South Florida Criminal Attorneys Blog

International Cyber-Criminal and Two Americans Convicted

November 18, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

He went by the screen name “Eskalibur” which was used in his role of making online transactions at meeting places for thieves located in cyberspace. The criminal enterprise’s name on the Internet was known as the Western Express Cybercrime Group and Eskalibur was one of its ringleaders. He was personally responsible for the trafficking and sale of approximately 75,000 credit card account numbers in a fraud that would bear fruit to a tune of over a $4 million in proceeds. With two others, who lived in the United States, the trio was accountable for over 95,000 stolen and forged credit card accounts and another million dollars in profits building to a grand total of over $5 million in cybercrime earnings.

Egor Shevelev a/k/a Eskalibur, 27 was safe from prosecution. Living in Kiev in the Ukraine, there was no way US law enforcement was able to apprehend him. However in 2008, he decided to spend some of his ill-gotten gains and take a vacation to Greece. It was there on the Island of Rhodes that Greek law enforcement apprehended him after the issuance of an international arrest request. Shortly after, Ukrainian authorities executed a search warrant of his apartment, finding evidence that allowed Greek officials to detain him in preparation for extradition back to New York State on July 2, 2010 for the cybercrime of identity theft and the global trafficking of stolen and forged credit card accounts.

The two Americans who lived in United States were easier to apprehend and arrest. Douglas Latta, 40 whose online handle was “Realbusy” and Anna Ciano, 41, a/k/a “Angela Perez,” were both picked up in the Brooklyn, New York apartment they shared.
Along with Shevelev, the three were indicted and found guilty by a jury of all charges listed in the Indictment in New York State Supreme Court, after a ten-week trial in August of this year.

Shevelev operated his part in the scheme out of his apartment in Kiev. He was among five other men of Eastern European descent who were listed in the Indictment that was originally filed in 2009, where the case was prosecuted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. The ring as stated operated a carding forum on the Internet by the name of the International Association for the Advancement of Criminal Activity. Thieves interacted in stolen credit card activities as well as other transactions in violation of law. They also purportedly forged credit cards using the hijacked numbers, turning them into cash with the unsuspecting, innocent assistance of eBay shoppers.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr. made the announcements of the extradition, Indictment and the results of the trial. After the indictment was revealed Vance said “The extradition and indictment of this defendant bring us a step closer to apprehending the members of an international identity theft ring. This Office is committed to shutting down criminal operations that traffic in stolen information used to steal identities and illegally acquire money.”

After the verdict by the jury was made public, Vance was quoted as saying “It was a highly profitable scheme that netted the principals millions of dollars. I am pleased that these defendants have been sentenced to prison sentences appropriate to the scope and breadth of their misconduct.”

Aside from the results of this trial four others included in the 173-count Indictment were Dzimitry Burak, aka “Graph,” 30, a native of Belarus who like Shevelev was living in the Ukraine, Oleg Kovelin (Covelin), aka “DoZ,” 32, from Moldova, and Vladimir Kramarenko, aka “Envisor,” 35, a Moldovan national, as well as Viatcheslav Vasilyev, aka “The Viver,” 37 from the Czech Republic. Kramarenko and Vasilyev were arrested in July 2008 in Prague and subsequently extradited to the U.S. the following year.

According to officials, the five Eastern European men, worked in line with seventeen other accused individuals who were named in the November 2007 indictment, as well as a company based in New York called Western Express International Inc. WEI was managed by an additional defendant named Vadim Vassilenko, which authorities say was used to coordinate and facilitate the illegal activities and launder the ring’s ill-gotten gains.

Vasilyev and Kramarenko previously pleaded guilty. Burak and Kovelin (Covelin) still remain fugitives to this point, avoiding capture.

Corruption Charges against Three South Florida Mayors Brings One Guilty Plea

November 13, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

According to the Department of Justice, Florida led the nation with a staggering 781 convictions of public officials between the years 2000 and 2010. In the second decade of this century, the trend continues. A current example shows that between September and October of this year, three more local politicians were added to the list of those willing to let down their constituents by breaking the law.

In late August, the mayor of Homestead was arrested and accused of using his elected office to secure a secret consulting job as well as accepting a bribe from Community Health Care of South Florida Inc. The health care company was looking to build a clinic in the area according to the state attorney’s office for Miami-Dade. On Nov 1, further charges were filed against him when he was charged with seven election law violations. Former Mayor Steven Bateman, 58, was accused of misusing campaign funds according to state attorney spokesperson Terry Chavez. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released without bond.

Earlier that month, two other mayors of South Florida cities were charged by the government in ongoing corruption investigations. Florida Governor Rick Scott suspended all three of the mayors pending outcome of their criminal cases.

Michael A. Pizzi, 51, the mayor of Miami Lakes, and Manuel L. Maroño, 41, the mayor of Sweetwater and current president of the Florida League of Cities, were charged in two unrelated complaints concerning public corruption allegations along with two lobbyists of which one was connected to both of the mayors. The United States attorney’s office has accused them of involvement in bribery and kickback schemes relating to federal grants. The two lobbyists, Jorge L. Forte, 41, and Richard F. Candia, 49 both of Miami were named in the Maroño case and Candia was also named as part of the complaint involving Pizzi.

Ironically, the Florida League of Cities displays a June 8, 2012 article on their website that leads to a story about a newly formed advocacy group called Integrity Florida; “a nonprofit, nonpartisan group” that released a report showing that Florida led the nation in federal public corruption convictions through the years referenced above.

Carla Miller, an ethics officer and a former federal prosecutor stated “We bought the trifecta… It’s bad when three mayors get led out in handcuffs. What’s left of the public trust gets ground into little pieces.”

On November 13, former mayor Maroño and lobbyist Jorge L. Forte both pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud for their involvement in a plan to individually benefit through the use of the station of the mayor of Sweetwater which was held by Maroño. They were originally charged by way of Information with one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud on October 17.
Forte and Maroño both face a maximum statutory sentence of 5-years of incarceration under the terms of the agreement. Sentencing is scheduled for January 23, 2014 and will be imposed by US District Judge William J. Zloch.

The guilty pleas were announced in a press release by Wifredo A. Ferrer, US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Michael B. Steinbach, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Miami Field Office Investigations.

In what may be the most interesting of the three cases, Michael Pizzi, the suspended Miami Lakes Mayor pleaded not guilty in late-October to the indictment that charged him with pursuing kickbacks that prosecutors’ state was intended to enrich him in exchange for backing federal grant applications in the latest allegations against him.

South Miami-Dade lobbyist Michael Kesti first approached the FBI in 2011 informing them of his suspicions that Candia was in league with corrupt politicians in South Florida.

Before this latest indictment was filed, an undercover investigation was instituted by detectives of the Miami-Dade Police, established on purported threats that Pizzi expressed to a confidential informant working for that police agency.

In a conversation covertly recorded, Pizzi clearly stated that he wanted to “take out” a Miami Lakes town councilman who was apparently a rival, by the method of either rigging the brakes of his vehicle or planting cocaine in his car. The probe was dropped by police after a substantial amount of time had passed and no action was taken that supported the statements. The “then” mayor called his remarks in the recording as no more than “silly, ridiculous drinking talk.”

The current indictment, filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jared Dwyer, depicts Pizzi as a politician who had knowledge that the purported federal grant scheme was a “money grab.”

In the latest criminal complaint, Pizzi was accused of an extortion plot along with lobbyist Richard Candia who was accused of the same offense, as mentioned above with Manny Maroño and lobbyist Jorge Forte.

They were accused of participating in what has been termed a “bogus” grant scheme planned to net the participants thousands of dollars, whereas their cities would receive nothing. Posing as businessmen from Chicago, an FBI anti-corruption team coordinated the sting. The agents stated that they would obtain the grant money with the intention of performing an economic development study. The proceeds would then be split between the four of them.

The indictment charges that Pizzi collected $6,000 in total cash, received in three payments. He also is alleged to have received an additional $750 paid by checks for his 2012 reelection campaign. These payments were allegedly in return for advocating resolutions that simplified the establishment for grant applications in Medley and Miami Lakes.

Pizzi has unequivocally denied accepting any cash as charged. Subsequent to his arrest, he said that he “accepted no money inappropriately or illegally from anyone, ever.” in a prepared statement.

To read the complete press release charging Maroño and Pizzi and the two lobbyists on the FBI Website, click here. The press release regarding Maroño’s guilty plea can be read in full by clicking here.

Computer Hacker Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Securities Fraud

November 8, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

In the real world, it seems the more effort put into constructing locks and security systems to safeguard our possessions; lawbreakers develop abilities to build enhanced keys, and a superior illicit method to gain access to what is being guarded. Protecting the contents of our homes, cash and valuables is an ever-present, unending challenge. But in the Cyber world the level of sophistication reached by criminals responsible for computer incursions and hacking activities is constantly tested by our ability to thwart their entry.

The phenomena of modern technology has grown exponentially over the past have century. And most individuals use the Internet for a variety of purposes. For the most part when we visit our online banking or brokerage accounts the belief is that the transactions that are processed are secure, encrypted, and veiled from prying eyes.

But clever cyber-crooks are always out there, lurking in the shadows constantly attempting to find ways to cash in on activities in this virtual world.

Petr Murmylyuk, a.k.a. Dmitry Tokar, a Russian National who made his home in Brooklyn, NY is one of those shadow lurkers.

Murmylyuk’s cultivated knowledge in the workings of computers was substantiated by his arrest in November, 2011 when he was caught red-handed with a laptop in his possession containing more than enough evidence to implicate him in a substantial scam, along with his accomplices.

The Complaint against Murmylyuk asserts that he, along with an accomplice recruited Russian, as well as other foreign nationals in an online stock rigging scheme. The foreigners were either already living in the United States, or were visiting. Some were students. Three residents of Houston, Texas: Mikhail Shatov, Anton Mezentsev and Galina Korelina were among them as well as other unnamed participants. The group was instructed to open new bank accounts where illegal profits resultant from the proposed operation would be deposited.

Murmylyuk’s hacking abilities allowed him to gain illegal entry to online accounts of brokerage firm customer accounts at Fidelity, Scottrade, E-Trade, and Schwab among other brokerage firms not specifically listed. Telephone numbers and email addresses of the owners were then altered giving the group complete control of the hacked accounts. He and his connections then used identities that were originally illegally obtained or stolen to open new accounts at other brokerage houses. These accounts were termed “Profit Accounts” in the Information. After this method was introduced, they then made irrational and unprofitable trades using the victimized accounts leading to losses in the victims’ accounts and gains in the “Profit Accounts”.

An example of the swindle involved initiating trades that sold options contracts directly to the “Profit Accounts”. After the trade was offered the same contracts were specifically purchased back minutes later for “at times” almost ten times the original price. They also used “short selling” to achieve the same results. (Selling an issue short is a sale of stock that a shareholder doesn’t actually own, but instead borrows from an investor willing to do so with the hope of eventually returning it after the stock price drops resulting in a profit to the original shareholder who “sold it short”.)

This was done by using the “Profit Accounts” offering a short sale of a stock at a worth grossly inflated above the market price for that particular day for the given stock. Moments after the offering was proposed on the open market from the Hackers Accounts, the Hackers used their ability over the Victim Accounts to purchase the shares of the stock at the inflated price, which resulted in a profit for the owner of the “Profit Account” at the Victim Account’s expense. Murmylyuk and/or his associates then covered the falsified short sale by re-purchasing the security which was borrowed at the lower market price.

All proceeds were then transferred from the “Profit Accounts” into the new accounts and then transmitted to the bank accounts that were opened by Mezentsev, Korelina and Shatov as well as others involved in the scheme.

The profits received by Murmylyuk and his associates, generated by the scam, resulted in combined losses of roughly $1 million to the three named major brokerage houses as well as others.

Mikhail Shatov, Anton Mezentsev and Galina Korelina were previously charged in New Jersey and convicted for charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. U. S. District Judge Esther Salas sentenced Mezentsev to 27 months in federal prison. Korelina and Shatov were sentenced to14 months each, earlier in 2012.

Murmylyuk was formally charged in April, 2012, charged with unauthorized access to computers, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and securities fraud. The SEC is also filing a comparable civil action. He is currently in state custody looking at charges from a separate investigation directed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office where he is charged with identity theft of more than three-hundred individuals that were unemployed. He then allegedly collected bogus tax returns using their names and information.

Murmylyuk has pleaded guilty to the conspiracy to commit securities fraud charge. He pleaded guilty to identity theft and tax fraud charges earlier. He’ll face a $250,000 fine and a maximum penalty of five years in prison for the New Jersey case and fifteen years in prison for the case against him brought forward by the Manhattan district attorney. Sentencing is scheduled for November 12 for the securities fraud case.

Parkland Woman Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering Conspiracy Charge

November 1, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

A Parkland Florida resident pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Launder Money after admitting to her part in an expansive $8 million illegal gambling setup that used phony corporations, offshore accounts and operated using the Internet and direct telephone call contact.

Michele Lasso-Barraza, 30, a Panamanian national, delivered her plea from Florida via a video feed which was filed in U.S. District Court in Albany, New York. The prosecution alleged that she laundered the proceeds gained from gambling websites that was made available to her; allowing gamblers to place wagers via the Internet. She then transferred the ill-gotten gains, using bogus entities which she created, into bank accounts that were located offshore.

Lasso-Barraza’s role in the case is connected to Philip Gurian, another Florida man who was purportedly linked to the Mafia and was an important operative in the gambling entity which offered online and by phone sports betting from Costa Rica and Panama to its player base which was predominantly made up of residents of the United States. Gurian, 52, of Boca Raton, and Lasso-Barraza were among over thirty persons that were charged last April for their connection to the Panama-based Corporation known as Legends a/k/a Legendz Sports.

The indictment against a total of 23 companies and 34 individuals accused Legendz of offering betting options by credit, as well as maintained accounts known as “post-ups.” Both types of betting methods combined, netted the company profits of over two-billion dollars over the past ten years.

Those named in the indictment face charges of operating an illegal gambling business, racketeering, conspiring to commit money laundering and money laundering. Penalties for these crimes can range from five to twenty years.

The Department of Justice is also pursuing the forfeiture of a minimum of one-billion dollars of tangible assets of the firm which include balances in bank accounts, real estate, vehicles, as well as other monetary holdings of value.

Gurian had previously waived the grand jury indictment and accepted a guilty plea for the charge of conspiracy in association to the role he played in the international sports betting operation.

A charge and conviction for his type of allegation can yield a prison term of up to twenty years behind bars. However under the plea agreement negotiated between Gurian’s attorneys and the government, combined with sentencing guideline calculations that are utilized in federal cases, it is expected that he will be sentenced to two years in prison at a maximum. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 6, 2014
As part of her acceptance of the guilty plea, Lasso-Barraza admitted her participation in the illegal gambling business which was directed by Gurian as well as other individuals that permitted bettors to wager thousands of bets originating from Florida, California, Texas, Indiana Nevada and the District of Columbia. She also confessed to participating in at least $8 million of the laundering of money which was fashioned from the unlawful gaming enterprise that she was a part of on Gurian’s behalf. She then had the currency transported to offshore accounts that were deceptively created and set up by her with locations in Panama, Andorra, and the Cayman Islands.

Lasso-Barraza faces a fine of a half a million USD and up to twenty years in prison for her role in her illicit activities. She is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 28, 2014.

These proceedings are being prosecuted by AUSA Robert A. Sharpe. All charges were the product of a combined investigation introduced by the Albany County Sheriff’s Office and further assisted by the Albany County District Attorney’s Office, as well as the Saratoga District Attorney’s Office in New York. In Florida, the Broward County Money Laundering Task Force is credited with the role they played. Federal law enforcement agencies recognized for their assistance in the case are the FBI and the IRS-Criminal Investigation Division.

Man Charged in Greenwich Village Hate Crime Murder

October 30, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Greenwich Village is a mostly residential area of the west side of Lower Manhattan. The largest majority of people who live there are basically upper middle class families. Known in the latter part of the 19th century through the present, the “Village” has been labeled a haven for artists, as well as the bohemian capital of New York City. It is also credited as the birthplace of the Beat movement of the East Coast. The neighborhood is encompassed by Broadway to the east and the Hudson River to its furthest point west. To the south lies Houston Street and it travels north to 14th Street. The neighborhood essentially centers New York University and Washington Square Park.

Living among the wealthy residents who live in stylish apartment buildings or own their own renovated brownstones, there is a large gay community. This group is known to mostly frequent the bars and clubs of the west village.

While traveling through the Village it is not unusual to run across openly gay members of its population. Two men, or two women, walking together holding hands with each other is more the rule than its exception. Especially north of the Avenue of the Americas which is the unofficial line of demarcation separating the east and west village. Within the community’s whole there is the realm of gay men and lesbians and the bars they frequent as well as the domain of straight men and women who visit clubs that fit a heterosexual lifestyle.

It was on a corner of the Avenue of the Americas that Mark Carson, 32, heard the words “You want to die tonight?”

Carson was walking with a companion as he was being followed by Elliot Morales, who was repeatedly shouting anti-gay slurs at the two. After his final hateful proclamation, he allegedly shot Carson in the face with a silver revolver. Carson was found fatally wounded by police lying in the street and later died of his injuries after being taken to Beth Israel Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

A short time later, Morales was picked up when a police officer spotted him a few blocks away from the crime scene. The officer heard the description of the perpetrator on his radio and made the arrest upon seeing Morales.

Approximately 15 minutes before the murder took place, the alleged killer was noticed urinating outside a fashionable restaurant a few blocks from the crime scene, according to New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. Kelly labeled the murder a hate crime. “There were no words that would aggravate the situation, and the victim did not know the perpetrator,” he said.

Before a commencement address that he delivered in White Plains, when speaking about the incident, he went on to say “It is clear that the victim here was killed only because and just because he was thought to be gay. There is no question about that.”

Police also questioned two unidentified individuals who had been seen with Morales moments before the shooting took place. The Police Department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said that the two men were questioned as witnesses to the murder and were not, considered suspects at this time. He also said that they were cooperating with the authorities.

According to state Department of Correction records it was found that Mr. Morales had been found guilty of a robbery and served more than 10 years in prison for his conviction of that crime. Until his arrest he had been staying with one of the two men who is now being questioned as a witness at his home in Far Rockaway, Queens. Police found another gun amongst Mr. Morales’s belongings at that location.

According to an undisclosed source, Mr. Morales’s sister, Edith Gutierrez, said she did not believe her brother could have committed a crime of such bias. She said that they have gay relatives and her brother had never shown any signs of homophobia. She also said that when she spoke with her brother in jail, “he said he doesn’t remember anything; he was under the influence, he was drinking.”

After making his first appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court, he was charged with murder and weapons charges, according to the Wall Street Journal. Pending his next court appearance he is being held without bail as ordered by Judge Robert Stolz.

Morales, said nothing at his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court and his attorney chose not to comment on the case.

Man Indicted after Massive Drug Bust in Nice Bronx Neighborhood

October 29, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

The Horace Man School has been a fixture in the Riverdale section of the Bronx celebrating its one-hundred-twenty-fifth anniversary in 2012. In addition to Mann there are several schools in that area and thousands of children of school-age in attendance.

Fieldston Terrace is a peaceful street just a little north from The Horace Mann School. It was there that DEA agents were able to uncover close to 70 pounds of cocaine. The drug was carefully packaged in cellophane and found hidden in a closet in the bedroom of an apartment within the building that is located just west of Broadway, neighboring Van Cortlandt Park to the east. The Major Deegan Expressway goes directly through the park. The DEA has recently noted a trend where “stash houses” that hold large amounts of drugs have been found to be located neighboring major state interstate highways and thruways.

The stash was found this past September 26, which led to the immediate arrest of Juan Rojas, 30, who shared the apartment with his girlfriend Ana.

In addition to the cocaine that has been valued at over $1.5 million, two loaded firearms, scales, a money counter, drug ledgers as well as over $1.6 million in cash were seized by the DEA agents who made the bust.

A portion of the packages of cocaine were soaped in a type of grease, and a five-gallon container of that substance was also found in close proximity to the stockpile of drugs. According to DEA sources, drug traffickers brush cocaine with this type of grease to disguise the scent from drug-sniffing dogs that are trained to track illegal substances. The container’s incidence in the bedroom led law enforcement officials to believe that the apartment was used as a “stash house” which held the drugs before they were staged and transported, according to DEA Agent spokeswoman Erin Mulvey. “It was going to be used to mask the smell in transportation somewhere,” she stated referring to the confiscated tub of grease. Based on calculations, law enforcement believes that Rojas was trafficking in the area of 110 pounds of cocaine on a monthly basis. The apartment was targeted by DEA agents as a suspected drug trafficking locality as part of an ongoing investigation

The apartment was neither listed in the name of Rojas or his girlfriend. Records revealed that it was listed under the name of a Ms. Then.

Rojas, 30, now faces charges of first-and-third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance; one third-degree count of criminal possession of a weapon as well as two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. In the statement that was released by the DEA it wasn’t specified if the suspect caused any commotion when he was arrested as the raid took place. His girlfriend Ana, who was present at the apartment when the bust went down, was taken into custody and later pleaded guilty to criminal facilitation which is a misdemeanor.

Rojas was indicted last week after being held without bail since his arrest. His attorney stated that his client has no prior records of arrest and pointed out that the apartment belonged to another person. “It was another individual’s apartment and he’s going to vigorously fight the case,” commented his attorney in a phone interview with the Riverdale Press. The lawyer went on to say that his client planned to plead not guilty at his arraignment which is scheduled for next week.

Neighbors that were interviewed by the same publication that conducted the telephone interview reported that they seemed surprised by news of the goings on in the apartment.

Hollywood Cop Faces DUI Charges after Arrest by Fellow Officer

October 25, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

“As a talented eighth-grader moving from Optimist League football to high school, DiIvory Edgecomb thought he could adjust quickly.” reported the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel in a December 2003 article that was publicized in their sports section.

And based on the Florida Atlantic University’s (FAU) official Website, he did just that. Edgecomb, now 27, still holds the FAU Owls single-season kick return record with 1,155 yards in the 2007 season as well as being the record holder for most returns in a single game with seven. He was also third in the category of most all-purpose yards in a single season with 1,761. He graduated FAU in 2009 but did not go on to play professional football.

He was hired by the Hollywood Police Department in November 2009 and a according to Union leader Jeff Marano “comes from a law enforcement family”. His LinkedIn social media profile lists him as “Entrepreneur, Realtor, Investor, Philanthropist, Enthusiast” He’s also listed as a licensed real estate sales associate with The Keyes Company in Hollywood.
But recently, the once aspiring golden boy’s good fortune seems to have dramatically changed course.

Late last month Edgecomb was arrested by officers from his own department for charges of Driving under the Influence (DUI). He was directly relieved of his duties and placed on paid administrative leave. He was further ordered to relinquish his squad car, badge, and department-issued firearm, according to Lieutenant Osvaldo Perez of the Hollywood Police Department.

The incident took place a short time after 1:30 a.m., on Sept. 30 as Edgecomb was driving his grey Toyota in the northbound lane of North 22nd Avenue in Hollywood. He was travelling in a southerly direction when his car struck another vehicle.

Shantrice Shipman, the driver of the vehicle that was hit told police that a car was coming toward her in the wrong lane. She said that she turned sharply to the left in an effort to avoid a collision. But as she swerved her car away from the other vehicle it crashed into her car, hitting it on the passenger side. After the impact, the driver of the Toyota continued driving south, apparently without making an attempt to stop at all.

Edgecomb’s damaged vehicle was detected by Hollywood police about a half a mile from the crash, not moving, on the side of the road. The right front side of the car was noticeably dented and one of the tires was flat.

The officer that interviewed Edgecomb at the scene noted that his eyes were bloodshot and his breath smelled from alcohol, He also wrote in his report that the subject’s speech was slurred.

Edgecomb refused to take part in a roadside sobriety test. He also told police that he had nothing to say until he was able to contact his attorney. He was arrested at 3:40 a.m. and driven to be processed at the Broward Sheriff’s Office Detention Facility which is located at Hollywood Police Headquarters. After posting a bond of $1,500.00 he was released just after 2:00pm that same afternoon. His attorney could not be reached for comment on behalf of his client. Union leader Jeff Marano termed Edgecomb a “good, solid” cop, however the beleaguered officer declined to comment through his Union leader as well.

“He’s a sweetheart,” Marano said and went on to say that he “comes from a law enforcement family. Always has a smile on his face. He’s a great kid.”

However, the Hollywood Police Department will have to deal with the fact that one of their own is facing charges for DUI after being arrested by a fellow officer.
Currently, his case is pending.

Cab Driver Faces Vehicular Homicide for Hit and Run Death of Homeless Man

October 21, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Two good Samaritans stopped their vehicles and attempted to help a man that was terribly injured but apparently still alive, lying on a Dania Beach thoroughfare just before 4:30 in the morning.

Bernard Williams, 62, of Dania Beach turned out to be a homeless man, according to a report issued by the Broward Sheriff’s Office. Why he was lying in the road when a car struck him is unknown, but a sheriff’s deputy recognized him when he arrived at the scene where the man was still lying in the road, clinging to life. The police officer had seen the homeless man around the vicinity on numerous occasions. Tests also revealed that the victim’s blood alcohol level was 0.22 which a medical examiner said “could impair a person’s normal faculties.”

The hit and run took place at the 1200 block of Federal Highway on June 5 in front of Cyber Pizza Cafe. He was later pronounced dead at the scene by fire rescue.

When police began their investigation, it was a surveillance camera from a neighboring business that was credited with showing a vehicle moving in a southerly direction on Federal Highway (US1) around the time Mr. Williams was struck. The car was then identified as a white taxi which proved to be owned by Yellow Cab which serves South Florida cities in that area. After the taxi was identified, authorities asked the company for a list of the drivers who were operating their cabs at the time.

Examining the suspected vehicle, the Sheriff’s Department uncovered fatty tissue fixed to the undercarriage of the cab as well as the front bumper exposing chips in the finish of the paint. During Williams’ autopsy, a similar fragment of white paint was found on the victim’s chest that ultimately established a match to the vehicle.

From the taxi company’s records it was determined that Michael Brandt, 58, of Hollywood was the driver of that cab at the time of the crash. The Broward Sherriff’s Office obtained a warrant for his arrest on October 15. He was subsequently arrested and charged with the crime of leaving the scene of an accident w/death, which is a first-degree felony. He is facing charges of vehicular homicide mostly due to the circumstance that he fled the scene. Brandt originally told detectives that he was in the Hallandale Beach and Hollywood area at the time of the incident but lab analysis samples obtained from the vehicle matched Williams’ DNA, confirming that the vehicle in question was in fact the taxi that struck him, and was clearly being driven by Brandt at the time.

According to the report filed, investigators said Brandt had to have more than a slight idea that he had collided with something due to the “severity” of the crash. Brandt “did know or should have known that the incident would have or could have caused injury or death to a person.”

Myrtle Corbin, the victim’s sister told the Sun Sentinel newspaper shortly after he was run down that her brother was homeless and living on the streets for more than 20 years. She noted that he opted to live that lifestyle in spite of him being in touch with relatives.

Her statement to the news reporter was “I never dreamed he would go this way. I just know that he doesn’t have to suffer through what he was going through in this life anymore… I feel the person who did it needs to be reprimanded in some way, or at least admit that you did it.”

According to the Broward County Clerk of the Court’s Website, Brandt is still in custody and his case is pending. Judge Raag Singhal will preside over the case if it goes to trial.

Human Trafficking Victims Held for Years Mirror Amanda Berry Case

October 20, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Amanda Berry escaped to a neighbor’s house and made that call earlier this month. The two other women that were held at the property were Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight who were grabbed after the seizure of Miss Berry.

As this tale of misery continues to unfold and dominate the National headlines Berry’s disappearance was a National story in itself after she disappeared 10 years ago.

As hard as it is to believe that these women could be successfully held captive for such an extended period of time, similar stories come to light every day throughout the United States.

Mirroring the Amanda Berry story, a great amount of women are abducted and held captive for months and sometimes many years. A substantial amount of them are led into a life of prostitution by their kidnappers.

At about the same time that the three women and one child were emancipated from their captor in Cleveland, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were making arrests.

The ICE Homeland Security Investigations directorate is an Agency that is in authority of investigating a wide array of domestic and international actions arising from the illegal movement of people and merchandise into, within, and out of the country.

Last month, they issued search warrants for four brothels in Queens and Yonkers and as far north as upstate Poughkeepsie and Newburgh. By way of these warrants, nine men from Queens were taken into custody. Three other targets of the warrants were found to already be incarcerated on unrelated charges and one of the suspects remains at large. They were charged in an alleged sex trafficking and prostitution ring which was said to have been shaped as early as 2008. Victims in the case were not physically abducted per se, but the commonality to the Cleveland case is that some of them were held by their captors’ for vast periods of time.

Most of the victims were lured from Tenancingo, Mexico by men who enticed them with promises of romance and/or assurances of a better life in the United States.

“The members of this alleged sex trafficking and prostitution ring lured their unsuspecting victims to the United States and then consigned them to a living hell – forcing them to become sex slaves living in abhorrent conditions, and using threats, verbal abuse, and violence – sexual and otherwise – when they resisted and even sometimes when they didn’t,” said U.S. attorney Preet Bharara in a recent statement.

Labeled as the “world capital of sex trafficking” by U.S. government authorities, the rural region of Tenancingo, Mexico appears to spawn a remarkable amount of sex traffickers that have been arrested by ICE agents in New York City and its outlying areas. Tenancingo, a town of approximately 10,000 people is located within 80 miles of its Capital; Mexico City and has earned the aforesaid reprehensible distinction due to the many arrests made in New York and other parts of the country during the last decade.

The sex trafficking route from Tenancingo that once led straight to Jackson Heights has expanded far outside the city limits, a thorough Daily News investigation illustrates.

The recent indictment of brothers Isaias and Bonifacio Flores-Mendez; by law enforcement shows exactly how far the venomous Queens-based crews have expanded.

They operate covert brothels in homes located in the Hudson Valley and improvised houses of ill-reputed on New Jersey farms, bullying girlfriends and even their wives into lives of prostitution.

“We see here that they have moved (farther) out,” said ICE Special Agent in Charge James Hayes after the upstate raid at the end of April. “It seems like the word is getting out that we’re cracking down in the New York City area.”

Since last October, 33 arrests relating to sex-trafficking have been achieved in New York all of them dealing with suspects from the town of Tenancingo.

One of the victims that the Daily News is only calling “Ana” in the attempt to protect her actual identity spoke about the life she was forced to live saying “Some weekends, I would just have to try to stand it. Drunks, insults. Sometimes on a weekend it would be 30, 40 a night. And you would have to keep going,” She was led to farms, brothels or “delivery service” setups on Long Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and as far away as Maryland. In most cases the leaders of the sex ring would keep all of her earnings.

In a telephone conversation that was recorded by law enforcement, Carlos Garcia-de la Rosa, one of the drivers for the Flores-Mendez’s organization was heard asking a 14-year old girl to have naked pictures of herself taken and then texted to him. He was charged with child pornography according to court papers.

Another one of their drivers David Vasquez-Medina forced his girlfriend to turn tricks working against her will for over two years with Vasquez-Medina reaping all the benefits of her labors as also indicated in the court documents.

Also, according to court papers, another alleged victim was brought to Queens from Mexico along with her child. She was recruited into the Flores-Mendez’s organization of prostitution and severely beaten when she refused to go along with their plans for her. She slept in the kitchen, under the table of her torturer’s 112th St. home.

In the end, she wound up giving in and then having sex with more than 20 men daily also turning over all of her earnings to the Flores-Mendez gang. During the course of her exploits she became pregnant. She was then forced to take the drug Cytotec for the purpose of causing a miscarriage, according to court papers.

“After periods of victimization – typically months or years – many victims manage to escape,” the complaint reads. It goes on further to say “Without legal status in the United States, without family or friends for support, without employment opportunities, and as a result of the trauma they have suffered, victims sometimes return to prostitution.”

Ten of the women who had been forced into the illicit operation were able to approach law enforcement and were rescued over numerous years, according to ICE.

ICE Special agent in charge James Hayes said on the day of the arrests: ‘The arrests today move the United States closer to blockading the repugnant sex trafficking corridor that organizations like the one allegedly operated by Isaias Flores-Mendez and his cohorts use to smuggle innocent victims between Tenancingo, Mexico and New York City.”

‘With their arrests today, the barbaric conduct in which these defendants allegedly engaged in order to make a profit has now been put to a stop, and they will be prosecuted for their alleged crimes and the women they enslaved will be able to put their lives back together” as stated by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

To read the shocking statistics dealing with human trafficking in the United States, click here.

“Fundamental Error” in Jury Instructions Awards Marissa Alexander New Trial

October 17, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

The phone call was everything she had hoped for. After completing more than a year of a twenty-year sentence, Marissa Alexander’s attorney made the phone call that let his client know that an appellate court judge had ordered a new trial for the the Florida woman who fired what she and her family labeled a warning shot in the direction of her husband, Rico Gray; a man she believed was threatening her life. Mr. Gray’s two children were also in the general vicinity where and when the shots were fired.

In an interview with CNN, one of her lawyers said “Marissa was ecstatic and obviously she’s incredibly thankful and wants to get back with her family,”
In an article posted here last week it was demonstrated how the mother of three from Jacksonville was convicted in a failed “stand your ground” defense and began serving her mandatory minimum sentence that fell under Florida’s 10-20-life law which was instituted in 1999. The section of the law that applied to Marissa’s case states that if someone fires a gun they’re to receive a mandatory 20 year sentence if convicted of charges connected to the crime.

In full, the 10-20-Life statute relates to those convicted of crimes where a gun or similar destructive device was used. For displaying and pointing a gun during the commission of a crime, a conviction would be imposed of a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years. For selected felonies, committed or attempted, the 10 year mandatory sentence is also approved if the accused even just possessed a gun during the commission of the crime. The mandatory minimum sentence is 20 years for firing the weapon during the course of the offense. And if a victim is injured or killed due to the results of the gun being fired during the time-frame in which the crime transpires, a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years can be imposed. Lifetime sentences can also be levied under the preceding circumstance. Furthermore, the law also affords a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison for any individual previously convicted of a felony who even possesses a gun.

A lot of media coverage was given to her case after the George Zimmerman not guilty verdict which may have contributed to the reason the first District Court of Appeal ruled in her favor stating that Alexander merits a new trial for the reason that the trial judge handling her case did not instruct the jury properly concerning what is needed to prove and disprove self-defense.

Judge Robert Benton wrote the new ruling stating that the original instructions given established a “fundamental error” and required the defendant’s attorneys’ to prove self-defense “beyond a reasonable doubt.” However, he also made it clear in the ruling that the court was correct in blocking the “stand your ground” defense again.

One of the attorneys representing Alexander said she was thankful for the “thorough consideration” delivered by the court. She went on to say that “we are looking forward to taking the case back to trial,” Another from her team of lawyers said “She deserves a fair trial just like any other person, and the presumption of innocence has returned to her and we believe that a jury that hears the full case and has correct law will hopefully vindicate her and acquit her of all charges.”

Before the 2010 incident and subsequent guilty verdict, Alexander had never been arrested or charged with any crime. But even though it was her first offense, the judge maintained he was bound by the law’s minimum sentencing instructions to uphold a penalty of 20 years in prison once she was convicted of the allegations. Alexander was convicted of three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. She has maintained from the beginning that the shot fired was a warning shot and not ever meant to cause any injury.

She had previously declined a plea deal of three years in prison believing that the original jury would acquit her once her story was told. It took that jury 13 minutes to convict her.

Last week, a trial judge issued an order to bring Alexander back to the Duval County jail from the state prison where she was serving her sentence in Marion County, Florida.