Lisa Rab, Nicole Rodriguez, Gail Shepherd.
Post a Comment
