The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office announced today that they will not be bringing charges against Miami Beach police officer Jorge Mercado for the Stun Gun-caused death of 18-year-old graffiti artist Israel “Reefa” Hernandez-Llach. Back in August 2013, Hernandez-Llach was caught tagging a shuttered McDonalds on 71st Street and Collins Avenue in Miami Beach…
Last May 4, 23-year-old Ernesto Hernandez just wanted to help. Hernandez was a big guy who had recently graduated from the police academy. Like dozens of others he had come to the Nixon Sandbar, off Key Biscayne, to spend the day on the water; when he saw the boat operated…
As the Cuban flag was raised over Washington, D.C., on Monday, some 20 anti-Castro demonstrators gathered outside Versailles Restaurant in Little Havana to protest warming relations between the U.S. and Cuba. In Washington, a man rushed the embassy gate with red paint splattered across his shirt, yelling “This is Cuban…
One year ago, Dan Markel pulled into the driveway of his Tallahassee home, opened the door slightly, and was suddenly shot in the head. The nationally recognized, 41-year-old FSU law professor died a few hours later. His death rattled the FSU campus and entire academic legal community, down to Miami, where…
Miami prosecutors have charged a South Florida man today with multiple crimes after investigators stumped him with a simple question: “Where’s The Beef?” Carlos Hernan Del Valle, a 61-year-old Weston, has been arrested and charged with grand theft and organized fraud for his role in a meat exporting fraud scheme that…
On May 28, 2013, 44-year-old Anthony Lee — a drag queen who went by South Beach Wanda — went to his friend Tiffany McKinney’s house in East Tampa. He heard she was sick and came over to make her dinner. When someone knocked on the door, Lee answered it. McKinney…
Shots rang out late Thursday afternoon in Homestead. Officer Anthony Green was believed to be responding to a 911 call about a man with a gun hanging from his belt. Through the passenger window in his patrol car, Green made contact with Edward Foster, a 35-year-old father of six. There…
In 1999, two Florida tweens made headlines when they shot and killed their father’s 29-year-old girlfriend, Sonya Speights, with their father’s 9mm semi-automatic as she worked on a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle in their home just outside Cocoa Beach. Thirteen-year-old Catherine Fairchild Jones fired the first shot into Speight’s torso and…
Yesterday, Bryan Aneiros was in the midst of a Kendall crime spree. He was going car to car in the area of SW 113 Avenue and 43 Lane and taking items out of unlocked cars. At about 3 a.m. a Good Samaritan spotted him and called 911 to report the seeming…
After numerous violent incidents involving police were recorded by citizens and made public in recent months, support grew around the country for police to be outfitted with body cameras. But how footage from those cameras should be diffused to the public has proven a tricky issue with few easy answers…
Will Allen played cornerback for the Dolphins for six of his 11 years in the NFL, but he’s now facing a much longer time behind bars. An indictment issues last week by the by the U.S. Attorney in Massachusetts charged Allen with 23 felony charges that could see him spend decades…
Sea Land Distributors is a family-owned business that dates back for more than three decades. It’s a simple business. They distribute fresh frozen sea food to local restaurants. Today, owners walked in to find a hole in the wall of their Allapattah-area warehouse. During the night someone had smashed through…
Maybe you’ve seen the meme floating around Facebook or Instagram. The one that says “Cuban coffee is the reason that crystal meth hasn’t taken of in Miami.” And there’s a hint of truth in it. Compared to the rest of the state (if not country), Miami-Dade doesn’t have a huge…
A passerby spotted the body just after dawn March 29. It didn’t take long for Miami Police detectives to identify the man lying in a pool of blood near Biscayne Boulevard and NE 80th Street. But that only deepened the mystery. Shaun Cole, they soon learned, was a 22-year-old Scottish…
Post-Trayvon and Ferguson, the nation has turned its attention to gaping racial disparities in local police forces, which are often overwhelmingly white even though they patrol mostly black neighborhoods. It’s a serious problem. But there’s another group with far more power to influence criminal cases and the delivery of justice…
The flamingos at Hialeah Park Racing and Casino may be some of the city’s most famous residents. The flock, which has dates back to 1934, is so iconic that they appear as one of the first images of the opening of the credits to “Miami Vice” and inspired the design…
An impromptu middle school classmate reunion in Miami-Dade bond court lead to tears today after Judge Mindy Glazer recognized that Arthur Booth, the man charged with burglary before her, was a former classmate of hers at Nautilus Middle School in Miami Beach. Booth, 59 was arrested on Monday by Hialeah…
At 50-years-old Francis Roig was still living with his 79-year-old mother Georgina Roig, and the younger Roig was sick of his mother always pestering him to get a job. So early Monday morning he snapped. He stabbed his mother multiple times at around 2 a.m. in their shared home and then drove…
Jose Rey, the father of two shot on father’s day after getting into an argument over his dog trying to relieve itself in a neighbor’s lawn, has died as a result of his injuries. The charges against Omar Rodriguez, currently attempted murder, are expected to be increased as a result. The…
Lazaro Ruiz, a Homestead man who conducted so-called “ghetto-style” surgeries on dogs and then posted the results online, plead guilty oday to animal cruelty charges and will spend one year behind bars followed by five years of probation. In pleading guilty, he avoided a maximum of 20 years in jail. …
The officer stalks toward a group waving signs outside Miami Sequarium to protest the living conditions of Lolita, the park’s captive killer whale. The officer gets right in front of a camera held by one man, and then goes off. “I’m gonna be honest with you,” says the cop, identified…
Manny Dieguez, 39, and Ivette Montero, 29, were raising both cannabis and kids in their home until Miami-Dade Police busted them this morning. The couple now faces multiple charges including marijuana trafficking, possession of marijuana with a minor present and selling or manufacturing marijuana, The couple lived in the 5400 block…
