Valdes was certain the stalker was behind it. But who was he?
On May 6, an anonymous tipster fingered Kellyd Rodriguez, a skeletal figure who was no stranger to cops. In 2004, he had been arrested and charged with four felony counts of aggravated stalking. Police said that between August 1 and February 7, he had called Jorge Rodriguez, owner of radio station La Poderosa (WWFE, 670 AM), more than 500 times. (He later pleaded guilty to one count, but a judge withheld adjudication.)
C. Stiles
Santero Carlos Valdes
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Police began tailing his car. On May 12, they spotted two phones on his dashboard. Rodriguez "nervously" admitted one matched the 786 number police had tracked to the Valdes calls, according to an arrest report. Prosecutors charged him with felony stalking, but thus far haven't been able to link him to the shootings or the calls to the schools. (Hernandez notes his client is charged only with the harassing phone calls, but he declined further comment.)
But Valdes contends the systematic harassment qualifies as a hate crime. Prosecutors are considering the request, State Attorney's Office spokesman Ed Griffith says, but so far don't believe the evidence supports it.
Other santeros are watching closely. Though Pichardo's '93 case established that animal sacrifices are legal as Santería rites, Valdes's clash with police and an ignorant community member is far from isolated.
In 2006, for instance, three worshippers in West Dade were arrested during a sacrifice; charges were eventually dropped. Months later, a Miami-Dade firefighter was booked when a neighbor called 911 about a goat sacrifice. He too was exonerated.
In January 2007, Valdes himself was detained during an animal sacrifice. That's why he originally went on the radio — to talk about the need to better educate police about the religion.
Seven month later, in August, Coral Gables Police swarmed a house on Casilla Street, disrupting a Santería service with their guns drawn. Worshippers were detained until officers realized no crime had been committed, but defiant Gables Mayor Don Slesnick vowed to stop all animal sacrifices in the City Beautiful and refused to apologize.
More recently, Jose Merced, a santero in Euless, Texas, filed a federal lawsuit when the town's cops descended on a ceremony with about ten worshippers and stopped a planned sacrifice of goats and chickens. In July 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, sided with Merced, citing the precedent of Pichardo's case.
Hate crime or not, if Rodriguez's goal was to stop Valdes from practicing Santería, he has failed.
On a recent Tuesday morning, Valdes, clad in white and draped with eleke beads, sits on a rug in a sunny room in West Kendall. Across from him sits Julio Cesar Garcia, a "godson" who has asked for help with getting a promotion at Miami International Airport.
For the ebbo be estera ceremony, Valdes chants and sings rapid-fire, like a Pentecostal preacher speaking in tongues, over the soft clink of seashells shuffled beneath his hand. He grabs a watermelon, cuts a hole in the center, and pours in a viscous mix of honey, spices, and blue dye. Garcia holds the fruit to his head, kisses it, and places it gently back on the rug. "This is my religion, and I have as much right to practice it in peace as anyone else," Valdes says after the ceremony. "I will fight for this as long and hard as I must."
UPDATE: Check out the latest charges against alleged stalker Kellyd Rodriguez.
