Michael B. Cohen

Miami Resident Arrested in $100 million Venezuelan Money Laundering Scheme

May 18, 2015 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Venezuela has recently been experiencing a shortage of all foreign currencies due to a substantial drop in oil prices, the country’s central source of US dollars. It has gone through an economic contraction of close to three percent and is fighting a very high rate of inflation which is currently more than sixty percent.

Because of these financial difficulties, the government-determined exchange rate of the Bolivar, (Venezuela’s currency) has skyrocketed from approximately 4.25 Bolivar for 1 US dollar in 2013, to the current 6.29-1 legal rate of exchange (Source: Bloomberg 5/15/2015).

But the rate of exchange on Venezuela’s black market dwarfs the legal rate as US dollars become more precious to purchase items considered to be “essential goods” such as food and medicine that are not manufactured in Venezuela. These items make up around seventy percent of all imported products. The difference between the official exchange rate and the black-market rate can be up to as much as an exorbitant one-thousand percent. Recently, one U.S. dollar could be exchanged for close to three hundred Bolivars.

Due to this unique situation in the country, drug cartels have found a way to amass huge profits by carrying away loads of these essential products such as gasoline, imported medicines and foodstuffs to Colombia where they are traded for drugs, and dollars which are then brought back and sold in Venezuela making mammoth profits. These highly lucrative smuggled goods have bankrolled the rise of paramilitary groups, which now control significant strips of territory between the Venezuelan and Colombian border.

Allegedly, cashing in on the action, under the ruse of running a enterprise that would lend money to Venezuelan businesses so they could trade with companies in the United States, Martin Lustgarden Acherman, a Venezuelan-Austrian residing in Miami-Dade County perpetrated a scheme where he would fly drug profits out of Columbia; route them through his bank accounts in South Florida as well as other locations, and then exchange the funds for the local currency in Venezuela after flying the laundered currency back to that country.

The recent violence in Venezuela’s Capital of Caracas and other major cities, hand-in-hand with a collapsed economy has left store shelves sparsely filled. American cash is king on the black market, which in many cases has become the lifeline for local businesses so they are able to conduct commerce outside the country.

Earlier this month, federal authorities arrested Acherman, charging that he used his bank accounts here in South Florida to take advantage of the economic crisis in Venezuela to the benefit drug cartels, not businesses. He was arrested in Miami with Salomon Bendayan and Rama Krishna Kuchibhotla according to The Venezuelan Daily Brief.

Specifically, the federal government has charged that Acherman used his three Bank of America accounts located in Doral as conduits to launder $100 million in drug profits originating in Colombian back into Venezuela where he allegedly exchanged the proceeds for local currency at excessive black market prices.

Earlier this week federal prosecutors stated in court that Acherman “quarterbacked an international scheme to move U.S. dollars around on behalf of drug cartels and paramilitary organizations in Colombia… He takes advantage of the unique situation in Venezuela… has made a business of gathering U.S. dollars and making them available in places they are hard to come by such as Venezuela.”

Acherman has been charged with money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction and is being held pending further action. His lawyer commented that some of the government’s charges were “fantasy”, but did not provide further comment.

Charges dropped in 14-year old Lakeland Girl’s Cyberbullying Suicide

April 15, 2015 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Modern technology in its union with computers and the Internet is responsible for many changes in existing laws, both federal and local. A prime example of this is the crime of wire fraud which was previously defined as criminalities which were committed crossing state lines, mostly associated by telephone, telegraph, radio, and television. But in our current day environment, many types of crimes have been expanded to include new devices associated with computers as well as cell phones which didn’t exist when these laws were first placed on the books.

In addition to laws being lengthened to cover the new devices; which in many cases are used to commit crimes, innovative and new types of crimes have been devised through the use of these devices in the new digital world where we all can be affected.

Phishing scams, online sales scams and cyberbullying are just a few new crimes that didn’t exist before computers became popular and were ultimately coupled to the Internet.

An example of one of these modern crimes leads to the story of the suicide of a young girl who lived in Lakeland, Florida.

From all outward appearances, Rebecca Sedwick was an average 12-year-old, with all the challenges that young girls of that pre-teen age group face every day. But the investigation into her suicide revealed a troubling collection of tactics by her peers that by all appearances caused her to choose to end her life.

The story became a case of National prominence when two of Rebecca’s schoolmates from Crystal Lake Middle School were charged with a crime related to cyberbullying and intimidation by means of cellphone texts, social media and in-person verbal assaults.

Guadalupe Shaw and Katelyn Roman, were ages 14 and 12 respectively at the time they were charged with aggravated stalking in the death of Rebecca. The crime is a third-degree felony in the State of Florida. Both girls were eventually released into the custody of their parents although Shaw was first processed and spent a short time at a juvenile detention facility.

The findings of the investigation suggested that the older girl was the main culprit in the events that led up to the suicide. The investigation was launched soon after the suicide but the bullying began in 2012 and it was discovered that Rebecca was allegedly tormented by as many as fifteen girls, instigated by Shaw who was dating a boy that was previously Rebecca’s boyfriend. It may have been this element that caused Shaw to start turning classmates against her.

When the younger Katelyn Roman was interviewed by investigators, she told them that when the in-person taunting began at school, she was still friends with Rebecca. But Shaw “had so many people on her side.” She went on to tell investigators that around that time, she told Rebecca she didn’t think it was a good idea for them to remain friends. Rebecca didn’t take that news well and replied “it didn’t matter, because I (she) wasn’t a good friend anyway.” Roman continued by saying that “everyone was telling me she was a liar. I’d hear it all around school… Every day, I’d hear stuff about her… I didn’t want to believe what everyone was saying, but I didn’t know what to do.”

Shortly after the taunting began Katelyn and Rebecca got into a physical altercation between classes at school which was broken up by a teacher.

But it was the online taunting and bullying followed by a seemingly never-ending horde of text messages that caused the Polk County Sheriff to bring formal charges against the two girls despite their ages.

The hateful texts started in 2012 via cellphone and messaging applications including ask.fm, an anonymous question and answer platform website, Kik, an instant messaging application for mobile devices, and Voxer, a “Walkie Talkie app” and voice messaging system for smartphones.

Some of the texts that were discovered through the investigation said “You’re ugly”, “Why are you still alive?”, and “Can u die please?”

It was around that time that Rebecca started cutting herself with razor blades. Some of the images which were posted by Rebecca herself, on some of the aforementioned messaging sites as well as Facebook showed her cutting herself in the upper thigh, displaying her arms and body covered in cuts, showing a razor placed on the inside of her arm, as well as a picture showing her lying with her head on railroad tracks.

In early 2013, Tricia Norman, Sedwick’s mother, filed a complaint with the Polk County Sheriff’s office reporting that her daughter was the target of physical threats, also stating that she had an “ongoing feud” with another student. The student, who was unnamed in the report but implied to be Shaw, claimed that she never touched Sedwick when questioned by police. When Norman realized the abuse her daughter was facing she closed her daughter’s Facebook page, took away her cell phone, and ultimately had her transferred to a new school in August 2013 after first attempting to home school her beforehand in January of that year.

After weeks of investigation and scrutiny of thousands of Facebook messages the charges were ultimately dropped by the Polk County state attorney’s office. It was decided that there wasn’t enough concrete evidence to succeed with a prosecution against the girls even though an apparent admission by Shaw was plainly damaging, and the main reason that the Sheriff decided to pursue charges in the first place. Below is the Facebook post made by Shaw after the Sedwick suicide:
“Yes ik [I know] I bullied Rebecca nd [and] she killed her self [sic] but IDGAF [I don’t give a F…]

Presently, there are no federal laws that address the issue of cyberbullying but Tricia Norman, along with her attorney are aggressively pressing for a federal anti-bullying law. And in the State of Florida, Norman is fighting for the legislation of “Rebecca’s Law”, which would define statutory penalties for in-person bullying as well as this type of intimidation via the Internet and by use of other communication devices.

To find out more about Cyberbullying, its penalties in the State of Florida, and other crimes related to it, follow this link found on my Website.

Eight Arrested in Offshore Gambling Ring with Connection to Organized Crime

February 16, 2015 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

After an investigation that went on for over half a year, eight South Florida men were taken into custody as the result of a sting that covered territory along the East Coast in an offshore online sports gambling ring that was operated out of the suspect’s homes as well as local businesses. The online bookmaking ring took bets on professional and college sports including football, baseball, and basketball.

Related suspects were also arrested in New York City, Upstate New York’s Rockland County as well as Bergen County, New Jersey, with a grand total of over $4 million seized by federal agents between all locations. More than sixty search warrants were executed by multi-state agencies made up of the Organized crime unit in Florida as well as the FBI’s criminal division in the New York Metropolitan area and the Rockland County District Attorney’s Organized Crime Unit with assistance from the New York State Police Special Investigative Unit, Queens District Attorney’s Organized Crime Division, the NYPD Asset Forfeiture Unit, the Clarkstown and Ramapo police, the Bergen County, New Jersey Prosecutor’s Office, and the Department of Homeland Security.

In New York, the biggest catch found in the net was Daniel Pagano, now 61, the son of former Genovese crime family boss Joseph Luco Pagano. The younger Pagano is alleged to be a Captain in the continuing criminal enterprise.

Also picked up in the operation and accused of being linked to the infamous crime family was Pasquale Capolongo who was taken into custody in West Palm Beach, Florida. Capolongo had moved from White Plains, NY to West Palm Beach. He has a history of convictions for illegal gambling charges during the time he lived in Rockland County which has apparently followed him to South Florida.

The South Florida portion of the booty amounted to over $1.2 million and was snatched from the suspect’s homes, safety deposit boxes and personal bank accounts. According to papers released by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, in this new age of digital crime; in addition to conducting their illicit business from their homes it is also alleged that they worked out of local casinos and a dog track, an Italian market in Coral Springs, a scrap metal business in Pompano, and even a Whole Foods market and CVS Pharmacy.

Arrests were initiated last year in Rockland County in early December with the conclusion of their own separate investigation which separately went on for over a year. At the time, District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said that they were “taking in millions of dollars a month” and continued by saying that “the investigation uncovered evidence that the enterprise had links to organized crime.”

In the South Florida connection all the men are charged with racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, varying counts of bookmaking, conspiracy to commit bookmaking, and the unlawful use of two-way communication devices to facilitate a felony. All have been saddled with bond in excess of one hundred thousand dollars with Capolongo’s topping off at $1 million. Coming in second in the high-bond lottery was Michael Dangelo of Pompano Beach who had additional charges of drug trafficking and possession of cocaine and oxycodone which raised the amount of his bond to $777,000.

The Broward Sherriff’s Office said that the operation was foiled by texts and phone wiretaps, surveillance, along with cooperating witnesses and defendants as well as videotaped recordings of live transactions, and the hard work of their undercover deputies.

Sheriff’s spokesperson Gina Carter mentioned that “this is an ongoing investigation and we anticipate several more key players will be arrested in coming weeks.”

Four of the men who were arrested in Palm Beach County including Capolongo had hearings before a Broward Circuit Court Judge to account for the sources of their bond funds which must have been obtained from legitimate sources. The other three men were Devon Alexander Shalmi, 30, Joseph Petrolino, 47, and Thomas Cuce, 32. But for now the four remain in custody. All the men arrested live in the immediate neighborhoods of West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Parkland, Margate and Coral Springs in Broward and Palm Beach Counties. The others arrested were Allan Klein, and his son Darren, Michael Dangelo, and Erik Bishop.

Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel commented on the workings of the criminal enterprise by saying “Criminal networks like these may not seem dangerous to the public… but it is activity such as this that leads to violence and fuels organized crime throughout the country.”

US District Court to Hear Convoluted Murder for Hire Case

November 26, 2014 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Fred Topous Jr. is a registered sex offender who pleaded guilty in 1999 to the charge of assault with intent to penetrate a thirteen year old minor female who just happened to be his boss’s daughter. He can easily be labelled a career criminal as his records show that he’s either been imprisoned or on parole for all of but three years between the years of 1984 and 2006 for three individual criminal convictions.

But after his release from prison in 2006, Topous hit the lottery… I mean he literally hit the lottery!

In 2008, Topous picked the six winning numbers in Michigan’s $57 million State Lottery. The proceeds netted him a whopping thirty-four million dollars in a one-time lump sum payout.

In some cases, ex-convicts’ who have significant amounts of money or receive windfalls after their release have been ordered to give a substantial amount to the state to cover the expense of their upkeep for the period of time they were incarcerated. But in Topous’s case, the attorney general’s office didn’t pursue any economic payback. So to sum it up Topous got to keep the full payout, his debt to society already paid in full.

But this article isn’t about Fred Topous Jr., not directly at least. This is a story about Murder for Hire.

In late 2009, Topous began a business venture with a well-known area lawyer named Clarence K. Gomery. Together they purchased what was originally a golf course and redeveloped the property into Northern Meadows, a wedding and banquet facility by way of the newly formed company. T&G Real Estate Development LLC that Gomery setup. Before going into private practice Gomery held the positions as an Assistant County Prosecutor as well as County Prosecutor in two separate jurisdictions.

The purchase was made for $500,000 of which Gomery didn’t contribute any funds. However, Gomery had Topous sign a document which was subsequently altered (as decided in a civil suit judgment) to indicate Gomery as fifty percent partner on the property deal. Gomery’s law firm Gomery and Associates, also handed Topous a bill for legal services rendered in the amount of $25,000 which Topous paid. Topous charged that he paid approximately $500,000 and didn’t receive accounting of the purchase of the property. During the course of its operation, T&G Real Estate Development LLC only received one payment of $1500 from Northern Meadows.

Hence, Topous sued Gomery in the 13th Circuit Court on the grounds that he had made several demands requesting the operating accounting and the agreement but received no satisfaction. He hired Chris Cooke to act as his attorney in the case.
According to court documents Gomery had primarily refused to produce any books, records, or accountings. Attorney Cooke charged that Gomery “induced” his client to invest funds in the new business and then “used the business to host weddings for family members at Plaintiff’s expense.” According to court documents the attorney also accused Gomery of “fraudulently editing the operating agreement giving him fifty percent ownership and fifty percent interest in the property with no monetary investment on his own part.” He also claimed that Gomery named Topous as the responsible party for property taxes associated with the property owned by the newly formed LLC.

Last May a jury established that Gomery did indeed induce Mr. Topous into the agreement by violating ethical rules as well as committing malpractice and fraud by altering the operating documents at the same time he collected $25,000 from his new business partner under the pretext of settling a lawsuit which threatened Topous’ brother, Jeff, by making it “go away.”

The jury awarded the property to Topous in full with exception of $13,000 which went to improvements made by Gomery before the lawsuit was filed. Besides losing the property Gomery was ordered to pay Topous $314,000 to cover court costs and attorney’s fees. Additionally, Judge Thomas Power issued a sanctions order against Gomery in November. The following April, Gomery filed for bankruptcy placing his payment obligation on hold. Topous then opposed the stay of debtor payments.

It is not clear exactly when and the reasoning behind it, but at some point Gomery came to the conclusion of having Mr. Topous’s lawyer killed. But it’s easy to speculate that perhaps he felt the lawyer did too good a job which ultimately caused him to wind up in his current dilemma.

But Dale Fisher, the man that Gomery allegedly hired to kill the lawyer said “That he [Gomery] had just lost so much money in the lawsuits and that he was interfering in his bankruptcy and it was destroying his life… It was destroying his wife, his family.”

Gomery knew Fisher when he hired him to do some work at his home and arranged a meet in his office to discuss his “detailed plan”. But what Gomery didn’t count on was that Dale Fisher was a man with a conscience.

Fisher agreed to meet in Gomery’s office on several occasions and then alerted police to Gomery’s plan which would be carried out using him as the instrument. He also told police that he was paid $1000 to purchase a rifle with a payment of $20,000.00 pledged to be paid after the deed was done. In a later interview, Fisher was quoted as saying “I couldn’t fathom why somebody would choose me to commit such a heinous crime.”

Fisher also alerted Cooke to the threat who was stunned at the revelation. He later said that he “went to the authorities and they acted expeditiously to analyze the threat.”

Upon learning of the plot, police had Fisher meet with Gomery at his home while wearing a listening device. They heard Gomery and Fisher discuss the type of weapon that was to be bought and where it was to be purchased, how the murder would go down and where and when it would happen.

Gomery was arrested in mid-July after detectives tracked him down at his daughter’s home; but not until after a drawn out drama and negotiation with police transpired. Police units from five different departments arrived at the scene to assist with the arrest. He was first contacted by police in mid-evening on the evening before his eventual arrest. When a detective first contacted him he allegedly told him that police would need to prepare to “dig in… it was going to be a long night.” After that first exchange, police surrounded his daughter’s house and decided to just wait it out, instead of breaching the home to take him into custody; avoiding an unpleasant and possibly dangerous confrontation.

At approximately 9:30pm, one of the detectives made contact with the suspect by phone and told him they were waiting for him at his own home. He asked him to go there as an arrest warrant had been issued. The detective explained that Gomery told him that he wasn’t prepared to do that “due to the fact that he does not want to sit in jail overnight.” Afterward, Gomery turned off his cell phone while police continued their surveillance and established a perimeter around the home. Attempts by a detective to contact him by way of a bullhorn from the driveway of the house were unsuccessful as Gomery stayed put.

At approximately 4:00am that following morning, police noticed lights being turned on in the house. Not long after that, Gomery’s wife exited the house and entered an SUV in the driveway. She was immediately stopped by police while in a separate SUV, Gomery’s daughter and her passenger being the suspect attempted to leave. When stopped by police his daughter told them they were preparing to drive to the County Jail where her father intended to turn himself in. Gomery was then taken into custody.

He is now facing the felony of soliciting murder. Because the crime involved the carrying of a weapon with unlawful intent he will also face a separate charge of solicitation of a felony.

After his arraignment by a District Court Judge he was remanded to the County Jail on a $5 million cash surety bond.

Two days after his arrest Gomery answered a motion that was filed by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court to dismiss the case.

In District Courtroom testimony Fisher affirmed that there was a plan in place, devised by Gomery to kill Cooke using him as the assassin along with the specifics of the plot and the amount to be paid.

The case continues… Check back here for updates as it moves toward its conclusion.

Collateral Monetary Damage in South Florida from Home Depot Security Breach

November 11, 2014 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

These days it seems that with far too much frequency there is continually breaking news about another retailer with online outlets being victimized by a security breach. The latest of these high tech break-ins was successfully aimed at Home Depot and turned out to be executed by a low-tech method; at least when first hijacking their network.

The well-known distributor of appliances and supplies for home and garden items released news that show that a breach which began in April of this year and went undetected through September allowed hackers to steal credit and debit card data of fifty-six million customers. The news got worse when the company announced last week that in addition to the credit data being compromised as many as fifty-three million email addresses were also revealed to the hackers through the attack.

The hackers didn’t have to break through any firewalls or tough encryption protocols or even find a flaw in their Website’s security code. They did it the old fashioned way by stealing a vendor’s login information to gain access to their network.

Once inside the system the online bandits were able to move around the network and plant malware known as “Backoff” which in this case was custom-built, accessing records of customer’s credit and debit card information at point of sale terminals that were located throughout the United States and Canada. This type of bug had been previously flagged by the Secret Service leading the Agency to issue an advisory that warned businesses of the threat before this latest attack took place.

According to Kaspersky Labs a well-regarded cyber security company, the amount of companies targeted by this method may easily have exceeded the more than one thousand companies thought to be affected by it based on estimates released by federal officials.

The technicians from Kaspersky found that during a period of only a few days of their investigation, in excess of one hundred networks from eighty-five separate IP addresses were attempting to link to what are technically known as malicious command-and-control servers.

Malicious command-and-control servers are used in cyber-attacks for the purpose of maintaining communication with systems that have been previously compromised within a network that has been breached. Ninety-seven of those infected systems were in the U.S and Canada with the other small group targeting Israel and the United Kingdom.

It appears that most of the systems were compromised quite a while ago, since this particular Backoff component had been identified as early as October of last year according to one of the senior security researchers at Kaspersky. “Looking at the bigger picture here, these companies were infected for a very long time, maybe even half a year or longer,” said Roel Schouwenberg, the senior security researcher that was interviewed and speculated that the companies under attack “should have detected and blocked any malicious activity related to the malware” and then added that “none of the companies appears to have even known they were infected.”

It appears that Home Depot did not learn from the massive data breach earlier this year against Target stores that affected more than 100 million customers. The company has been accused of not keeping up-to-date on necessary security measures that would have made them aware of the planted malware ultimately thwarting the break-in and subsequent data theft.

The implications of such a theft of data are usually not immediately felt but the threat continually exits without taking measures to protect the stolen data. That’s not to say that there aren’t immediate financial ramifications.

Before the breach was even publicized a consumer class action suit was filed in federal court by First Choice Federal Credit Union that listed an extensive listing of damages. The case was filed in Georgia which is Home Depot’s hub.

First Choice which is located in New Castle, Pennsylvania filed the suit on behalf of financial institutions including credit unions and banks anticipating that they will be suffering injuries as a result of a massive security breach which compromised the retailer’s customers’ names, and zip codes of the stores marked by the theft, debit and credit numbers along with their expiration dates, and verification codes. The suit also mentions the immediate costs of redistributing new cards and other costs involving the intensity of labor needed to achieve it. To sum it up, the complaint states that “Home Depot utilized weak password configurations and did not employ lockout security procedures at its remote access points.”

In Florida, the breach affected 434,000 members of credit unions. With the average cost of each card estimated to be just over eight dollars it will cost close to three and one half million dollars to replace and reissue the cards as well as sustaining additional costs for notifying their members by way of additional staffing. Charges will also be incurred for the monitoring of the affected accounts. These figures are according to the League of Southeastern Credit Unions and Affiliates.

To read more in detail about computer and Internet cases visit the following page on my Website: https://www.southflalaw.com/federal-computer-crimes.html

Miami Federal Judge gives International Sex Trafficker/Rapist 27 years

October 30, 2014 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

His reign of terror which operated Internationally including Australia, the Mid-East and the United States finally came to an end when Miami Federal District Judge Cecilia Altonaga sentenced Jamaican born Damion St. Patrick Baston to twenty-seven years in federal prison.

For years, the smoothing talking former nightclub dancer enticed women into a life of prostitution that spanned numerous continents by making them believe he was a hip hop music producer, later bragging to them that he was a member of Bloods, the violent West Coast street gang based out of Los Angeles. Once under his influence he repeatedly raped them and used tactics of verbal abuse, threats to their family and savage beatings to keep them under his control.

It appears that his venture into the sex for sale and sex trafficking trade began around the time he married an 18-year-old woman of Australian descent only identified as TJM on Queensland’s Gold Coast in an Islamic ceremony. He met her at a party in 2009 and married her the following year. She would be one of many women from outside the borders of the United States to testify against him.

According to court testimony his next Australian victim, identified as KL met him in a restaurant also on the Gold Coast. He told her he was a music producer seeking talent from Australia. After beginning a passionate relationship with her he let her believe that he was interested in opening a new restaurant and would let her in on the action but instead, as he did with his first conquest he threatened her and used acts of violence to bully her into working for him as a prostitute. He posted her pictures in local newspapers offering escort services as well as on the Internet along with her contact information using known “escort service” Web sites. He drove her to “dates” and kept all the proceeds she earned. He also opened a strip club called the Bachelors Club that KL was listed as owner/operator. According to Baston’s testimony she kept the books and he split all profits from the venture with her. KL denied his statement and testified that she only allowed him to use her name because she was in fear of him due to him threatening to hurt her and her family.

By 2011 he was peddling both women out of various rented dwellings on the Gold Coast and flew to Dubai with KL and the woman from New Zealand where he did the same in that middle-eastern country. He reentered the United States and settled in South Florida in 2012 with two of the women.

Six women in total of which three were flown in by the prosecution testified against him including three Americans, two Australians, one from Lithuania and one New Zealander. All six of the women testified that he forced them to work as strippers in Australia, in Dubai and South Florida and then coerced them into working for his various escort services.

This past June at trial, a federal jury of twelve, including Baston’s ex-wife heard testimony of how he forced them into a life as sex slaves and prostitution after beating and raping them.

Evidence presented in court disclosed that Baston was convicted of possessing stolen property in the late 1990s. That conviction led to an order to deport him to his native Jamaica by a U.S. immigration judge. During his own testimony he denied the deportation and said it was a “touchy subject.” He first turned up in Australia in 2009 under a stolen identity of a man that lived in Iowa. He used the passport and identification cards of a man named Rayshawn Bryant who was the victim of the identity theft.

In addition to the oral testimony, a transcript of a recorded conversation between Baston and the woman from New Zealand (flown in by the prosecution) identified as GP was heard by the jury which was made up of five men and seven women. In addition to the transcript, when making her original complaint she told the New South Wales Police Department that at one point in 2010 Baston hung her upside down, from a fire escape by her feet while he verbally abused and threatened her. She also testified that he forced her into a shower with scorching hot water running and wouldn’t let her out for hours as he beat her without mercy. The female detective that took GP’s statement testified that she was the most terrified victim she had ever interviewed throughout her twenty-five year career, most recently working for the sexual battery division.

One of the South Florida women testified how he ruined her life by getting her pregnant. She also disclosed that she subsequently had given birth to his child.

The twenty-one charges against him included importation of an alien for prostitution, sex trafficking by force, coercion and fraud, transportation for prostitution, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.

When Baston took the stand he told a completely different story. He said he was educated in New York City studying for the fashion industry, became a master in karate and weight lifter. He then worked as a dancer in nightclubs before becoming a talent agent in the music business. He said that he never forced or intimidated any of his numerous girlfriends into prostitution or his escort services, and never took their money.
“I am not a pimp… I was always nice and kind… It was love. It was romantic. It was fun.”

The presiding federal judge didn’t buy his story.

The arrest and conviction came as a result of a joint effort among Australian and United Arab Emirates law enforcement agencies along with United States federal authorities that stemmed from a 2008 law to combat international sex trafficking.

The mandatory minimum sentence for the self-described entrepreneur’s crimes was fifteen years in federal prison.

Declaring that a “sentence of life (in prison) would not provide just punishment,” Miami Federal District Judge Cecilia Altonaga sentenced Baston to twenty-seven years in federal prison. The reason given by the judge for what would appear to be a light sentence based on testimony that convicted him at trial was only that nobody was killed by his actions.

Lighthouse Point Man Sentenced to Lesser Charge in First-Degree Murder Case

October 17, 2014 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

It was more than twenty years ago when Lynne Friend went to meet her estranged husband to pick up a check that was due for child support. After that evening, the then thirty-five year old Lynne Friend vanished.

For eighteen of those twenty years, her ex-husband, Clifford Friend lived his life as a free man and continued with his life. He remarried in 1995 and together with his new wife they raised his son Christian the product of his first marriage. He opened a pawn shop and the couple bought a home in Pembroke Pines. Although he was the prime suspect in his wife’s disappearance, charges against him were never filed.

But in March of 2012, a Grand Jury indicted Friend for the charge of first degree murder in his wife’s death. Over the years, the case had gone before Grand Juries three previous times but it wasn’t until the latest review that an Indictment was returned.

Back then, after making his first appearance before a Miami-Dade judge, the Lighthouse Point man was denied bail. At the time, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s office introduced new evidence that apparently made the difference although Lynne’s body was never found.

Investigators asserted that they had new evidence that was gathered during the course of their investigation stating that they had confirmation of Mr. Friend and Alan Gold (one of his former friends) throwing an oversized bundle from Gold’s boat that was drifting off the coast of Miami Beach in the area of Government Cut. The information was provided by U.S. Customs officials who told investigators that they witnessed the act on the last night Lynne Friend was seen, approximately one hour after Friend spoke with his wife about picking up the payment.

The boat was later searched revealing a quantity of light gauge rope and two cement blocks. However, in spite of a considerable search of the area, no human remains or evidence of a large package or container of any type was ever found in the water or neighboring area.

The prosecution’s case hinged on Gold’s testimony who until recently remained silent. He was offered immunity in the case in exchange for becoming a witness against his former friend. He stated that he promised Mr. Friend that he would never reveal the episode that transpired that night and had no intentions of doing so. But his fear of being prosecuted as an accessory to the crime caused him to accept the immunity deal. At trial, in his own words when he was asked why he decided to testify he told the prosecutor: “Only because you put me in a box and I don’t have any choice.”

Prior to making that statement, during questioning the prosecutor asked Gold if he helped Friend on the night in question by throwing a parcel off a boat into the water. His answer was in the affirmative. The prosecutor’s then asked if he suspected what was in the bag that was thrown overboard to which he responded definitively and without hesitation “His wife, Lynne.”

During further questioning Gold stated that Friend told him that he strangled his ex-wife during a heated argument and he only agreed to help his friend get rid of his ex-wife’s body to keep him from getting arrested and sent to jail leaving their son, Christian without either parent. His son Christian was five years old at the time of his mother’s presumed murder. Gold went on to say “I basically didn’t want to see the kid fatherless.”

Friend had previously lost a long bitter custody battle and his ex-wife was preparing to leave the state with their son. This apparently infuriated Friend.

The two week long first-degree murder trial that concluded in July resulted with the jury deliberating for five hours before returning a verdict of guilty of the lesser charge of second degree murder.

Before the sentence of life in prison was announced last month, Friend’s current wife Janet told the judge that her husband was a good man. “His smile, his guidance and his presence as a father will be missed. I’m requesting you to consider that he had no criminal history and was an outstanding citizen, phenomenal father and wonderful husband.” The couple had been married for nineteen years.

His son Christian, now twenty-five also stood by his father saying that his father was innocent of the crime. “He raised us to know the difference between right and wrong. I know he loved me. He loved too much to hurt me by taking my mother from me. After sitting here for weeks, I have never been more sure of his innocence.”

But Lynn Friend’s former fiancé, Ed O’Dell had a completely opposite viewpoint. After the sentence was imposed he told reporters that he though Friend should have received the death penalty.

South Florida Corrections Officer Sentenced for Federal Charges

October 3, 2014 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Former Corrections Officer Jerry St. Fleur, 26, was sentenced to over four years in a federal prison after agreeing to a plea deal for charges of identity theft and wire fraud. Over sixty thousand dollars that was proceeds from his scheme will also be forfeited. He faced up to twenty years in federal prison before submitting to the guilty plea.

But in 2014, St. Fleur was not alone when it came to officers from Florida’s Department of Corrections being arrested, accepting guilty pleas and being sentenced for their crimes.

St. Fleur was the third employee of Florida Correctional Institutions to be sent to federal prison for their transgressions. Just one month earlier, former juvenile probation officer Corey A. Coley was sentenced to more than seven years for identity theft and filing false tax returns and just two months prior to that resolution, former federal corrections Officer Michael J. Garland was sentenced to two years after he pleaded guilty for charges of bribery and smuggling contraband into a federal prison.

In this latest case St. Fleur’s guilty plea was established based on charges that he stole the identities of existing and former inmates who either served or were serving time at the Zephyrhills Correctional Facility. He used the data to file more than one hundred eighty bogus tax returns requesting refunds in an amount that exceeded one half million dollars

St. Fleur was arrested this past May on five separate counts of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft by using his authority to acquire birth dates and Social Security numbers that he matched up to the names of inmates currently serving their sentences at the facility. He was also charged with using the FDOC database to acquire the same information for inmates who previously were incarcerated there. He would use the former and present inmate’s personal identifying information (PII) to file the phony returns

After filing the fraudulent tax returns he directed payment to be deposited to debit cards that was held by accomplices who took part in his scheme.

The charges against St. Fleur of identity theft and wire fraud are both federal crimes which were investigated by the FBI and IRS. Locally, the investigation was assisted by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office leading to St. Fleur’s arrest and subsequent guilty plea and sentence. It was prosecuted by Matthew Jackson, Assistant United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida.

The Coley case resulted with him receiving a sentence of more than seven years in federal prison for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, as well as conspiracy. He was also ordered to return $671,023. That amount was the minimum monetary quantity calculated to be what he and his three accomplices obtained through the scheme. His co-conspirators also received significant punishments.

Albert E. Moore, Jr. was sentenced to more than six years, Tigi Moore received a four year sentence and Mattie Philon received the shortest sentence of two years in federal prison.

The case against Garland concluded with a two year prison sentence and the forfeiture of $4,200 which was the amount traced as being the financial proceeds of his crimes.

South Florida Businessman Pleads Not Guilty in Baseball Star Human Smuggling Conspiracy

September 17, 2014 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Gilberto Suarez, a 40 year old businessman from South Florida pleaded not guilty after he was arrested for his part in a smuggling ring that allegedly helped Yasiel Puig, a star player for the Los Angeles Dodgers enter the country in 2012. The not guilty plea was in answer to an Indictment which gave away few details other than seeking forfeiture of any proceeds Suarez received from the illegal business deal that brought the baseball player, his girlfriend and spiritual adviser here from Cuba. Other than those details the Indictment was sealed.

Specifically, the forfeiture demand recorded in the Indictment seeks recovery of any funds that changed hands between the two, which were proceeds of a seven-year $42 million dollar contract that was negotiated for him by his agent Jaime Torres when signing with the west coast team. It further goes on to separately list almost three million dollars of cash, two properties and two late model luxury vehicles. The stellar outfielder was only identified as YP in the Indictment

In Miami, after a short hearing earlier this month in federal court, Suarez who was accompanied by his brother and wife at the bond hearing was released on $120,000 bail. His formal release occurred later in the day after he posted 10 percent of the compulsory amount. The arrest was carried out by Homeland Security Investigation’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (HIS-ICE). The primary charge was conspiracy to introduce aliens to the United States.

The Indictment stemmed from a civil lawsuit that was filed in federal district court in Miami against Puig that revealed how he eventually arrived in the states. Miguel Angel Cronbach Daudinot, a Dominican National filed the lawsuit while still in custody in Cuba claiming the court has jurisdiction under the Torture Victim Protection Act which sanctions civil cases to be heard in the United States versus persons who “commit torture while acting in an official capacity for a foreign nation.” Cronbach Daudinot maintained that the inhuman mistreatment he received while being in jail qualified as such.

The civil suit seeks monetary damages of $12 million dollars for “prolonged arbitrary detention and torture,” that resulted in a seven-year prison sentence. He now contends he suffers “poor mental and physical health” as the result of his imprisonment.

In 2010, Cronbach Daudinot was jailed after Puig and his mother testified against him as being a member of a human trafficking ring. Although he denied the claim in court he was convicted of basically attempting to plot Puig’s latest escape from the Island Nation.

Cronbach Daudinot repudiated the allegations stating that Puig made false statements against him so he would gain favor with the government to be reinstated to again play baseball for the Cuban National Team. Puig had previously been suspended after previous attempts at defection to the U.S. Cuban officials’ justly believed that he would attempt it again.

After over three years in prison Cronbach Daudinot was released into a “provisional liberty” program where he will serve the balance of his sentence. The probationary program limits his travel as well as requiring him to check in with authorities on a pre-specified timely basis.

According to documents filed in that case Suarez was named as one of the men that put up the money to transport Puig from Cuba to a small fishing village located near Cancun, Mexico. Initially, $250,000 was paid but the smugglers known as lancheros raised the rate to $400,000 before the crossing was concluded to Isla Mujeres, the village in close proximity to Cancun.

Yunior Despaigne, a Cuban boxer who had a hand in setting up the transaction also made the trip with Puig and his group signed an affidavit stating that the men who paid the smugglers to arrange the trip eventually hired others known as “fixers” to move them out of the smuggler’s custody where they were being held captive in a boardinghouse, unable to leave the premises without a chaperone as well as being under constant observation by guards.

They were finally transported to Mexico City via a cigarette boat where the outfielder was introduced to eager baseball scouts. It was later learned that the “lancheros” that finally liberated them from Cuba had deep ties to the Los Zetas cartel and were the actual leaders of the alien smuggling and boat theft ring. He also stated in the affidavit that it was conveyed to him that Suarez and others involved in the deal would be receiving a substantial percentage of Cuban National’s contract.

From Mexico City, entry into the United States for Puig and his party was simple after first landing in Texas allowing them to make use of the “wet-foot, dry-foot” policy.
They walked across the Rio Bravo/Rio Grande International Bridge between Mexico, and Texas, entering the Immigration and Customs patrol station on the U.S. side. Able to prove Cuban citizenship with their National ID cards they were allowed to stay and declare asylum.

Florida Man Acquitted of First Degree Murder Charges

September 1, 2014 | Michael B. Cohen, P.A.

Cesar Limas made his living by selling cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana. Yet he became the prosecutor’s key witness in a first degree murder trial that led to fourteen months of jail time for Carlos Hiracheta Perez, 29, of Dade City pending trial.

Limas told police that he and another man wrestled a Colt .45 semi-automatic pistol away from Perez outside an abandoned house in Dade City after two shots were fired inside the house.

Within the residence lay the motionless body of Arturo Escamilla. Limas told Sheriff’s deputies that after he grabbed the gun away from Perez, the suspect ran from the scene. Perez was apprehended afterward, and detained by Dade City police officers. He was later charged with attempted first degree murder and held without bail at the Pasco County Jail. The charges were elevated to first degree murder when Escamilla died the following day at Bayonet Point Hospital as a result of his injuries that took place in mid-May of last year.

Based on the arrest affidavit, Perez got into an argument with Escamilla inside the house leading prosecutors to contend that Perez was the person who gravely injured Escamilla when he shot him twice in the head.

However, at trial, the advocate for Perez placed doubt on Mr. Limas’s testimony pointing out contradictions in his original statement to police, as well as a lack of any evidence directly attributing Perez to being the shooter.

The assistant public defender argued that at the time of the shooting there were five men inside the abandoned house including Perez and Limas. Perez maintained that he was sleeping on a couch and ran when two gunshots rang out, believing he was running for his life. After Perez sprinted out of the house first, four more men followed and hopped into a vehicle and raced away. This was corroborated by neighbors who witnessed the events unfold. This contradicted Limas’s original statement to police that he and another man disarmed Perez.

A photograph of Limas was also revealed in possession of a .45-caliber handgun that was taken a few days prior to the shooting which more than likely could have been the gun that killed Escamilla. Additionally, members of Escamilla’s family stated that he never had any problems with Perez, but often had battles and heated disagreements with all of the other men in the group who all rushed out of the previously vacated dwelling after the shots were fired, including the prosecution’s central witness.

Perez’s court appointed attorney described to jurors that based on the presentation of the prosecution’s case it appeared they had more evidence against their star witness than they did against his client, and placed doubt in their minds by establishing that any of the other four men could have been the actual trigger-man.
The jury’s deliberations took a little more than an hour when they returned to their seats with a unanimous verdict. Judge Pat Siracusa cautioned Perez and his family to remain passive and quiet regardless of what the results were prior to the reading of the verdict. And they did as instructed, because the silence was deafening when it was revealed that the finding of all jury members was not guilty.

When the outcome of the verdict became apparent to Perez’s mother, with the speaker of her cellphone activated she was overheard excitedly repeating the word “libre”. Translated from Spanish, the word libre simply means “free”.

She next saw her son walking down the corridor that led out of the courthouse, exiting through the sliding glass doors into the lobby where she, his sister and niece came together around him in a mutual hug ending Carlos’s fourteen month ordeal this past July.

In Pasco County, a not guilty outcome in a first degree murder case is uncommon. It had been almost four years since it previously occurred when Anthony Harris was exonerated for the first degree murder charge of killing a drug dealer in 2010.<!–