Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office

Miami Beach: Corruption Central

David Rivera Cleared of State Charges Thanks to Lax Rules, Statute of Limitations

No one really disputes the facts: While he was a powerful state representative, David Rivera accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars for an obscure post as a state "committeeman." Investigators say he spent at least $65,000 from the funds on dry cleaning, dental bills, pet care, and even travel co ... More >>

Ayda Young and Cronies Go Down For Pulling a $2.4M Foreclosure Scam

​It was an Only-In-Miami scam first reported by New Times. Three women promised local and out-of-state investors luxurious homes in foreclosure at super awesome discounted prices by claiming they had inside sources at the Miami-Dade County Clerk's Office that could get them the properties before g ... More >>

Terence Pinder, Former Opa-locka Politico, Beats One Criminal Case, Two More To Go

Terence PinderAn Opa-locka official booted from office six years ago won't be prosecuted for the crimes that got him thrown out in the first place. Banana Republican has learned that the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office has quietly dropped multiple grand theft and official misconduct felony charge ... More >>

FDLE Wanted to Arrest Doral Chief Ricardo Gomez, But Prosecutors Exonerated Him UPDATE

​Starting this past April, Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators began looking into a half dozen allegations lodged against Doral Police Chief Ricardo Gomez, from charges of bid fixing to shady hires to illegally spending city cash on a lavish swearing-in ceremony. By this fall, the ... More >>

Miami Lakes Council Members Under Sunshine Law Investigation After New Times Plea

Wanted: Sunshine Law Violators. ​Well, well, it appears a clandestine bar meeting by three Miami Lakes Town council members has caught the attention of law enforcement officials. One month after Miami New Times asked the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office to investigate Tim Daubert, Nelson Hernand ... More >>

Five Worst Miami Cops of the Year: Rape Porn, Drunk Driving and A Horrible Chief

illustration by Pat Kinsella​As always, we'll start Riptide's annual tradition of counting down our list of the year's worst cops with a caveat: being a cop in the 305 is one of the toughest law enforcement gigs in the country and despite the weekly headlines here, most Dade cops do good work. As ... More >>

Corina Esquijarosa, North Bay Village Mayor, Facing Imminent Recall

​It's the final countdown for North Bay Village Mayor Corina Esquijarosa. The Miami-Dade Elections Office has verified that a political action committee seeking a recall against Esquijarosa has obtained the required number of voter signatures to call an election.Citizens For Full Disclosure needed ... More >>

Charges Dropped Against Suspect Involved in Second Urban Beach Week Police Shooting

Charges have been dropped against Carlos King, the suspect involved in the second police shooting during the hectic Monday, May 20th Miami Beach morning during Urban Beach Week. King, a 45-year-old fire captain from South Carolina, was driving his car at a high speed, seemingly uncontrollably, at a ... More >>

Charles Hankerson Changed Miami Northwestern Student's Grades Through Forgery

​A watchdog agency is accusing Charles Hankerson, once considered a no-nonsense principal, of instructing a subordinate to illegally forge the signatures of two teachers at Miami Northwestern Senior High. The forgeries were made on documents that changed the grades of a student-athlete. This ... More >>

Richard Scruggs Goes From Public Corruption to Gang Busting

Richard Scruggs​The public corruption unit at the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office is getting quite a makeover. Longtime unit chief Joe Centorino will soon depart to take on a new gig as executive director of the Miami-Dade ethics commission. And assistant state attorney Richard Scruggs is now w ... More >>

Michelle Spence-Jones nails Fred Grimm, Michael Putney

Richard Scruggs​The public corruption unit at the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office is getting quite a makeover. Longtime unit chief Joe Centorino will soon depart to take on a new gig as executive director of the Miami-Dade ethics commission. And assistant state attorney Richard Scruggs is now w ... More >>

Developers Bundling Money for Carlos Gimenez Too

Carlos Gimenez ​A couple of blogs have been barking up a storm about certain real estate developers tied to dubious projects getting cozy with Julio Robaina, but Carlos Gimenez has his fair share as well. The donations reinforce the fact both candidates represent special interests and folks they w ... More >>

Golden Beach Interim Police Chief Rudy Herbello Accused Of Obstruction

Rudy Herbello is lording over the mess known as the Golden Beach Police Department.​The Town of Golden Beach Police Department is in turmoil. In April, two officers were criminally charged with defrauding the small enclave by double dipping. Yovany Diaz, 33, and Omar Paez, 41, are accused of worki ... More >>

Julio Robaina Crony Gets $125,000 Annual Salary To Run Hialeah Public Housing

Julio Ponce hanging at Julio Robaina's campaign HQ.​It pays to be Julio Robaina's lackey. Just ask Julio Ponce, the Hialeah mayor's former business partner who recently received a sweetheart deal to run the Hialeah Housing Authority. Despite only having a high school diploma and no experience in p ... More >>

Watch David Rivera Squirm Over Ethics Charges for Thirty Awkward Minutes

​Republican Rep. David Rivera is now under investigation by three separate agencies who are all looking into ethics charges involving his campaign finances. Perhaps no one told him, because he sure doesn't have anything to say about it. Since his district includes part of Collier County, Rivera de ... More >>

Miami's grow houses

Meet your neighbor, the marijuana grower.

Cesar Carasa Convicted of Sweet Talking Ladies On Taxpayer's Dime

Cesar Carasa's smooth tongue didn't do him any good in court. Late yesterday, a Miami-Dade â€‹jury found the former West Miami mayor guilty of exploiting his official position. The loquacious Cuban American politician ran up more than $70,000 in calls to women in the Dominican Republic on his c ... More >>

Thomas Cypress Pleads Guilty to DUI Manslaughter

Thomas Cypress is going to jail for drinking, driving and killing a Maryland couple.​The 55-year-old brother of former Miccosukee Indian Chairman Billy Cypress is pleading guilty to two counts of DUI manslaughter. On February 19 of last year, Thomas Cypress was behind the wheel of his truck on Ta ... More >>

Bad Surfside cop Woodward Brooks finally gets busted

Thomas Cypress is going to jail for drinking, driving and killing a Maryland couple.​The 55-year-old brother of former Miccosukee Indian Chairman Billy Cypress is pleading guilty to two counts of DUI manslaughter. On February 19 of last year, Thomas Cypress was behind the wheel of his truck on Ta ... More >>

Surfside Cop Should Have Lost His Badge a Long Time Ago

​Woodward Brooks finally lost his badge for his bad cop behavior. This past February 3, the 46-year-old lawman was kicked off the Surfside Police force following his arrest on three felony counts of official misconduct, grand theft, and filing a fraudulent insurance claim.This is the second time t ... More >>

A Former Miami-Dade Public Schools Principal Avoids Criminal Charges

Inspector General investigators discovered former high school principal Donald Hoecheryl falsified documents to hide the fact he had spent more than $200,000 in taxpayer money for unauthorized teacher retreats to Hawk's Cay Resort in the Keys and three other hotels.​A two-year investigation by the ... More >>

A Rogue Ex-Hialeah Cop Wants Katharine Cue's Seat

Alex Izaguirre​ Apparently Daniel Bolaños hopes Hialeah voters have a short memory or don't care about his checkered past. How else can one explain why the disgraced former cop is running for a seat on the city council? He is challenging Councilwoman Katharine Cue, who was appointed to the counci ... More >>

State Drops Charges Against Rev. Alberto Cutie's Romantic Rival

A.P. Photo/C.M. Guerrero Maxi Ratunuman will soon be a free man. The Indonesian ex-lover of Ruhama Canellis, wife of celebrity clergyman Rev. Alberto Cutie, was arrested this past June 6 by the Village of Biscayne Park Police Department. Ofcr. Raimundo Atesiano and Capt. Antonio Sanchez arrested Rat ... More >>

Meet Antonio Junior, But Don't Call Him a Bagman

Alex IzaguirreWell, at least Antonio Junior can take solace in knowing he made a killing as a minority partner in several deals involving Miami-Dade taxpayer money. And even though he ratted out his political godmother -- ex-county Commissioner Barbara Carey-Shuler -- and some of his other poli ... More >>

Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones Beats Corruption Charges

Alex IzaguirreWell, at least Antonio Junior can take solace in knowing he made a killing as a minority partner in several deals involving Miami-Dade taxpayer money. And even though he ratted out his political godmother -- ex-county Commissioner Barbara Carey-Shuler -- and some of his other poli ... More >>

Black Vs. White - Miami Remains The Same

Alex Izaguirre Just got back from the Spence-Jones Vindication Show in Overtown. The thunderstorms had just subsided outside the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church at 301 NW 9th Street. But inside Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones' angry voice boomed throughout the cavernous assembly hall. She was ... More >>

Inspect no commissioners or the mayor

This past March 4, the Miami-Dade County Inspector General's Office announced it had nailed a county vendor falsifying his insurance paperwork in order to get a county contract. Thanks to the inspector general's investigation, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office was able to charge Eddy Joe Allen ... More >>

Doppelganger Goes Down

Longtime con man Thomas Barrett Stringer gets caught

The Go-to Guy for the Gun-Shy

“We needed to advertise to people who knew where the guns were”

Whore Hounds, Unite

"It's guys like you that make guys like me ... well, proud to be a man"

See the World, One Couch at a Time

I didn't want a bunch of dudes who could beat me in my sleep.

The Doctor, Part 1

He's accused of child abuse. But slow down, folks. Think it over.

Letters from the Issue of June 1, 2006

"I offered the guy probation and his attorneys flipped my life upside down"

Jump-Out Boys

Scheming snitches, dirty detectives, intrepid investigators. This ain't The Shield's Strike Team.

Letters from the Issue of August 11 , 2005

Evil condo developers, Cuban city builders, and more about Art Teele

Tales of Teele: Sleaze Stories

Male prostitutes and multiple mistresses, drug money in Gucci shopping bags, bribery and extortion conspiracies. And you thought you'd heard it all about Art Teele.

BEST LAWYER

Richard Scruggs

Letters from the Issue of April 28, 2005

Caricatures, magic tricks, criminal investigations, and film festivals

Caught on Tape, Part 2

Caricatures, magic tricks, criminal investigations, and film festivals

Yours for the Hacking

The county’s court system has spent $36 million on a revolutionary new database, but when programmers warned it was vulnerable, they’re the ones who got deleted

The Avenging Angel of North Bay Village

Fane Lozman can't seem to stay away from trouble, and this time it involves the police chief

Hit 'Em Where They Live

In a contentious case of townhouse tumult, resourceful residents kick management maniacs to the curb

The Calvo Case

A recently released report suggests that investigators are trying to implicate Denise Calvo in the murder of her husband

What Did You Do in the War on Poverty?

Always fighting the good fight, Miami's politicians have been tireless in assisting the city's poor huddled masses

Busted!

Greed, thievery, corruption, and betrayal -- the sordid tale of Miriam Alonso's downfall

Letters to the Editor

From the issue of September 6, 2001

Prosecuting the Police

The State Attorney's Office takes heat no matter what the outcome

Boys Will Be Boys

What to do when your sons pop steroids and steal cars? Simple: Hire them to be police officers!

The Don

Adrift in Miami's fierce political maelstrom, Donald Warshaw is one cool customer