Crime and Law

Dead Men Talking

Miami Beach Resort Shooting Was Over Drugs, Not Hookers

​Turns out the shooting at the Miami Beach Resort and Spa Saturday had nothing to do with hookers, but drugs. At least that's what the Miami Beach Police Department is saying. Oh, and that weird smell? It was pepper spray.

Mafia-Connected Haitian Ponzi Schemer Michael J. Muzio Sentenced to 13.5 Years

​Michael J. Muzio, one of four co-conspirators in a Ponzi scheme that targeted South Florida Haitian-Americans, has been sentenced to 163 months in federal prison. In April, New Times told you about the $14.3 million dollar scheme, which offered to double investors' cash in 90 days. Two of Muzio's ... More >>

Man Found Shot to Death in Truck

via CBS4​In today's news roundup: A dead body is found in a truck, a teacher drives while under the influence of booze and Xanax, and those huge LCD billboards in downtown Miami have a long way to go before they're erected.

Hialeah McDonald's Robbed by Employee Dressed as Ninja

​A McDonald's in Hialeah was robbed not once, but twice by a man dressed like a ninja, in head-to-toe black. Turned out the robberies were perpetrated by Michel Quiroz, an 18-year-old employee at the restaurant. He even continued to show up for work after the robberies, but eventually his co-worke ... More >>

Phoenix, Arizona: America's kidnapping capital is brutal

​A McDonald's in Hialeah was robbed not once, but twice by a man dressed like a ninja, in head-to-toe black. Turned out the robberies were perpetrated by Michel Quiroz, an 18-year-old employee at the restaurant. He even continued to show up for work after the robberies, but eventually his co-worke ... More >>

Only a fraction of Mexicans get U.S. asylum

​A McDonald's in Hialeah was robbed not once, but twice by a man dressed like a ninja, in head-to-toe black. Turned out the robberies were perpetrated by Michel Quiroz, an 18-year-old employee at the restaurant. He even continued to show up for work after the robberies, but eventually his co-worke ... More >>

China Grill, Prime One Twelve Latest to Be Sued by Ex-Employees for Tip Skimming

China Grill in South Beach is in hot water over a recent lawsuit​When we head to most South Beach restaurants, we customers expect to get fleeced: $200 steaks, $50 sushi rolls, $15 mineral water. But the employees? According to two lawsuits filed earlier this summer, fancy South Beach restaurants ... More >>

DeVito South Beach tip scandal

China Grill in South Beach is in hot water over a recent lawsuit​When we head to most South Beach restaurants, we customers expect to get fleeced: $200 steaks, $50 sushi rolls, $15 mineral water. But the employees? According to two lawsuits filed earlier this summer, fancy South Beach restaurants ... More >>

Today In Cocaine: Ten Busted in Juarez-to-Miami Ring, Colombian Coke Lord Due In Federal Court

​It's already been a busy week for the drug that made Miami -- or at least for the feds' perpetual war on the white stuff. First, the DEA arrested 10 people, mostly from Miami and Hialeah, and charged them with organizing a ring shuttling coke from Juarez to South Florida.Then came word that a muc ... More >>

Police Investigating Brazen Dinner-Time Robbery and Shootout At Homestead Wendy's

Photo via dave_mcmt's flickr and wikimedia commons.​What's gotten into Miami robbers this week? Just a few days after the made-for-Hollywood heist of a Coral Gables Bank of America -- complete with a kidnapped teller with a bomb strapped to his chest -- another gang of bandits knocked over a Wendy ... More >>

Gambling back in Miami Beach?

Photo via dave_mcmt's flickr and wikimedia commons.​What's gotten into Miami robbers this week? Just a few days after the made-for-Hollywood heist of a Coral Gables Bank of America -- complete with a kidnapped teller with a bomb strapped to his chest -- another gang of bandits knocked over a Wendy ... More >>

Babies left in hot cars: Accident or crime?

Some parents are never prosecuted. Antonio Balta got 20 years.

Deadly Miami cabs

Some parents are never prosecuted. Antonio Balta got 20 years.

Operation Streamline treats migrants like cattle

Some parents are never prosecuted. Antonio Balta got 20 years.

Suspected Taxi Cab Robber Caught. You're Welcome, Miami Police

Christopher Albert Debanos, charged in connection to a recent string of taxi cab robberies​Miami Police have arrested a suspect in a recent rash of taxi cab robberies.Christopher Albert Debanos, 21, was arrested yesterday on robbery, burglary, and gun charges in connection to as many as seven stic ... More >>

Police Search for Gunmen: Man Killed Near Barry University, Woman Shot in Miami Gardens

​Police are searching for suspects in two separate firearm attacks that occurred overnight in North Miami-Dade. One was fatal; the other victim is not expected to survive. A 25-year-old man was found shot to death near his black SUV near Barry University in Miami Shores. In the other shooting, a w ... More >>

Partridge Family Star David Cassidy Charged with DUI in South Florida

​I think a lot of people love David Cassidy, so what are they so afraid of? Maybe that he'll swerve into them in his white Mercedes while allegedly driving drunk. Yes, the former teen idol and Partridge Family star, now 60, was arrested in South Florida for driving drunk. When a Florida Highway Pa ... More >>

Anonymous Phone Call Leads Police to Murder Mystery in NW Dade

​Miami-Dade police didn't hear the gunshots, but they did hear the phone ring. If it wasn't for an anonymous phone call they may not have found the body of a dead man in a Northwest Miami-Dade apartment. Now, with little clues and few apparent witnesses police must solve the mysterious murder.

Suicidal Gunman Shoots Two Women and a Toddler in North Miami

via FacebookTavaris FairStephanie Peterson, age 22, was babysitting a young child in the apartment of Kizzy Williams, 31, when her boyfriend showed up ready for an argument. Tavaris Fair, 25, fired several shots in the North Miami apartment before ending his own life after a long standoff with polic ... More >>

Maintenance Worker Shot on Ocean Drive While Evicting Tenant

​In today's senseless murder news, a maintenance worker was shot dead while helping police evict a tenant from an Ocean Drive apartment in South Beach this morning. The shooter and a police officer were also injured, though neither seriously.

Culture of cruelty: Feds bury Border Patrol abuses of immigrants

​In today's senseless murder news, a maintenance worker was shot dead while helping police evict a tenant from an Ocean Drive apartment in South Beach this morning. The shooter and a police officer were also injured, though neither seriously.

ACLU Chief Howard Simon Recalls MLK and Bloody Sunday

Photo by Jacob KatelHoward Simon​American Civil Liberties executive director Howard Simon took part in the last century's most significant freedom march with Dr. Martin Luther King. Then he was part of lawsuits that indicated our own government might have played a role in one of the civil rights m ... More >>

Trailer Park Resident Sues WikiLeaks, Julian Assange for $150M in Miami Court

​Julian Assange and WikiLeaks are currently knee deep in a heap of legal concerns. And their latest, and most ridiculous, comes from a Florida man named David Pitchford who has sued the organization and its figurehead for emotional distress. Pitchford, who lists a Key West trailer park as his addr ... More >>

Andres Lopez exposes the Colombian cartels

​Julian Assange and WikiLeaks are currently knee deep in a heap of legal concerns. And their latest, and most ridiculous, comes from a Florida man named David Pitchford who has sued the organization and its figurehead for emotional distress. Pitchford, who lists a Key West trailer park as his addr ... More >>

Rene Sanabria, Bolivia's Former Top Drug Cop, Accused of Smuggling Cocaine to Miami

via PlusBoliviaRene Sanabria helped smuggle 220 lbs of cocaine into Miami.​From top drug cop to accused cocaine smuggler. That's the story of Retired Gen. Rene Sanabria. From 2007 to 2008 he ran Bolivia's anti-narcotics police, and since 2009 has been a top adviser to Evo Morales' Interior Minist ... More >>

The Interrupters: Gang-bangers interrupted

via PlusBoliviaRene Sanabria helped smuggle 220 lbs of cocaine into Miami.​From top drug cop to accused cocaine smuggler. That's the story of Retired Gen. Rene Sanabria. From 2007 to 2008 he ran Bolivia's anti-narcotics police, and since 2009 has been a top adviser to Evo Morales' Interior Minist ... More >>

Miami waiter Eddie Santana is a restaurant rebel

via PlusBoliviaRene Sanabria helped smuggle 220 lbs of cocaine into Miami.​From top drug cop to accused cocaine smuggler. That's the story of Retired Gen. Rene Sanabria. From 2007 to 2008 he ran Bolivia's anti-narcotics police, and since 2009 has been a top adviser to Evo Morales' Interior Minist ... More >>

No Clemency For Felons Means Southern Racism Is Back

​Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness once made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke explains why Rick Scott is helping the criminal justice system keep African-Americans down. Last week, Florida Gov. ... More >>

Rick Scott's racist clemency rules

​Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness once made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke explains why Rick Scott is helping the criminal justice system keep African-Americans down. Last week, Florida Gov. ... More >>

ICE Agent Charged with Molesting 16-Year-Old

​Neil Julien, a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, has been arrested on charges that he molested a 16-year-old girl back in 2005. According to NBC Miami, he allegedly molested the girl multiple time during the summer of 2005 while dating the girl's mother. The charges surfaced af ... More >>

Wachovia Now Off the Hook for Laundering Mexican Drug Money

Off the hook for millions in money laundering.​Happy Anniversary, Wachovia!A year after the bank admitted to laundering hundreds of millions in Mexican drug money -- and paying $160 million in fines and penalties -- the company is now off the hook for further punishment.According to the British pa ... More >>

Kids claim abuse and violence at juvenile lockup Thompson Academy

Off the hook for millions in money laundering.​Happy Anniversary, Wachovia!A year after the bank admitted to laundering hundreds of millions in Mexican drug money -- and paying $160 million in fines and penalties -- the company is now off the hook for further punishment.According to the British pa ... More >>

Bieyanka Moore, Reality Kings' 15-Year-Old Porn Star?

Right: photo from Bieyanka Moore's Myspace; Left: C.S.'s missing child photo.​In January 2010, a 15-year-old girl from Palm Beach Shores -- though her name has already been broadcasted on the internet, we'll call her C.S. -- ran away from home. Eight months later, porn site Reality Kings, owned ... More >>

Reality Kings sued for casting a 15-year-old runaway in a porn

Right: photo from Bieyanka Moore's Myspace; Left: C.S.'s missing child photo.​In January 2010, a 15-year-old girl from Palm Beach Shores -- though her name has already been broadcasted on the internet, we'll call her C.S. -- ran away from home. Eight months later, porn site Reality Kings, owned ... More >>

Teen porn star Bieyanka Moore's disaster

Right: photo from Bieyanka Moore's Myspace; Left: C.S.'s missing child photo.​In January 2010, a 15-year-old girl from Palm Beach Shores -- though her name has already been broadcasted on the internet, we'll call her C.S. -- ran away from home. Eight months later, porn site Reality Kings, owned ... More >>

Five Rappers Dumb Enough to Get DUIs in Honor of Flo Rida's Drunk-Driving Arrest

via Miami-Dade Corrections​Crossfade is a firm believer in designated drivers. Drunk driving can not only kill you, but it can kill someone else and ruin the lives of their friends and family. We also believe rappers have a lot of money. We believe this because we watch MTV Cribs. But in the mi ... More >>

Shaquille O'Neal wages war against a Miami computer geek

via Miami-Dade Corrections​Crossfade is a firm believer in designated drivers. Drunk driving can not only kill you, but it can kill someone else and ruin the lives of their friends and family. We also believe rappers have a lot of money. We believe this because we watch MTV Cribs. But in the mi ... More >>

Rhett Fuller spent 21 years running from murder charges; now he's coming home

via Miami-Dade Corrections​Crossfade is a firm believer in designated drivers. Drunk driving can not only kill you, but it can kill someone else and ruin the lives of their friends and family. We also believe rappers have a lot of money. We believe this because we watch MTV Cribs. But in the mi ... More >>

Florida Court Rules Pasting Kids' Faces on Naked Adult Bodies is Not Child Porn

​Danny Parker, a Sunday school teacher from Lakeland, Florida, was arrested and eventually convicted on child porn charges in 2009 after he was found to have cut out the faces of children from photos he'd taken and then pasted them on the bodies of explicit photos of adults. Now, a Florida appeals ... More >>

Execution by Firing Squad Could Be Coming Back to Florida

​A conversation in a Panhandle Waffle House may lead to a barbaric change in Florida's death penalty policy. After meeting with constituents, Rep. Brad Drake, a Republican from Eucheeanna, has introduced a bill that would do away with using lethal injections for the death penalty. Instead he'd lik ... More >>

SpongeBob SquarePants AK-47 Robbery Spree Ends With Arrests

Surveillance footage of a SpongeBob robbery at a 7-11 three months ago.​In the end, the police found SpongeBob SquarePants not in a pineapple under the sea, but hunkered down in an apartment complex off the Turnpike with three of his convenience store robbing cohorts.Last night, Orlando cops final ... More >>

Three Mail Carriers Robbed, Two Beaten This Month in North Miami-Dade

​Neither rain nor snow nor gloom of night would deter Postal Service workers from their appointed rounds, but thugs will. Three times in the past two weeks, mail carriers have been robbed with two incidents in North Miami, and a third in Miami Gardens. Two of the incidents involved beatings, while ... More >>

$7.6 Million Worth of Pot Seized at Port of Miami

​U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say they haven't made a huge pot bust at the Port of Miami for months, but sometimes you just have to wait. Authorities report they discovered 3,837 pounds of marijuana, nearly two tons, stuffed inside shipping containers at the port last Friday.

Three Teens Arrested in Robbery and Beatings of Mail Carriers

​A strange string of robberies stared occurring earlier this month in two North Miami-Dade cities. On October 5, a female mail carrier was beaten and robbed in Miami Gardens. A similar incident occurred involving another female mail carrier in North Miami on the 14th, and on the 17th yet another m ... More >>

Tower Heist: Brett Ratner's latest is fleet and funny

​A strange string of robberies stared occurring earlier this month in two North Miami-Dade cities. On October 5, a female mail carrier was beaten and robbed in Miami Gardens. A similar incident occurred involving another female mail carrier in North Miami on the 14th, and on the 17th yet another m ... More >>

Wilson Ramos Kidnapping Scares Marlins' Anibal Sánchez From Returning to Venezuela

Anibal Sanchez, left, cancelled his trip home to Venezuela after Wilson Ramos's kidnappingToday is supposed to be the big day for the newly re-named Miami Marlins. Tonight the team unveils its new uniforms and, perhaps, a new blockbuster signing.But at least five players on the 40-man roster probabl ... More >>

Miami-Dade Has the 7th Largest Gang Population in America

​While gang activity is nowhere near as prevalent in South Florida as it is in South California, it should come as little surprised that Miami-Dade has one of the highest gang populations in America, the highest in the Southeast, and the second highest on the entire East Coast. 

Prison Legal News Sues Florida Department of Corrections for Banning Its Publication

PLN Associate Editor Alex Friedmann​A national legal magazine for prisoners has filed suit against the Florida Department of Corrections, claiming it's been censored from distributing in Florida prisons due to a vendetta by the state agency. According to a complaint filed today, the DOC has reje ... More >>

Don Bartling of Miami Arrested for Having Possibly Thousands of Child Porn Movies on His Computer

​Don Bartling, a 54-year-old Miami resident and a student at Florida International University, has been arrested on charges of downloading and sharing child pornography. Bartling, according to a criminal complaint, told officials that he started downloading child pornography sometime in the past t ... More >>