Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

More than a dozen Broward County deputies are off duty this morning accused of using steroids.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that 16 employees with BSO have been put on administrative assignment following an internal affairs investigation. Investigators are looking in to whether or not these 15 deputies and one civilian employee of BSO are on steroids.

BSO has shifted them to other assignments until drug test results come in.

This isn’t the first time a steroid scandal hit the agency. In 2005, according to sources, eight deputies were caught using steroids. All of them obtained the drugs from a Deerfield Beach company. In that case, they were cleared of wrong-doing because they had prescriptions.

 Patients scarred for life face the the man who posed as a plastic surgeon as he learns his fate in the court room.

Marta Gonzalez scars will hunt her for a lifetime. Her breasts were painfully disfigured after she went to see Gregorio Nosovsky to have a cosmetic procedure at the Advanced Center for cosmetic Surgery in Weston.

Nosovky, 62, is not a licensed doctor in the United States as some of his patients believed. “He was the one who put the iodine actually all over my body before the surgery and then I went to sleep so I cannot tell you who did it, but they were there,” said another patient Lina Ramirez.

Nosovsky was sentenced to 90 days at the Broward County Jail. “I wish my English was better so I can fully put into words how sorry I am. Foremost, I am regretful for my mistakes. Your honor, I ask for forgiveness. I promise you that I will be a better man and this will never happen again,” said Nosovsky.

The “fake doctor” was working with his brother, a licensed M.D. He did not ask the prosecutors victims to forgive them. In fact, he never admitted to performing the surgeries. Nosovsky said he misidentified himself in his business cards and was not clear on his credentials.

Nosovsky’s family believe this was a mistake that should be forgiven. “He did something wrong, he admitted to them,” said Nosovsky’s wife.

Gonzalez however believes the punishment does not fit the crime. “He’s a jerk and he’s a fake and him and his wife will say anything,” she said.

More than 30 women said Nosovsky performed surgeries on them. Nosovsky is no longer allowed to practice medicine or work in any type of medical facility

Authorities have arrested three Miami-Dade doctors who are accused of submitting millions of dollars in false claims for obsolete HIV therapy.

Physicians Carmen Lourdes del Cueto, Roberto Rodriguez and Carlos Garrido are in custody at the Federal Detention Center in Miami on conspiracy charges of submitting $10 million in phony bills for HIV drug-infusion services that patients didn’t need or receive, according to a grand jury indictment.

The indictment said the three also were charged with laundering about $5 million in payments made by the federal health insurance program over four years.

It was not clear Monday whether any of the three had retained lawyers.

A one-time security guard went on trial a second time Monday for the 2007 killings of four people aboard the “Joe Cool” charter boat as part of what prosecutors called a failed attempt to hijack the vessel to Cuba.

Jurors in the first trial could not agree on whether 21-year-old Guillermo Zarabozo was guilty of murder and other charges, but did convict him of weapons counts. U.S. District Judge Paul Huck threw out those convictions and ordered a new trial, in part because of faulty jury instructions.

Prosecutor Jeffrey Tsai said Zarabozo plotted with another man — 37-year-old Kirby Archer, who has pleaded guilty — to hijack the “Joe Cool” after hiring it Sept. 22, 2007 for a purported 50-mile trip to Bimini, Bahamas. The boat’s captain, his wife and two crew members were fatally shot and their bodies dumped overboard never to be found, Tsai said.

“The price to pay for this agreement was four lives, four innocent people whose only crime was getting in the way,” Tsai said.

Zarabozo had worked as a security guard and had a license to carry a 9mm Glock handgun, which prosecutors say was used in the killings. No murder weapon has ever been found, but shell casings matching that type of gun were recovered on the boat.

Defense attorney Anthony Natale said Zarabozo, who dreamed of a life of adventure, was dazzled by Archer’s tales of CIA connections and promises of lucrative security work in foreign lands. Natale said Zarabozo will testify it was Archer who committed all four murders and later concocted a cover story about the “Joe Cool” being set upon by pirates at sea.

“Kirby Archer, and Kirby Archer alone, was able to quickly kill four innocent people,” Natale said. “The only person who had the motive and the skill was Kirby Archer.”

Archer, a former military police investigator who had served at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was a fugitive sought for stealing $92,000 from a Wal-Mart in Batesville, Ark., where he was a manager. Archer was also under investigation for child sexual abuse, Arkansas authorities have said.

The four victims were boat captain Jake Branam; his wife, Kelley Branam; Jake’s half-brother Scott Gamble; and crew member Samuel Kairy. The Branams left behind two small children.

Prosecutors say they have new computer evidence for the second trial showing that Zarabozo did research about Cuba before the trip and told friends in online chats that something newsworthy would soon happen in which he would be considered a missing person.

After the shootings, records show the Joe Cool abruptly shifted course south toward Cuba but ran out of fuel about 10 miles outside the island’s waters. Zarabozo and Archer were found in the Joe Cool’s life raft along with their luggage, initially telling Coast Guard and FBI investigators the false story about Cuban pirates.

Archer is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty last year. Zarabozo also faces life behind bars if convicted of conspiracy, murder, kidnapping, robbery, boat hijacking and weapons charges.

In Miami Police are searching for one or more men who have been going around and exposing themselves over the last three months at nearby schools.

According to Police, there has been several incidents involving male subjects going around and exposing themselves near Biscayne Elementary School, around the 1000 Block of Normandy Drive and 77th Street and Dickens Avenue. “It has not affected the school per say, but like I said, we are going to be careful,” said Miami Beach Officer Deborah Boty.

Earlier this week, Miami Beach Police send out a one-page letter to the parents of students that attend Biscayne Elementary, informing them about male subjects exposing themselves over the last three months. “First I was kind of worried, and I never thought something like this would happen here because I have been living in the Beach for 20 years,” said parent Sandra Rojas.

Parents received the detailed letter this week as well as a private school located in the area. “It is a very normal procedure for a principal to take an action like this and to notify parents, not to upset them and not to worry them,” said Miami-Dade County Public Schools spokesperson John Schuster.

Police continue to investigate but say they don’t know if they are dealing with one or multiple people.  Miami criminal lawyer

PARKLAND, Fla. – An elderly couple who returned home from grocery shopping, encountered a man who stole the woman’s ring.

Ethel Sommer and her husband, Dave Sommer, said they were approached by a man who said he was there to test the water in their building, instead they were victims of a scam artist, who stole Ethel’s $100,000 diamond engagement ring.

The couple told a detective that the suspect seemed to be very nice and he helped them unload their groceries, so they let him into their apartment Wednesday. “He’s talking on a walkie-talkie and he said to somebody, ‘I’m going to check the water. I’m going through all the apartments. I’m going up right now,’” said Ethel.

The con artist directed the Sommers to turn on all of their faucets and to let the water run for 10 minutes. He then asked to use two cups to conduct a water test. At some point, the suspect spilled water on the female victims hand, caused alarm and told her she needed to take off her ring because it was going to burn her hand.

The suspect then made and excuse to leave the apartment. When he didn’t return, the woman called the Aston Gardens front office to ask about the status of the water testing. The staff informed her that they were unaware of such testing. When the victim went back to the bathroom to shut off the faucet, she realized her rings had been stolen.