We reported yesterday that Noriega blew a digital fuse when a resident repeatedly questioned him via email about the since-convicted Ponzi schemer's role on the Police Athletic League board.
When we asked Noriega about bizarre correspondence from Shapiro to him -- including a photo in which appears to be bleeding from the head -- the chief again got testy.
Riptide requested all emails sent between Noriega's official police address and Shapiro. Besides several group messages concerning the PAL -- sorry, Carlos! -- our favorite napoleonic scam artist sent two emails to the chief.
They were both mighty strange.
The email with the mysterious photo of the bloodied head, sent May 4, 2009, contained no message.
On July 28, Shapiro forwarded the chief a resumé for a woman named Marisol Yaneth Niebla, a former Hialeah Gardens Police officer.
"Please speak w me on this- nevin", Shapiro wrote to Noriega.
According to MBPD spokesperson Juan Sanchez, Marisol Niebla is not employed by the department.
Noriega maintains he had no personal relationship with Shapiro. If that's true, these emails show Shapiro is even weirder than previously imagined.
Noriega apparently didn't reply to either message and in fact never emailed Shapiro at all -- at least not with his work account.
When we relayed questions to Noriega about these emails, well, let's just say the chief knows his way around capital letters and italics:
I believe that I commented on this following a public records request approximately a month ago, when a search of e-mails between Mr. Shapiro and I discovered only the two e-mails SENT FROM MR. SHAPIRO TO ME in 2009 existed. It goes without saying that I receive 50 to 100 e-mails on a daily basis and 10's of thousands since the e-mails in question were received. Unfortunately, I do not have any specific or independent recollection of either one of those two e-mails SENT TO ME by Mr. Shapiro but as evident, neither one received a response FROM ME. I believe that my failure to respond to either one on those two e-mails HE SENT reflects my indifference with both e-mails involving Mr. Shapiro. I'm sure that if I had sent even one e-mail to Mr. Shapiro...ever, I would recall something about the content. Just for the record my practice has been not to open e-mail attachments containing photographs, especially when the content is not known to me in advance.As far as the individual in question identified in one of the two e-mails brought to our attention, I directed the Media Relations Office to respond to your request and provide you with any findings.
The ghosts of Ponzi schemers past just keep haunting Miami Beach Police brass. You'll recall we exposed that Noriega's predecessor in office, Donald DeLucca, routinely reserved Ritz-Carlton hotel rooms for Shapiro, which he then used to lure investors into his scheme.
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