Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

Police said five people were shot just outside a South Florida home, a they said it’s not the first time this neighborhood has been the scene of a violent crime.

The drive-by shooting happened along Northwest 71st Street and 20th Avenue Sunday. All five victims, four teens and a 24-year-old are expected to recover.

Back in January, two teens died in a shooting at a home just five blocks away, seven others were injured. Police said AK 47’s were used in both shootings and according to published reports, last night’s shooting targeted the family home of one of January’s shooting victims.

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The mayor of West Miami is in hot water over his alleged overuse of his city issued cell phone.

Cesar Carasa first made waves last year when he tried to get voters to pass a pay raise for the city council. His blue collar constituents wouldn’t have it, and now there could be even bigger waves.

According to public records, Carasa has racked up huge charges on his city-issued cell phone, to the tune of more than $68,000 in international calls to the Dominican Republic. “Hundreds of calls,” said City Commissioner Luciano Suarez. “I never expected anything like this. I am really in shock.”

The Miami-Dade Ethics Commission has begun an investigation on the mayor, and public corruption officials may have to go no further than the mayor’s cell phone bills. They see to show that, starting the month after he was elected into office in May of 2006, hundreds of calls were made to the Dominican Republic. Some calls lasted more than three hours, costing more than $200 each.

In July of 2008, his Sprint cell phone bill reached $11,000, aside from what city officials describe as a brief humanitarian relief drive Carasa organized for the Dominican Republic in 2007. “We have no official business in the Dominican Republic,” said City Manager Yolanda Aguilar.

In a letter to the city attorney, the mayor’s attorney says Carasa was “never informed of any limitations on the use of the cell phone.” A 2002 memo states that the cellular phones are for city business.

Sprint has a contract with West Miami for a cell tower located in the city, which includes 10 free phones, but the 1997 contract specifies that the city shall be responsible for long distance calls.

Sprint says it accidentally credited the mayor’s cell phone bill for months, saying “a mistake just crept into our system and got out of hand.” The company says it will eat that money and has turned off the mayor’s international access. Sprint, however, is demanding payment for more than $5,000 in new bills and the city attorney concurs.

Carasa did not want to comment on the matter, but, when prodded by a reporter, he said, “If I have to I will pay,” but, he added, he does not think he should have to pay.

The issue was discussed briefly at last night’s meeting, but there is still no clear determination as to who will be responsible for the money owed.

Police are searching for a gang of men who posed as police before breaking into a home, tying up a man and ransacking the property.

The home invasion occurred at around 3 p.m. Thursday after a man appeared at the home located on the 8900 Block of Northwest 180th Terrace, identifying himself as a police officer. Once he got inside, it became painfully clear he had lied.

Five to six male subjects then barged inside and tied up the grandfather with plastic flexible cuffs. Their 5-year-old grandchild and another adult were also inside the home at the time but were not tied up. No injuries reported after the armed subjects fled.

The family members were visiting from out of town, staying at the home of relatives, who were away at the time of the intrusion. Reggie Rodriguez, the victims’ cousin, arrived at the scene with obvious concern for his family. “I can only image what goes through your mind when you go through something like that. I can only imagine,” he said.

Police don’t have a lot of information to go on, but detectives are on the scene to see if the intruders got away with anything in the first place. The victims said only the second floor was ransacked, and since they don’t live there, they aren’t sure what, if anything was stolen.

Police said they only have a vague description of the subjects to go on. “We are looking for five dark-skinned Hispanic males,” said Miami-Dade Police Officer Roy Rutland. “We know they’re armed, we know they’re dangerous.” It also remained unclear whether they used a vehicle to get away.

Leslie Lluvet is a neighbor to the home and said police have patrolled the area, but she has never heard of any crime like this committed in the area. “I didn’t think it was that bad because I have seen cops around here circling,” she said, “but I never heard of anyone getting almost killed. I think it’s kind of scary because we don’t have gates in the back. They never stole from anybody here, so I don’t know.”

A former Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy has resigned after police charged him with misdemeanor battery.

BSO said that Charles Grady inappropriately touched two women during two different traffic stops.

Neighbors in Margate noticed Grady hadn’t been working for awhile and were shocked when they found out why. “I knew something was wrong because we had a lot of police officers come over and tape his car and everything, but I never thought that he would ever do anything like that,” said Ashley Plunk.

BSO suspended Grady and started an investigation after a 20-year-old woman from Coral Springs called Fort Lauderdale Police to complain about how she was handled during a traffic stop at West Oakland Park Boulevard. The department ultimately figured out that Grady had conducted the stop. “In the December case, the woman was not arrested, but she said that there was inappropriate conduct,” said BSO spokesperson Jim Leljedal.

Leljedal also noted a second case that involved Grady where there was an arrest. “In the September case, the woman was arrested for DUI, and she stated that inappropriate conduct occurred, subsequent to that arrest,” Leljedal added.

In this case, the lawyer of a 38-year-old woman from Boca Raton called the police to tell them that Grady did something similar to the woman when he arrested her for DUI in September.

Now, the state attorney has filed two counts of of misdemeanor battery against Grady. “Misdemeanor battery is a deliberate but unwelcome touching,” explained Leljedal.

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