South Florida Criminal Attorneys Blog

Miami Man and Female Accomplice Charged with Human Trafficking

April 11, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Last month, police arrested Roman Thomas III, 26, of Miami for his involvement in a human trafficking investigation. At present, Thomas was on probation after he was incarcerated for four years when he was convicted of having sex with a minor. He was released from state prison prior to this latest arrest, and was wearing a Florida state corrections Department GPS monitor when Miami police again took him into custody on March 18.
Thomas has an extensive criminal past. He was charged with attempted murder and felony battery, as well as other assorted charges in 2008, and wound up pleading guilty to the battery charge and four counts of lewd and lascivious battery on a minor child g aged between 12 and 16.

After the completion of his prison sentence, Thomas was released in September, and placed on five years’ probation with the attached ankle monitor.

The monitor was inspected lastly on March 1 by state probation officers who found no problem with its functionality. But the court was notified that the officers in charge of the oversight of the device received a “bracelet gone” alarm on March 10.

Police charge that Thomas, who goes by the street name of “Suave”, forced a 13-year old girl to have both of her eyelids tattooed with his street name.

According to The Miami Herald, Thomas, who has an extensive criminal record, allegedly forced the underage girl to go with him to a flea market tattoo parlor, located in Liberty City; after she threatened to leave him. Inking the girl with his mark was punishment for her threatening to leave, and apparently his attempt to break her down and completely dominate her.

The runaway girl, nicknamed “Sparkle,” who supposedly ran away from her home to escape a muddled family life was pimped out by way of the classified advertising section of backpage.com, a website that allows the posting of escort services, police say.

Thomas and another woman, Shanteria Sanders, 23, also of Miami, taught the girl how to solicit johns and gave her condoms, provided her with marijuana, alcohol, and the drug known as “Molly” to loosen her up in preparation for having sex with men at the Miami Shores Motel.

Investigators first found out about the abuse after the victim’s mother tracked her daughter to the Miami hotel. Police then took the youth from the hotel and placed Thomas and Sanders under arrest.

The two suspects allegedly convinced the victim to work as a prostitute. Ms. Sanders, who also displays Thomas’s “Suave” tattoo across her chest, was also charged in the offense.

The drug “Molly”, indicated by its most common name “Ecstasy”, is a stimulant, considered to be an illegal recreational drug. It was originally used as a treatment used in psychotherapy. It is said to be safe in doses up to 75mg, but has exhibited that it can cause neurotoxic effects in higher doses. It’s one of the most popular recreational substances used by a multitude of people on a yearly basis.

“It’s outrageous that this girl would be branded for life at such an early age, on of all places her eyelids,” said Miami Lt. Jose Alfonso, who was the lead investigator in the case laid out by the State Attorney’s Human Trafficking Unit.

Thomas will be formally charged in the new case on April 13. The charges include the delivery of a controlled substance to a child, human trafficking, lewd and lascivious exhibition and false imprisonment. As previously mentioned, Ms. Sanders faces the same charges as a collaborator in the crime.

The victim is now getting treatment and rehabilitation caused by her ordeal in a program known as Project Gold.

Project Gold is a group that is dedicated to assisting abused victims, and is operated by the Miami Kristi House, a private, non-profit organization, devoted to the therapy and elimination of sexual abuse of children.

Two Florida Men convicted in $3.3 million tax refund fraud scheme

April 3, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Two men were charged in a tax refund ploy relating to a massive identity theft scheme this past October.

On October 5, 2012, Charlton Escarmant, 29, of Miami and Arthy Icart, 25 of North Miami were charged in a five-count federal indictment aimed at their involvement in the scam.

In excess of three thousand names were found on Escarmant’s computer which was stolen from the Tallahassee Community College’s financial aid office; it was revealed when evidence was presented during court testimony.

The swindle was initiated when Escarmant used the stolen identification information to file tax returns. He also fashioned bogus W-2 forms in his own name with fabricated employment material. His personal W-2 deceptively demonstrated that he worked as a veterinarian at the Central Broward Animal Hospital. The prosecution proved that he never worked at that facility.

At the time of their arrest, Escarmant and his co-conspirator Icart criminally possessed roughly 22 pre-paid tax debit cards designated in other person’s names. They submitted roughly 400 falsified tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service, pursuing in excess of $3 million in tax refunds during the period that the scheme evolved.

In January, Icart pled guilty to charges of aggravated ID theft, conspiracy to file fraudulent tax claims, and access device fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced before U.S. District Judge Lenard in early April.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, late last Tuesday, it was announced by U. S. Attorney Wilfredo A. Ferrer that Escarmant was convicted by a jury of two counts of aggravated identity theft, one count of conspiracy to submit false claims to the Internal Revenue Service, as well as one count of access device fraud. Sentencing for his part in the case has been scheduled for June 17, in front of U.S. District Judge Lenard as well. The penalty that Escarmant faces is a possible 24 year maximum sentence of incarceration based on Florida statutory guidelines.

Subsequent to Escarmant’s conviction, at the press conference held, Ferrer applauded the investigative determinations of the South Florida Identity Theft Tax Fraud Strike Force and acknowledged a special commendation to the IRS- Criminal Investigation unit as well as the work done by the North Miami Beach Police Department He also praised and gave his thanks to Tallahassee Community College for their help and support during the course of the investigation.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elina Rubin-Smith and Michael B. Nadler.

Based on figures collected by the Federal Trade Commission reported cases of identity theft in the United States were led last year by the state of Florida. The city of Miami has proved to be the biggest loser with a rate of approximately 324 identity theft complaints per 100,000 residents which is an incident rate that is highest in the country. The state as a whole has been attributed for 178complaints per 100,000 residents which is also the highest in the nation.

74,496 possible falsified returns filed in Miami alone resulted in excess of $280 million in fraudulent refunds; according to a report compiled last September by the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

Per capita, the City of Miami’s amount of false returns founded on identity theft was 46 times the national average and stolen income tax refund fraud monetary value exceeded the national average by 70 times.

It is expected that tax return identity theft in the United States will increase significantly over the next five years. A TIGTA report notes that the I.R.S. estimates it is likely that they will pay more than $21 billion in fraudulent tax refunds over that period of time.

Expensive Watch Leads to the Arrest of 3 Men in Boca Raton Restaurant Armed Robbery Murder

March 28, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

A bartender was shot and killed during an armed robbery that took place at Josephine’s Restaurant located at 5751 N. Federal Highway in Boca Raton. The robbery occurred after the restaurant was closed for the evening although a few remaining customers were present at the time along with the owner and some employees.

Officers arrived at the scene shortly before midnight finding Rafael Rodriguez in a critical state after being shot by one of the culprits. Once given descriptions of the suspects, police began their search for four masked gunmen. Customers and employees described the men being black and/or Hispanic. The forensic team was able to lift shoe prints which they assumed belonged to one or more of the suspects
Boca Raton police spokeswoman Sandra Boonenberg said that as Rodriguez was walking one of the restaurant’s employees to the back door to let him out, four masked gunmen forcefully gained access to the restaurant and demanded cash and valuables from the lingering customers and employees. As the thieves prepared to leave, Rodriguez confronted them. They fought with him and his coworker, pushing them to the floor while pistol-whipping the waiter. Rodriguez responded by trying to defend himself and the waiter when one of the suspects pulled his weapon and shot the bartender, mortally wounding him.

“The bartender engaged them in some way inside the restaurant, and he got shot and killed”, Boonenberg said. He was taken to Delray Medical Center, where he later died of his injuries.

Various items were taken during the robbery, including cash, wallets, phones, and jewelry. In particular, a $20,000 Chopard watch was taken from the owner of the restaurant. It was this item that would ultimately lead police to tie the suspects to the robbery/murder during the course of their investigation.

Police began searching for the suspects since the commission of the crime and have followed several leads since the beginning of the New Year.

Last week, three Broward County men who have been identified as Quinton Sylvestre, Samuel Walker and Adalberto Montalvo have been formally charged with armed robbery and first-degree murder in connection with the shooting.

Boca Raton police said it was the Chopard watch stolen during the robbery that led them to the suspects and linked them to the occurrence.

The person who bought the stolen watch from the suspects was tracked down by detectives. They interviewed him and then recovered the watch. The buyer was able to give the detectives facts about the suspects and the watch’s sale was caught on the store’s video surveillance system, according to Boca Raton Police Chief Dan Alexander. Police were then able to watch the surveillance footage of the sale determining that the men who peddled it to him matched the description of the robbers.
Detectives obtained phone records for two of the subjects who sold the watch, Adalberto Montalvo and Quinton Sylvestre. Through the course of the investigation police were able to conclude through analysis of these phone records that Montalvo and Sylvestre made calls the night before the robber/murder, as well as the night the crime occurred with a phone that belonged to Samuel Walker. Detectives also established that all three phones were in Boca Raton, in the area of Josephine’s during the time of the robbery.

Search warrants were then executed
During a search of their homes, police found a backpack filled with guns and a hockey mask, detectives said. They also found that the shoe prints found at the scene of the restaurant robbery did in fact match the soles of one of the pairs of shoes seized by police.

Detectives received endorsement from the firearms lab that one of the guns recovered was the one that fired the bullet that is responsible for the death of Rafael Rodriguez. Additionally, it was proved that it is Walker’s DNA that was found on the trigger of the gun. His DNA was also found on the expensive stolen watch.

The suspects were arrested in late January on an unrelated burglary charge. The subsequent investigation tied them to the robbery at Josephine’s and the murder of Rafael Rodriguez. Police used state of the art DNA testing equipment as well as the aforementioned cell phone tracking devices to place the men at the scene of the crime.

Click here to view the official Boca Raton Police Press Release:

Federal Judge dismisses partial allegations against four Sheriff’s Detectives

March 19, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

A civil suit filed on behalf of Anthony Caravella, now 44 was thrown out by U.S. District Judge James Cohn against the city of Miramar and the Broward Sheriff’s Office, leaving four former Broward County sheriff’s department detectives as the sole residual defendants. He also discharged an allegation that the accused four officers conspired against the mentally challenged minor.

However, allegations still stand that the detectives conspired to coerce a confession from Caravella who was subsequently convicted and jailed for the rape/murder of Ada Cox Jankowski in November 1983.

Caravella was arrested for failing to appear in juvenile court on a grand theft charge in December 1983. During his time in custody, he was interrogated by police in reference to Jankowski’s murder. Caravella, who was tested to demonstrate that he maintained an IQ of 67, eventually provided four separate statements that were recorded by police. None of them apparently contained the same facts but they did lead to implicating him in the murder.
The statements were so dissimilar, that they conflicted with the evidence and in some cases contradicted themselves. At first, Caravella told police that the crime was perpetrated by three other youths. He then changed his story completely admitting that he had committed the crime, hitting the victim over the head with a soda bottle and killing her. In truth, she had been raped, stabbed and strangled. He made reference to the victim as being a “girl,” despite her age being much older than him, and also said that she was taller than he was when she was actually approximately eight inches shorter. He went on to say that the victim’s pants were wholly off, when they were only partially pulled off. He further went on to say that the victim’s shoes had both been removed, when one of them was still on one of her feet.

Caravella was convicted by a jury, after he turned 16, on August 3, 1984, almost exclusively on the foundation of his declarations to the police. There was never any physical evidence linked to him found at the crime scene. His attorneys argued that he was pressured into giving fabricated admissions by making him believe that he could get another female teenaged friend, Dawn Simone Herron, out of trouble if he voiced to them what they sought to know about the murder of Jankowski. His attorneys also implied that he had been threatened and even beaten by police up until the time he confessed to the crime. At the conclusion of the trial, Caravella was sentenced to life in prison.

Seventeen years later, in May 2001, Caravella’s attorneys’ swayed Broward County prosecutors to agree to again test the physical evidence recovered from the crime., These items included numerous hairs found on the victim’s body, a steak knife, T-shirt, as well as a vaginal swab that was taken. In November, the authorities conveyed that tests were inconclusive on the fingernail scrapings as well as the results of the rape kit. There wasn’t any sperm found according to Broward County lab analysts.

Despite the inconclusive results of the Broward County lab analysis, the evidence was later sent to Dr. Edward Blake, a DNA expert in California, who was able to isolate sperm and in September 2009, authorities said that Caravella was eliminated as the source of sperm found in the victim’s body.

In a separate finding, in 2002, during the prosecutor’s review of the evidence, they stumbled upon a recording of a telephone conversation made to a detective in the case from one of Caravella’s friends. The content of the tape revealed that the friend said that he took part in the crime along with Caravella. At that time, the friend was grilled further but denied any involvement. Defense attorneys argued that the tape, which was of great importance, was never turned over to the defense preceding Caravella’s trial.
Caravella was finally released from prison after being excluded by DNA evidence as the source of any physical confirmation in the case. The Broward Circuit judge who presided over the case apologized to him in open court on behalf of the state of Florida.

Recently, all the attorneys involved in the civil action declined to remark on the judge’s ruling due to the fact that the trial is still going on. The judge established that the agencies involved in the case had not been notified that there were ever any problems with any of the officers’ conduct before or during the case.

At last week’s hearing, attorneys representing the detectives played the four audio-taped statements for the jury before bringing forth an expert witness who expressed to the jurors that in his opinion, the officers handled the entire murder investigation “in a very professional way”. He also went on to testify that the handling of the questioning “followed the traditional guidelines of 1983.”

Joseph Matthews is a former homicide investigator for the city of Miami Beach and now, a police instructor. He has also been a frequent commentator on FOX News and has worked as a cold case homicide investigator for the popular television show “America’s Most Wanted.”

Matthews testified that he saw no problems with the questioning of Caravella by police, or the way other suspects in the homicide investigation were examined.

“He was a normal, well-spoken 15-year-old,” Matthews said, referring to Caravella, and also stated that the police would have had no reason to believe that Caravella had a below average IQ, and could be considered mentally challenged.

When asked to explain what he meant by his statement by Caravella’s attorney, he said that Caravella was more articulate than most people who commit crimes and suggested that the majority of inmates currently in the Broward County Jail have an IQ below seventy.

When Caravella’s lawyer went on to ask him for the basis for his opinion, he replied: “I was basing my opinion on my opinion, not that I did an IQ test or anything” on the inmates in jail. He further commented in reference to the questioning that it was done “in a very professional manner” and that officers “selected the right technique” to question him. He said that he saw “no improper or inappropriate questions” used on Caravella, and any so called leading questions were appropriate. Officers had the right to speak to Caravella without reading him his rights when they were under the impression that he might have witnessed the slaying instead of being involved in the murder.

Detectives also had the right to question him without having a parent present, Matthews said, specifying that Caravella’s mother was present for three of the four taped statements. She also testified that her son had also confessed to her the details of the murder. Matthews went on to say that the detectives went “out of their way” to respect Caravella’s rights and “above and beyond” in reading him his Miranda rights.

Addressing the jury Matthews said he thought Caravella’s statements, which included a lot of incorrect information and many erroneous details were credible. He also stalwartly suggested that Caravella committed the murder.

Closing arguments in the case are slated to begin after a DNA expert, called by retired Sheriff’s Major Tony Fantigrassi, finishes his testimony. The expert previously advised that the testing on the old DNA evidence was not reliable.

Caravella’s attorney is expected to ask jurors to find that the retired Sheriff’s Major and retired Miramar detectives George Pierson, William Mantesta and Bill Guess coerced her client into falsely confessing to the 1983 murder.

She is also expected to ask the jury for compensation and punitive damages against all four officers. No monetary settlement has been mentioned thus far. Caravella’s lawyer also made what has been taken as a tactical decision dropping assertions of intentional infliction of emotional distress which was a part of the original lawsuit.

Miami Man Sentenced on Firearms and Bank Robbery Charges

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

On May 1, 2010, a black male, dressed in royal blue surgical scrubs, and wearing a dark masklike nylon covering his face, entered the Bank of America located at 7215 W. Atlantic Boulevard in Delray Beach, Florida. Wielding a dark colored handgun he forced customers at gunpoint to lie on the floor and herded bank employees to the vault area where he made the bank manager open vault drawers. He also grabbed cash from numerous tellers’ drawers and then removed the dye packs before leaving the bank. Once calculated, the amount of the money stolen turned out to be in excess of $30,000 in cash.

Delray Beach Police were called and given the description of the suspect but were unable to find anyone in the vicinity who matched the appearance.

As their investigation continued, just three weeks later on Monday, May 21, 2010 at approximately 9:30 a.m., an individual who appeared to be the same man entered a Plantation BB&T bank branch located at 450 Pine Island Road. Demonstrating a similar method, he forced a customer of the bank down to the floor and covered his face with a black beanie. He then pointed his gun at a bank teller and ordered her to open the entrance to the tellers’ area. After gaining access, he filled a cloth sack with nearly $14,000 in cash and subsequently fled the bank.

This time he didn’t get far.

Plantation Police captured Bryan Whitehead, 32, of Miami, in a nearby gas station parking lot. Searching the suspect’s vehicle, the police found the firearm used during the commission of the robbery as well as the suspect’s disguise, and a police scanner. The stolen money from the most recent robbery was also recovered.

According to Sargent Al Butler, of the Plantation police department “One of our sergeants shut off the exit to the gas station and was checking each car individually when he came into contact with the person that fit the description. “One thing led to another and he ended up being positively identified by the bank personnel and the witness.”

After the conclusion of Whitehead’s trial he was recently sentenced before U.S. District Judge William J. Zloch for bank robbery, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2113(a), and the use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, in violation of Title 18, United States Code: section 924(c). Zloch sentenced Whitehead to 471 months in prison (over 39 years) to be followed by five years of supervised release after his term of imprisonment is concluded.

In a FBI press release the terms of Whitehead’s sentencing was announced in conjunction by Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Michael B. Steinbach, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; W. Howard Harrison, Chief, Plantation Police Department; and Anthony Strianese, Chief, Delray Beach Police Department.

The press release can be read in full on the FBI’s Website by clicking here

Department of Justice (1349 Bank Robbery – General Overview): Click Here

Mistrial Denied for New Trial in 25 Year Old Murder Case of Police Officer

February 26, 2013 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

The Prosecution began to get their case prepared against Dennis Escobar, the strength of it being his confession to Miami homicide detectives from a California jail hospital bed, where he was wounded after a clash there with California highway patrol troopers.

Escobar got an unanticipated reprieve from the death penalty for the second time in 18 years in his first-degree murder case where he killed Miami police officer Victor Estefan in 1988. His brother, Douglas Escobar, 53, who was already wanted on robbery charges at the time, was the driver of a stolen car that he was driving, who allegedly told his brother to shoot the officer and was his codefendant in the original case.

Although jurors convicted the Escolars’ in 1991, the Florida Supreme Court threw out the convictions in 1997, stating that the original trial judge should have permitted the two brothers to be tried in separate court cases.

The original incident transpired when Victor Estefan, a Miami police officer was finishing a conversation in Little Havana after a traffic stop with a tow truck driver. Another vehicle without its headlights on drove past the two, catching Estefan’s attention.
The officer then left the scene, jumping into his police cruiser and following what he deemed to be a suspicious vehicle. It wasn’t long after those gunshots penetrated the night.

Dennis Escobar’s most recent reprieve arose when an unlabeled audiotape was found on February 17 by a retired City of Miami homicide detective who was preparing to testify in the case. As reported by the Miami Herald, the now retired officer was going through an evidence box where he found the tape that apparently exhibited that Escobar had asked for a lawyer in Spanish, before allegedly confessing as he was being interrogated nearly 20 years ago.

The Herald described the tape as a bombshell since it seemingly contradicts earlier testimony that Escobar voluntarily spoke with the detective without a lawyer. The tape was recently turned over to the defense. In lieu of this new evidence, the prosecution offered both brothers plea deals in exchange for pleading guilty which would have a term of 55-years in prison but with a minimum penalty of 18 years for each of them. Both brothers were facing potential death sentences if either was convicted of the capital murder.

On Wednesday both the prosecution and defense had agreed to request a mistrial in the case against Dennis Escobar, but Judge Leon Firtel made the decision not to grant it. He was quoted as saying “I don’t want to deny the defendant his rights but this judge has an obligation to the State of Florida to get this case to trial after 15 years.”

It was at that time that Douglas Escobar recoiled when it came time to agree to the deal due to the judges ruling. “I didn’t shoot no one,” he told the Miami-Dade Circuit Judge. “I don’t want to plead guilty.”
After the outburst, the judge reset the continuance of the hearing for Monday, telling the defendant’s lawyers to speak further with their clients about the deal over the weekend.

When the case resumed on Monday, it was a different atmosphere, as Douglas Escobar settled on the plea deal. Two court-appointed mental health experts granted that he was competent to stand trial, as written in a later Miami Herald article. Conversely, with the weekend to weigh his options, Dennis Escobar said he wishes to face a trial. He is again facing the death penalty if convicted.

Robbery Perpetrator Kills Accomplice, Faces Murder Charge

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

As she arrived at her home, Megan McGlynn was just getting her one and five year old children, out of her van when shots rang out. Manatee County sheriff’s deputy Aaron Bradley aimed and fired at a vehicle that was heading directly toward him and another deputy. McGlynn quickly protected her kids by shielding them from the gunfire while she hurried to unlock her front door. She then herded her kids into the bathroom and placed them in the bathtub, keeping them away from the windows. While they were safely inside, a bullet hit Joanna Mojica, the driver of the suspect vehicle, in the head. McGlynn said that she thought the man that was eventually arrested was the driver of the car because she noticed him running to the passenger side screaming.

As it turned out, Jesse Flores, 27 was the passenger of the vehicle who she saw running yelling, “my girl, my girl, she’s dead” as she slumped over to the passenger side of the car. He was crying and cursing at the cops, as he asked why they shot her, according to McGlynn.

McGlynn was also quoted as saying “It was just like a movie, I thought it was a drive-by or a robbery. I had no idea the cops were the ones shooting.

The events unfolded around 10:20 p.m. when the deputies responded to a 911 call made by the building’s landlord who was alerted by one of McGlynn’s neighbors who told the landlord that he heard a crashing noise at the premises located in the 900 block of 66th Avenue West, in Manatee, as reported by Dave Bristow, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office.

The bullet struck the actual driver of the car, Joanna Mojica, in the head. According to a probable cause affidavit to back Flores’ arrest, he spotted the deputies heading toward them and jumped into the car yelling at Mojica to “Go, go, go!”
The officers who were on foot ordered Mojica to stop but instead she accelerated, and continued driving right at them. In what he felt was self-defense, Deputy Bradley fired his weapon at the vehicle five times, according to Dave Bristow, the sheriff’s office spokesman. McGlynn, however, said she recalled hearing at least 20 shots. Bristow said that the quantity of shots fired would be determined after officials process the car. The car crashed into a mailbox and finally came to rest in front of McGlynn’s house.

After the smoke cleared and the scene was secured, Mojica was taken to Blake Medical Center where she was pronounced dead upon arrival.

Flores was arrested at the scene and is now being held at the Manatee County jail without bond. There are multiple charges filed against him, including murder; since under Florida law an accomplice can be charged with murder if anyone dies during the commission of many crimes including burglary. He is also charged with two counts of attempted murder of law enforcement officers; and one count of burglary. In April he was sentenced to a term of two years’ probation stemming from a drug possession conviction.

The actual victim of the crime, who has decided not to be identified, told police that the robbers broke into her home through a window around the back. She said they took two of her televisions, as well as an Xbox console and some games that are played on the console.

The victim, upon arrival said there were sheriff’s vehicles all over the entire street near her house.

“I asked the newsman what was going on and he said a lady was shot in the head. A lady had no business inside my home so I knew nothing had happened to my house,” she said.

But she did say that when she walked toward her home, detectives requested to speak with her.

Spokesman Bristow said that there was a television seen protruding out of the suspect vehicle’s trunk. He went on to comment that when a search warrant is issued for the vehicle, it’s possible that more items may be recovered.

Deputy Bradley, a seven year veteran of the sheriff’s office, is now on administrative leave awaiting results of the investigation. An initial evaluation has shown that the shooting was in agreement with state law and the policies of the sheriff’s office.

Married Couple Charged in Charity Fraud Aimed at Senior Citizens

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

A married couple charged with swindling seniors mainly in Florida, Colorado and Texas, as well as more than 30 other states across the country were among some of the recent enforcement actions taken by the Security & Exchange Commission (SEC). The victims were told they were investing in a charitable organization based in Tallahassee, Florida by purchasing charitable gift annuities (CGAs).

Richard K. Olive and Susan L. Olive who are both in their forties were apparently principals of the organization named We The People Inc. that implemented the transactions. The Olives originally stated that they were hired by the company. Looking into the matter, the SEC determined that the CGAs issued by We the People were different in numerous aspects from CGAs issued legitimately. The Olives purportedly collected over $75 million from more than 400 naïve and elderly investors. Research revealed that the company was organized as a nonprofit and run from the Olives’ home at 1308 Buckingham Circle in Franklin Tennessee.

A CGA, (Charitable Gift Annuity) is a gift vehicle that falls under the category of Planned Giving. It encompasses a contract concerning a donor and a charity, where the donor hands over cash and/or property to the charity in exchange for a limited tax deduction and a lifetime sum of annual revenue from the charity. In the occurrence of the donor’s death, the charity keeps the remaining equity and all accrued interest of the original gift.

According to the SEC’s complaint against the couple filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, it is charged that the CGAs were issued primarily to benefit the Olives as well as additional third-party organizers and consultants, not the senior investors. Only a slight amount of the money that was raised was essentially guided to any charitable organizations. In the meantime, the Olives received in excess of $1.1 million in commissions and salary. They also tapped investor funds for their own usage. The couple has now been charged by the SEC with defrauding the seniors and dramatically overstating the amounts of the contributions.

The sentencing of an insider trading informant who succeeded in avoiding incarceration for his cooperation assisted in the SEC investigation.

We The People claimed that from June 2008 to April 2012 its operations were as a nonprofit organization however it was found that their CGAs were far from legitimate.

One example of public reports showed that it donated $21.8 million for the assistance of AIDS orphans in the country Zambia when in fact the supplies marked for that venture were donated by others, and the organization only donated a trivial amount of money to the third party that was the shipper of the supplies.

Their promotional materials were filled with several falsifications, omissions and oversights. They claimed that their CGAs were worth the “full” amassed value of the assets conveyed by investors when they weren’t. It appears that the method that they use to calculate the CGAs’ value were of substantially lesser than full value, since the organization skimmed off a substantial percentage of the actual value and retained it as a “charitable gift.”

It was also claimed by the organization that they had a 110% reserve of its total liabilities in trust in its continuing effort to “reinsure” its products through “highly rated” commercial insurance firms. As it turned out, this too was a falsehood. The organization had no restricted-access trust accounts, therefore any reserves at all. They never reinsured anything whatsoever.

Their marketing materials also failed to divulge that the Olives had been affiliated with several previous indictments and governing sanctions for retailing the equivalent type of phony products in the past. They were operating within an obscure Florida law that allowed them to sell CGAs in the state. The organization also neglected to reference the significant commissions that were paid to the couple as well as others, in the amount of several million dollars.

The SEC filed a separate complaint against the company’s in-house counsel William G. Reeves. The organization and Reeves both agreed to resolve the charges against them without admitting or denying the allegations. The settlements are contingent upon court approval.

We The People acquiesced to an ultimate judgment that will permit the selection of a receiver to safeguard the more than $60 million of donators’ monies still in possession of the company. Additionally, the final judgment also affords for repayment of ill-gotten gains and delivers injunctive relief under the antifraud and registration requirements of the federal securities laws.

Reeves agreed to a cooperation agreement with the authorities. The terms of his settlement demonstrate his assistance in the investigation and foreseen assistance in the imminent prosecution against the Olives. He also agreed to a suspension from practicing or appearing before the SEC for a period of no less than five years, and assented to a final judgment supporting injunctive relief under the requirements of the federal securities laws that were violated. It will be determined by the court at a later date if a monetary penalty should also be enacted against Reeves.

In the Denver Regional Office, Michael Cates and Ian Karpel conducted the SEC’s investigation. The proceedings against the Olives will be headed by the SEC’s Nicholas Heinke and Dugan Bliss.

Related Reading:
Definition a Charitable Gift Annuity: Click Here

SEC complaint against the Olives: Click Here

SEC complaint against the organization: Click Here

SEC complaint against Reeves: Click Here

Guilty of Accessory After the Fact in Head Found in Everglades Case

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

Robert Mackey, 44 was convicted of trying to cover up a crime.
The original charge against Mackey was second-degree murder. He was accused of being one of the two men who killed Lorraine Hatzakorzian, a New York woman, and then cut her into pieces; pitching her head into a canal in a section of the Everglades, almost seven years ago. Mackey still could spend up to 30 years of incarceration for being convicted of accessory after the fact when he’s sentenced on Feb. 28.

Mackey was from New York and listed his occupation as a tree trimmer. Mackey’s prior co-defendant, Paul Trucchio, 39 accepted a prison term of 30-years last year rather than take his chances with a jury that could have sent him to prison for the rest of his life if convicted.

On Monday, the jury deliberated for over two hours without being able to reach a verdict but Broward Circuit Judge Ilona Holmes told them to go back and continue their deliberations in the hopes of reaching an agreement.

After 2½ hours of further deliberations on Tuesday, the verdict came in acquitting Mackey of second-degree murder but finding him guilty of the lesser but still serious charge. As the jurors departed the courthouse they declined to answer any questions, in regard to whether they believed that Mackey was innocent of the grisly murder whatsoever or if they think he killed her somewhere other than within the boundaries of the state of Florida. They also didn’t reveal any details of their original split-decision on the second-degree murder charge.

The charges were challenging for the prosecution to establish from the onset. There were no witnesses tied to the suspect that could directly attribute the death of Lorraine Hatzakorzian directly to the defendant. He was not seen with her, nor did anyone witness him murder her. There were no witnesses that saw him cut off her head or throw it into the canal. There was nobody called that could even verify that Mackey was in the state on April 28, 2007, which was the day that severed head was discovered.

Mackey’s Defense attorney, John George argued that his client wasn’t involved in the victim’s death and an appeal is likely.

In spite of the aforesaid lack of physical evidence the jurors did hear evidence that swayed them to believe that the defendant was linked to the crime. Prosecutor Gregg Rossman exhibited that Mackey and Trucchio were both pulled over by a Volusia County police officer because the car being driven was missing its back window and had a large crack in the front windshield. The vehicle turned out to be the victim’s blue Dodge pickup and was stopped a few days after her head was recovered from the canal. A third man, Louis Caroleo, a friend of Mackey’s was also in the vehicle when it was pulled over. When called to the stand Caroleo testified that Mackey and Trucchio independently confessed to killing a woman and cutting off her head and getting rid of it. They both then prayed to a concrete alligator; that the remains of their deed would be digested before any of the proof was exposed. According to Caroleo’s testimony, this took place outside of the Port Orange motel where they were staying in the late springtime months of 2007. Additionally both men were seen scrubbing the car inside and out with bleach and acid.

In rebuttal, defense lawyer John George mentioned that the missing fragments of the story were an indication that the prosecution couldn’t prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mackey had anything at all to do with the crime. “For one thing”, he said, “no one established that Hatzakorzian died in Florida. No one established that Mackey was even in Florida when she died or that he was responsible for her death”.

The prosecutor then pressed the jury to depend on the legal presumption that “a murder is presumed to have been committed in the same jurisdiction where the body was found unless there is evidence to the contrary.” And the sole part of Hatzakorzian that was ever found was located in Broward County.

There were also signs that the victim’s head was tossed in the water not too long before it was found, Rossman also argued. “Blood at the scene was still bright red”, he said, “and the head itself showed no signs of being pecked at by wildlife.”

The Broward County Sheriff’s deputy who recovered the head said that he had to act hurriedly to prevent alligators that were close by to the scene from getting to it first.

Apparently, the prosecution’s case was enough to influence jurors that Mackey did indeed assist helping Trucchio cover up the crime.

About 10 members of Hatzakorzian’s family attended every day of the trial.

Related Reading, Explanation of Accessory after the Fact:: Click Here

Broward County Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Sex Trafficking of Minors

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

U.S. District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley sentenced Fort Lauderdale man Van Lawson Williams, 49, to life in prison last week after being found guilty of charges of attempted sex trafficking of minors and sex trafficking in violation of Title 18, United States Code, (section14 1591(a)). The sentencing was announced by a combination of participants of different agencies: Wifredo A. Ferrer, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Michael B. Steinbach, Acting Special Agent in Charge (Miami Field Office FBI); and Chief of Police of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department Franklin C. Adderly, it was disseminated in a press release on January 9, 2013.

A jury found Williams guilty of four counts of sex trafficking of minors, who were between the ages of 12 to 16. and one count of attempted sex trafficking on October 30, 2012. During the trial, six of the victims, the aggregate being runaways when they met Mr. Williams, attested to the fact that they were recruited to become prostitutes working out of Williams’ home located on the 2000 block of NW 30th Avenue. Based on trial evidence, Williams observed young girls in his own neighborhood; pursuing minor females who he believed to be runaways. After finding what he believed to be prospective candidates he then offered them free meals and lodging to stay with him at his Fort Lauderdale residence. After the girls would reach a positive decision to Williams’ offer, after a short time, he would change the rules and persuade them to become prostitutes. He told them that they were welcome to stay but needed to earn money to assist in paying the monthly household expenses. Without agreeing to chip in, they would have to leave. The young girls stated that they were directed to give the money that they obtained for their prostitution services to Williams, on most occasions, during their testimony. More than a few of the girls testified that Mr. Williams did in fact provide them with illegal drugs such as crack cocaine and marijuana. They also testified that Williams had sexual relations with them or tried to attempt to have sex with them.

Williams was originally arrested in May 2012. His first federal court appearance was before U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry S. Seltzer at his bond hearing. Based on the original criminal complaint, Williams, who is a convicted felon, would lure young girls to join up with him by offering meals and a place to stay. As previously mentioned he would also give the girls drugs. The girls also told authorities that customers paid money to rent the bedroom in Williams’ residence and then paid the girls up to $150 for services of a sexual nature. Originally, the complaint stated that money would be equally split with Williams however when the girls testified they said that in most cases Williams kept all the proceeds It was also alleged that Williams physically abused a few of the girls and brandished a machete, threatening one of them.

One of the girls read a letter she wrote to the court at the sentencing hearing, recounting the indignity she feels to this day when she sees herself in the mirror. In a letter to the court an additional victim, who was only 12 years old when Williams got her started turning tricks, wrote where she described the harm that she underwent as a consequence of Williams’ actions in and also commented of her dream to someday meet and marry a sweet man.

U. S. Attorney. Ferrer applauded the investigative energies of the FBI and the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. The prosecution’s case was handled by AUSAs Mark Dispoto and Corey Steinberg.