Attorney for dad of missing Hallandale Beach baby says evidence was damaged

The tiny bones recovered from a backyard grave have a story to tell: Are these the remains of Dontrell Melvin, a baby whose family didn’t report him missing for 18 months? And how was the baby killed?

According to notes in the Hallandale Beach police lead investigator’s file, there was blunt force trauma to the child’s cranium after his death, likely caused during the search and recovery of the skeleton.

And that, says attorney Ed Hoeg, who is representing the baby’s father, could have an impact on the case against his client.

“If evidence is compromised, it could change how the case goes,” Hoeg said. “You would hope the evidence would be in pristine condition.”

Meanwhile, the missing child’s parents remain in Broward County jails. Brittney Sierra, 21, faces two counts of felony child neglect; Calvin Melvin, 27, was charged with three felony counts of providing false information to police.

But those charges could be increased if a Texas lab confirms that DNA from a tiny skeleton unearthed in January behind the couple’s former Hallandale Beach rental home matches that of their baby, Dontrell Melvin.

Dontrell, who would have turned 2 last month, had not been seen for nearly 18 months before police learned of his disappearance on Jan 9.

At first, Melvin told Hallandale Beach police that the child was with his family in Pompano Beach. But when police went there, they were told by the grandparents that they didn’t have the child and hadn’t seen him.

During questioning by police, Melvin changed his story several times, investigators said.

At one point, he told them he’d taken the baby to a fire station under Florida’s Safe Haven Law.

But police didn’t believe him and began questioning Sierra, as well. The couple, who have another child together, pointed fingers at one another, police said.

Their answers led police to the backyard of their former rental home at 106 NW First Ave.

It was there that tiny bones were found.

Nearly 90 percent of the baby’s remains were recovered and reconstructed. An initial review of the bones did not reveal any trauma to the bones, said Hallandale Beach Police Chief Dwayne Flournoy.

However, on Jan. 25, forensic anthropologist Heather Walsh-Haney briefed investigators, including Flournoy, Maj. Thomas Honan and Capt. P. Abut, on the case. In his notes, a Hallandale Beach investigator, who was not identified, wrote: “Dr. Walsh-Haney stated that there were no signs of perimortem blunt trauma. However, there was evidence of a postmortem blunt trauma to the cranium. She stated that said postmortem trauma had probably occurred during the search and recovery of the skeleton.”

The notes were provided to The Miami Herald by Hoeg.

The damage to the cranium, Hoeg said, could prove problematic for the case against his client.

“If there is only trauma afterward, did the damage destroy evidence?” he said.

But on Friday, Police Chief Flournoy insisted there was not any damage caused post-mortem to the skeleton. “The bones were not compromised in any way,” said Flournoy.

Regardless, the Texas lab working to identify the baby’s remains has enough evidence to work with.

All a scientist needs is a small bone fragment to create a DNA profile, said John Fudenberg, the president-elect for International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners.

“Unless there is significant trauma noted, it’s very difficult for a medical examiner to determine the cause of death,” Fudenberg added.

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Florida man vanishes after being sucked into sinkhole under his bedroom

SEFFNER --
A sheriff's deputy plucked a man from an expanding sinkhole, but neither was able to save the man's brother from being sucked into the rubble, authorities said.

Early Friday, authorities said the site at 240 Faithway Drive had become too unstable to continue rescue efforts and the focus would instead shift to a recovery operation.

The sinkhole opened late Thursday in the home's backyard, swallowing one of the home's four bedrooms.

Someone called 911, and a deputy reportedly found Jeremy Bush trying to pull his brother, Jeffrey, out of the hole when he arrived.

The deputy pulled Jeremy from the growing hole.

But Jeffrey Bush, 36, disappeared into the rubble.

Janell Wheeler was inside the house with four other adults, a child and two dogs when the sinkhole opened. She sat huddled in a lawn chair Friday morning, covered in a green quilt.

"It sounded like a car hit my house," she said.

It was dark. She remembers screams and Jeremy rushing to rescue his brother.

The rest of the family went to a hotel late Thursday, when the house was condemned and neighbors evacuated. But she stayed behind with her dog Baby Girl, sleeping in her Ford Focus.

"I just want my nephew," she said through tears.

Family members returned to the home around 7:30 a.m. Jeremy Bush leaned on a patrol car and cried, his chin shaking as his eyes filled with tears.

He said he just gone to bed when he heard a loud noise and cries for help from his brother's room.

Jeremy opened the door and found the dresser and bed had disappeared into a hole. He jumped in and began to dig. But he heard nothing more from his brother before the deputy pulled him from the rubble.

"I couldn't do anything," Jeremy said Friday, in front of the house where his brother was still buried. "Everything in the room was gone.

"I just wanted to get my brother back," he said. "That's all I wanted."

Wheeler paced the sidewalk nearby and hugged relatives. "It's a dream, right?" she said.

She still wore her blue plaid pajamas.

The rest of the neighborhood area bustled Friday morning with rescuers and neighbors and TV trucks straining to catch a glimpse of the sinkhole, apparently entirely contained within the one-story, four-bedroom home, which records show was built in 1974.

Rescue crews lowered listening devices and cameras into the hole, but found no signs of life, a Fire Rescue spokeswoman said — only more signs of collapse.

Heavy equipment was standing by for a recovery operation and ground-penetrating radar was brought in early Friday to help gauge the extent of the hole, which Fire Rescue says had grown to be about 20 feet deep and 30 feet wide.

Although it has proven somewhat common for sinkholes to open in Central Florida and swallow cars and houses, it is not at all common for people to become trapped in them.

In March 2011, a woman taking pictures in her Plant City back yard plunged into a hole when it opened beneath her.

But she clung on to her cellphone and was able to call for help. Only her fingertips peeked from the ground when an officer arrived, but he was able to pull her to safety.

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Miami-Dade mayor says partnerships, technology will move county forward

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez will deliver his annual speech to the county Thursday, laying out his goals for revving up the local economy, promoting regional cooperation and improving a public transportation system that is, at best, inadequate.

In a wide-ranging interview previewing his state-of-the-county speech, Gimenez told The Miami Herald that he is optimistic about the county’s future, citing improved economic indicators and a record year for business at Miami International Airport and PortMiami, two major economic engines.

“I think we’re a hot commodity, and people are starting to see our potential,” he said. “We just need to keep our eye on the ball.”

Unlike his first speech a year ago, the political pressure is off this time for Gimenez, who in August was elected to his first full term in office. His first year amounted to a red-shirt season, completing the term of former Mayor Carlos Alvarez, who was ousted in a 2011 recall.

In Thursday’s speech, to be delivered at Liberty City’s Joseph Caleb Center, Gimenez will announce the creation of an advisory group to study rising property-insurance rates and make recommendations about how to lobby state lawmakers on the issue. The Florida Legislature regulates Citizens Property Insurance, the state’s insurer of last resort, which recently increased homeowners’ insurance rates and scaled back coverage.

“We’re going to look at why our people here are getting slammed,” Gimenez said.

A similar task force made recommendations last month to improve the county elections process. The county, however, generally has more control over elections than over property insurance.

The mayor will also promote an initiative — begun with Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho and already underway — to prevent youth violence. And he will tout a new partnership announced Wednesday in which the county will take part in technology giant IBM’s Smart cities program, which lets local governments test and use software to better analyze municipal data.

Among his successes in office, Gimenez will mention streamlining permitting at some county agencies — in some cases by three months, he said — posting employee salaries online and providing internships in his office to college students.

Looking to spur entrepreneurship and create local jobs, Gimenez’s administration also has committed $1 million in funding over four years to Launch Pad, in conjunction with the University of Miami. Launch Pad is a public/private partnership that introduces young technology businesses to each other to help them grow.

In his speech, the mayor will also throw his support behind Endeavor, a global nonprofit that works to accelerate entrepreneurship in metropolitan areas. The organization plans to set up shop in Miami after receiving a $2 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Taking the long view, Gimenez said he hopes to make it easier for commuters to take public transportation between Miami Beach and the mainland and from Kendall to the urban core. The mayor said he doesn’t have any specific plans yet — or money to finance them — but said that clogged streets are getting in the way of residents’ productivity.

By way of example, Gimenez said he left County Hall in downtown Miami at 5 p.m. on a recent afternoon for a 6:30 p.m. event at the Hammocks, in West Kendall.

“I didn’t make it,” he said. “I can’t imagine your having to do that every day. We’re wasting time. We’re spending money. We’re spending gas.”

For those and other big-ticket improvements, including looming, extensive water-and-sewer piping that will have to be replaced soon because it is so antiquated, Gimenez said Miami-Dade won’t be able to count on much state or federal financial aid. Instead, there will be some water-rate hikes in coming years, he said, and future transportation projects might be partnerships involving heavy private-sector investments.

“More and more, it’s likely that we’re going to have to do these things ourselves,” he said.

Better than going at it alone, Gimenez said, would be teaming up with counties with similar issues to share ideas and work together for funding and state support. To that end, Gimenez had dinner last year in St. Petersburg with the mayors of Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa. He also has hosted the mayors of Broward and Palm Beach counties to brainstorm ways to work together.

“People have been very good and very successful at dividing us, and we’ve done that to ourselves,” Gimenez said. “We should have a lot more in common than we have differences.”

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Two charged with taking protected live sharks from the Keys

For the second time in weeks, federal prosecutors have ordered the arrest of people for illegally taking live sharks out of the Florida Keys.

Two officials of Idaho Aquarium Inc. in Boise were indicted on federal charges of conspiracy and illegally purchasing four spotted eagle rays and two lemon sharks, all protected species and all from Keys waters.

Ammon Covino, 39, president of Idaho Aquarium, and corporate secretary Christopher Conk, 40, were arraigned late last week in Idaho and ordered to appear in U.S. District Court in Key West on March 15.

The Idaho Aquarium is a display facility covering 10,000 square feet operating in a converted Boise warehouse. Listed as a nonprofit educational center, the aquarium opened in late 2011. It claims to offer "over 250 different species of animals and marine life" for the $9 adult admission fee.

The indictment from November was unsealed this month.

On Feb. 7, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami unsealed a separate indictment against two Broward County aquarium suppliers. They were charged with conspiracy to acquire and resell juvenile nurse sharks without a required permit, and angelfish larger than the maximum size allowed. Those fish from the Keys allegedly were sold to a Michigan buyer.

"While both cases relate to the marine living resources of the Florida Keys and involve violations of the Lacey Act, predicated in part on [Florida law], there is no public record material to suggest there is any other relationship between the cases," said Alicia Valle, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

In the indictment against Idaho Aquarium and its officials, prosecutor Thomas Watts-Fitzgerald wrote that the defendants knowingly conspired with fish collectors in the Keys to have the rays and sharks captured without permits and shipped north.

After being offered $1,250 for each live eagle ray, an unnamed fish collector eventually told Covino that permits needed to take the rays could not be obtained. Covino reportedly answered, "Just start doing it.... Who gives a ...".

The collector reportedly shipped three eagle rays in May 2012 and another in June 2012. All were sent to Covino at the Idaho Aquarium.

A second unnamed collector reportedly was solicited by Conk in June for two lemon sharks. The collector said no capture permits for lemon sharks are being issued so "the transaction would have to be conducted on the 'down low,' " the indictment says.

In a later conversation, Covino is accused of saying the lack of permits for the lemon sharks was "no big deal." The lemon sharks were purchased for $650 each and sent to Idaho in October.

Neither collector was named in the indictment.

According to the U.S. District Court documents, Covino and Conk could receive prison terms of up to five years on each of four counts.

The Idaho Aquarium could be fined $500,000. The government is seeking to seize Conk's 2005 Ford pickup truck, reportedly used to transport the fish from an airport.

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Miami businessman who pleaded guilty to stealing millions from Medicare is sentenced to 14 years in prison

A local businessman who moved his mental health chain from Miami-Dade to North Carolina after the feds suspected him of a Medicare scam was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Monday and ordered to reimburse the taxpayer-funded program $28 million.

Kept behind bars since his arrest because of fears he might flee to Cuba, Armando “Manny” Gonzalez pleaded guilty in December to stealing tens of millions of dollars from Medicare by fraudulently billing the federal program and laundering the proceeds to support an affluent lifestyle.

Gonzalez, 50, a convicted cocaine trafficker who joined the Medicare rackets in the mid-2000 era, had opened a pair of mental health clinics in the Kendall and Cutler Bay areas. By 2008, Gonzalez moved himself and his business to North Carolina to stay one step ahead of federal agents.

But they caught up with him. Before his arrest in May 2012, he was planning to open another psychotherapy clinic in Tennessee.

Gonzalez was indicted with others on charges of conspiring to defraud $63 million from Medicare. He was ordered held without bail after prosecutors argued he was a “flight risk” to his native Cuba.

Dozens of Cuban immigrants charged in South Florida with trying to bilk the federal healthcare program for seniors have fled to the island, which historically has turned a blind eye and doesn’t return the fugitives to the United States because the nations do not have an extradiction agreement.

In December, Gonzalez pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Gonzalez agreed to forfeit property valued at several million dollars, including $987,910 seized in July as well as a one-acre home, vehicles and other assets in Hendersonville, N.C.

Several defendants were charged for their alleged roles in Gonzalez’s business, Health Care Solutions Network, with 10 pleading guilty so far.

According to court records, Gonzalez’s company, Health Care Solutions Network, billed both Medicare and the Florida Medicaid program for purported mental health services that patients did not need.

Gonzalez’s three clinics -- accused of entertaining patients with TV and movies instead of providing actual group psychotherapy sessions -- collected $28 million in Medicare payments from 2004 to 2011. Justice Department lawyers said in court papers that the “vast majority” of the money “disappeared” with a “substantial portion ... laundered through shell corporations.”

Among others charged in the scheme are, John Thoen, a registered nurse, and three employees, Alexandra Haynes, Serena Joslin and Sarah Da Silva Keller. All have pleaded guilty.

Also charged in the scheme: Daniel Martinez, Raymond Rivero, Ivon Perez and Alba Serrano, operators of three assisted-living facilities in the Homestead area called Mi Renacer, God Is First and Kayleen and Denis Care.

The ALF operators, who have pleaded guilty, were accused of taking bribes from Gonzalez in exchange for supplying a steady stream of patients, many of whom suffered from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. They could not have benefited from the therapy, prosecutors said.

“Once the unqualified patients were admitted to HCSN, Gonzalez’s employees would fabricate virtually every portion of the patients’ mental health medical records,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

“The fake medical records were then utilized to support false billings to government sponsored health care benefit programs and to avoid detection by Medicare auditors.”

The case was prosecuted by trial attorneys William Parente and Allan J. Medina of the Justice Department’s fraud section, with agents from the FBI and U.S. Department Health and Human Services-Office of Inspector General leading the investigation.

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At least one wounded in Miami shooting

Miami police detectives Monday morning are on the scene of a shooting that wounded at least one person.

Police have cordoned off the area of Northwest Avenue at 43rd street as they investigate.

Still visible on the street: a bloody rag next to the tire of a Ford sports utility vehicle.

This bulletin will be updated as more information becomes available.

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Miami Dolphins hopeful on stadium referendum date

The Miami Dolphins are hopeful the Miami-Dade County Commission will approve a May 14 date for a referendum on the $400 rehabilitation of their stadium, time enough to get South Florida in play for Super Bowl 50, a Dolphins spokesman said Saturday.

Spokesman Ric Katz said the language of the proposed referendum has yet to be decided, and ultimately the commission decides the date.

But, he said, “we’d be very happy with” May 14 because “that gives us a week to communicate to the NFL before they make the important decision of Super Bowl 50.”

NFL owners are slated to meet on May 22 to pick the site of the 2016 Super Bowl — seen as a tourist revenue prize for whichever host city gets the 50th anniversary contest.

Mayor Carlos Gimenez met Friday with Dolphins owner Stephen Ross and CEO Mike Dee to discuss the proposed stadium rehabilitation.

From the mayor’s side, there has been no agreement on a date and Gimenez does not plan to bring the proposed May 14 referendum to the commission at this time, said spokeswoman Suzy Trutie.

Friday’s was a “first meeting” at which “many things were discussed,” including the Dolphin’s preference for May 14.

But, “We continue negotiating with the Dolphins with regards to finances.”

One proposed financing plan would increase the bed tax in mainland Miami-Dade by 1 percent and increase the sales tax rebate the team already gets at the stadium in Miami Gardens. Ross had initially offered to pay at least $201 million in his financing plan. But Katz, a Miami publicist representing the team in the stadium campaign, said the two sides were still in negotiation on what the mayor would ask the commission to put to taxpayers in a referendum.

Trutie said the proposed referendum would gauge public opinion on increasing hotel taxes from 6 to 7 percent to fund the stadium renovations.

Of the commission, Katz said, “We do not take them for granted. They have the prerogative.”

Attorney Kendall Coffey did not return calls asking whether the Dolphins had hired him to write the ballot language.

Dolphins lobbyist Marcelo Llorente had said in recent weeks that the team was considering May 7 and 14 as possible referendum dates.

Any activity by the Florida Legislature would likely have to be undertaken before then. The regular session is slated to end May 3.

Miami Herald staff writers Patricia Mazzei and Doug Hanks contributed to this report.

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Miami police union challenges officer’s firing for fatal shooting

The Fraternal Order of Police filed a lawsuit against the city of Miami on Friday, asserting that an officer who fatally shot an unarmed motorist in 2011 was improperly fired from the police department.

Officer Reynaldo Goyos shot and killed Travis McNeil as he sat in a car at a Little Haiti intersection. It was one of a string of seven deadly shootings of black men in the inner city by Miami police officers in 2010 and 2011.

Goyos was cleared of criminal wrongdoing by prosecutors in 2012. But he was terminated last month after the department’s Firearms Review Board concluded that the shooting was unjustified.

The police union lawsuit claims that the board violated state open-government laws by failing to open its meetings to the public.

Goyos “was improperly terminated by the city of Miami Police Department by a review board that violates the law,” union President Javier Ortiz wrote in a statement.

The lawsuit contends that Goyos should be reinstated.

City Attorney Julie O. Bru declined to discuss the specifics of the case. “We reviewed the allegations, and the city maintains that the board has operated consistent with the requirements of law,” she said.

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Bishop Dorsey dies in Orlando of cancer

Bishop Norbert M. Dorsey, who served as an auxiliary bishop with the Archdiocese of Miami in the late 1980s, died Thursday night in Orlando after a long fight with cancer.

Born Leonard James Dorsey on Dec. 14, 1929 in Springfield, Mass., he was 83.

His religious studies led him to Munich, London and Rome, and he was ordained a priest in April 1956.

In addition to his religious degrees, he was a composer of music, holding the degree of Maestro from the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music.

Throughout the 1960s and ’70s, Father Dorsey was a popular preacher of parish missions and retreats throughout the United States and Canada.

In the early 1980s, while based in Rome, he shared the life and experience of the church in five continents during his periodic “visitations” to most of the 52 countries where the passionists are established.

He learned to speak several languages, including Spanish, Italian, French and Creole.

On Jan. 10, 1986, Pope John Paul II nominated Father Dorsey Titular Bishop of Mactaris and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Miami. He was consecrated by Archbishop Edward J. McCarthy at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Miami on March 19, 1986.

In Miami, Bishop Dorsey served as Vicar General and Executive Director of the Ministry of Persons. He also served on the boards of St. Thomas University and Barry University in Miami, and St. Leo College near Tampa.

He was installed as the third bishop of Orlando in 1990. Under his leadership, the diocese nearly doubled there to 400,000 Catholics.

I 1996, Bishop Dorsey gathered 11,000 people together for the first Diocesan-wide celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation. On this memorable day, Catholics came together from near and far to show their unity and passion for their faith. Bishop Dorsey was the first bishop to establish the Blue Mass, a celebration of the gifts of public safety personnel, in the Diocese of Orlando.

Soon after establishing Bishop Grady Villas, a 10-acre residential community in St. Cloud for adults with disabilities in 2004, Bishop Dorsey retired.

In lieu of flowers, Bishop Dorsey asked that contributions be made to the Passionist Community Support Fund, Passionist Pastoral Center 111 S. Ridge St., Suite 300, Rye Brook, NY 10573 or Bishop Dorsey Colloquium on Priestly Life and Ministry, for clergy education and care, Diocese of Orlando, P.O. Box 4905, Orlando, FL 32802-4905.

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Davie criticizes town attorney, but doesn’t fire him

Davie’s town attorney will keep his job while the Town Council considers setting up an in-house legal department or hiring a private legal firm.

Council member Bryan Caletka brought a motion to terminate town attorney John Rayson at Wednesday night’s Town Council meeting, Feb. 20, but it did not receive a second.

“He gives different opinions to different members of council,” Caletka said at the meeting. “He’s given bad opinions. Mediocre at best describes the legal services that are being provided by the attorney.”

Caletka said he doesn’t trust Rayson’s legal advice and cannot work with him, and that it’s affecting the town.

Mayor Judy Paul and council member Susan Starkey have also criticized Rayson’s performance.

In evaluation forms completed in February, Paul gave Rayson’s performance an overall score of three out of five for “meets expectations,” but wrote in a comment that he should not interject personal opinion when asked for legal advice. Starkey criticized him for not providing Town Council members with training on legal matters like Florida’s open records laws.

Caletka wrote, “He will tell a council member an opinion and in less than an hour communicate the complete opposite in a Town of Davie Council meeting. It is odd that opinions change so quickly, yet the law does not.”

Rayson remained silent while the council discussed his performance.

But in a letter submitted to the council, he summarized his achievements since his 2007 appointment, listing cases he’d settled and his creation of a pre-trial diversion program, which he wrote saves the town money in public defender fees.

“I am honored to be the Davie Town Attorney,” he wrote. “I enjoy the work and look forward to continuing the successful, productive provision of legal services to the Town.”

Vice Mayor Marlon Luis, who gave Rayson the highest evaluation score possible, a five out of five, called Caletka’s criticisms political.

Rayson’s pre-trial diversion program had brought the town money, said Luis, and within six months of becoming town attorney, Rayson had settled a number of backlogged cases.

"I’m sorry to sit up here and listen to this man disparaged like this," said Luis. "To say he’s done a bad job, that’s really disheartening, and I wish we’d just drop this whole thing."

Luis said Rayson was available around the clock to provide legal advice for the town, and that if a council member called him when he was busy or on the phone with someone else, he’d give them a callback time they could set their watch by.

Rayson also received a positive evaluation from council member Caryl Hattan, who wrote that his work served the town and his diversion program brought in money.

Mayor Paul said she had spoken with Rayson about the need to separate his legal opinion from his personal one, but disagreed with Caletka’s statement that the attorney’s performance was mediocre.

“I believe if somebody meets expectations, they’re not mediocre. They’re meeting expectations,” she said.

The town was also on the verge of retaining an in-house attorney, said Paul, and it might be more costly to terminate Rayson than to keep him on as Davie makes the transition.

Starkey said an in-house attorney would cost the town money for staff, benefits and overhead, and shouldn’t be the only option considered. Other municipalities have had success with private law firms, she said, and Davie should consider hiring one.

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Election reform, bridge repairs top Miami-Dade Commission agenda

Miami-Dade commissioners are expected Wednesday to urge the state legislature to allow Election Day voters to drop off their absentee ballots at their local precincts, and ask the mayor to identify funding to repair and upgrade the county’s 203 bridges.

Returning absentee ballots to local precincts was one of 13 recommendations in a report by an Election Advisory Group that needs local and state approval to become law. Now, absentee ballots can only be returned to election headquarters in Doral.

The advisory group, created after the embarrassing November presidential election saw people waiting in lines for up to six hours, also wants to change the name of absentee ballots to “Vote by Mail.”

Other recommended voting changes include expanding early voting days from eight to 14, including the last Sunday before an election; expanding the number of permissible voting sites; limiting ballot language on constitutional amendments to 75 words; and expanding the number of days elections supervisors are allowed to total and check votes from 15 to 20.

Commissioners are also expected Wednesday to urge Mayor Carlos Gimenez to identify funding sources to repair the county’s bridges. The county estimates that over the next two decades it will need as much as $450 million for repairs. The issue came to light in early January when the county was forced to close down the west-bound half of Bear Cut Bridge leading to Key Biscayne, after structural flaws were found.

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‘Animal walk’ to help rescue groups find homes for pets

When Laurie Hoffman decided to foster Gracie, a 3-year-old mixed toy greyhound who was found running in the streets and getting caught in the grates of a bridge in downtown Miami, she didn’t expect to keep her.

But she couldn’t help it.

“Many of us have gotten to a point in our lives where we want to give back. We want to be able to help others who can’t help themselves,” said Hoffman, associate executive director at the Humane Society of Greater Miami. “We chose the animals because that’s our passion.”

And it’s this same passion that she hopes many people will feel on Saturday, when this year, for the first time, Walk for the Animals, a yearly event held by the Humane Society of Greater Miami, is launching an “adoption arena.” There, attendees can adopt pets from the Humane Society, an animal shelter, and local animal rescue groups.

“Every step counts!” is the slogan for the walk that will take place on Feb. 23. Registration will open at 8:30 a.m., and the event runs through noon at Bayfront Park, 301 N. Biscayne Blvd.

There will be music, games, prizes, product samples and food after 9 a.m. The one-mile walk around the park will begin at 10 a.m.

The minimum donation for an individual walker is $50, and it includes a Walk T-shirt, a goodie bag and a dog bandana.

Attendees are encouraged to form packs or teams with their family and friends.

Eleven rescue groups are confirmed to attend, but Danijela Kandera, 35, manager of marketing and corporate development at the Humane Society, expects more to join.

“We are already hoping to fundraise enough with the Walk,” said Kandera. “But we are also here to help other organizations because we are all working together for the same goal, which is helping the animals.”

The goal is to reach $50,000 and find new homes for the pets.

“In order for us to care for the 300 animals that are here every day and to provide the programs or services that we do, we need to raise money,” said Hoffman.

Each group will take about five to 10 pets, and all animals set for adoption are spayed, neutered and microchipped.

Requirements for adoption vary per group.

Kandera recommends that interested adopters bring a valid ID and a checkbook.

Tents will be set in the arena for each rescue group. All costs are sponsored by Pet Supermarket.

“Our No. 1 priority is animals, whether it is the ones that we sell, the ones that come into our store or the ones we have for adoption,” said Steve Renzelmann, 49, regional manager of Pet Supermarket.

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Leader of Coconut Grove school to be honored

After 45 years of educating children at Vanguard School of Coconut Grove, Director John Havrilla will retire. His life’s work of helping over 3,000 students with varying learning difficulties will be celebrated at the school’s upcoming annual gala.

Havrilla and four other teachers from Vanguard School in Pennsylvania opened the Miami school with just 13 students in 1968. Along the way Havrilla has been honored and praised for his commitment. The Association of Independent Schools of Florida gave him the Distinguished Educator Award for developing a program to successfully mainstream students with learning disabilities into traditional classrooms or other school settings.

The nonprofit school’s motto is “Never, never quit.”

"I have enjoyed the experience of working with all the teachers, students and parents over the past 45 years,” Havrilla said. “It has been very rewarding to watch our students grow and become successful adults. My interest has always to been to help children and I have always tried to do my best to do just that."

Alumni, parents and staff are invited to the gala starting at 7 p.m., March 9 at Shake-A-Leg Miami. Tickets are $75. The volunteer parent group, the Vanguardians, is also holding fundraising for a commemorative tile mosaic wall as a tribute to Havrilla and the school. Current parents, alumni parents and all students may purchase and personalize a tile to add to this ongoing memorial.

For information on gala tickets or to purchase a commemorative tile call 305-445-7992 or write vangcg@aol.com. Vanguard School has individualized programs for first through eighth grade students with learning difficulties and/or attention deficit disorder. For more about the school check www.vanguardschool.com.

“EYES ON THE EARTH” FESTIVAL

The DuMond Conservancy will host a festival to celebrate the Earth from 1-4:30 p.m., Feb. 23 at Monkey Jungle, 14805 SW 216th St.

Dr. Kate Detwiler, one of the members of the history-making team that discovered the Lesula monkey last year in the Democratic Republic of Congo, will deliver the festival’s keynote address.

This youth-led festival will feature performances by Momentum Dance Company, and Brazilian dancers and drummers. There will also be a play written by New World School of the Arts drama student Kaithleen Conoepan, an Eco Fashion Show, and family activities to show ways our community can contribute in conservation.

Pre-sale tickets to the festival are $15 for adults, $10 for children (5-18 years) and students, and free for children under five years of age. Family tickets (two adults and up to three children) are $30. Admission to the festival also includes admission into Monkey Jungle. Buy online because tickets at the door are $29.95 for adults, $23.95 for children ages three to nine, and free for children under three. Pre-sale tickets can be purchased at www.dumondconservancy.eventbrite.com.

39 YEARS OF CHICKEN BBQ

Amazing slow-cooked, fall-off-the-bone chicken meals for $9 are what make the annual Chicken BBQ of the Silver Palm United Methodist Men a 39-year success story in rural Redland. This year the event will be on Feb. 23 with takeout meals served starting at 2:30 p.m. from the bright red First National Bank of South Florida trailer at the front of the parking lot at 15855 SW 248th St. (Coconut Palm Drive)

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Speaker to discuss the Jews of Zimbabwe

You are invited to hear Modreck Zvakavapano Maeresera and Tudor Parfitt, as they lecture on "The Lamba Jews of Zimbabwe" at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday at the Jewish Museum of Florida, 301 Washington Ave. in Miami Beach.

You will want to attend this event; Maeresera is a leader in the Lemba Jewish community in Zimbaabwe. He coordinates a program of Jewish cyber-learning, studying with volunteer rabbis and teachers via the Internet in Harare, where he teaches other students what he has heard and recorded. In the rural congregation of Mapakomhere, 150 miles from Harare, Maeresera leads Shabbat services and promotes Jewish education.

In a press release statement he said, "My vision is to have a vibrant Lemba community that is fully committed to observing Judaism, the religion of our forefathers, and to have the necessary infrastructure that a Jewish community would need, such as synagogues and schools and religious leaders." He said, in the near future he would like to see Lemba fully reintegrated into mainstream Judaism.

Parfitt is the President Navon Professor of Sephardi-Mizrahi Studies and Research Professor in Florida International University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and has studied emerging Jewish communities around the works. He has studied the Lemba Jews for decades.

It’s free and open to the public.

Kids’ art event continues through Monday

The Children’s Trust will present a "Kids Grove Arts Party," from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Monday in the kids zone at Peacock Park in Coconut Grove. The event is in conjunction with the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Abrakadoodle Coconut Grove Arts Festival.

Each day the Abrakadoodle staff will present "Art in Our World Curriculum," one-hour sessions where children will draw, paint, sculpt, design mosaics and collages and well as create in the styles of multicultural master artists to include Picasso, Bearden, Matisse, Miro, Hokusai, Monet, Martinez and Kahlo.

Other highlights will include a 10 a.m. show each day, the musical "Party with Picasso and Friends," presented by Sugar and Spice Puppet Theater, and at 11 a.m., the musical "The Dean of Green, " an eco-children’s theater production that teaches children the importance of growing up green, healthy living and protecting the earth. The play is directed by Corky Dozier, event creator and founder and director of the Coconut Grove Children’s Theater. Dozier also celebrates she 50th year in children’s theater, this year.

Author to speak in Key Biscayne

Lunch with an Author will present award-winning author Mary Murray Bosrock, presenting her newest book, "Grandma Has Wings," at noon Thursday in the Island room of the Key Biscayne Community Center, 10 Village Green Way.

Bosrock, a part-time resident of Key Biscayne, is a popular radio and television guest and has appeared on CNN, CNBC, Fox News and A&E Network. She said she got her "wings" when her two sons, Matt and Steve, gave her six granddaughters in eight years. It amazed her, she said, that her little girls noticed things like arm fat, brown spots, veins and dropping chins, and learned to love what she couldn’t change by turning it into a story. Her granddaughters loved the story so much, that Bosrock decided to share it with other grandmas.

She also is the author of the book series, "Put Your Best Food Forward," which sold worldwide and has been published in Polish, Chinese, Russian, Thai and India.

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Joe Martinez says he’ll challenge Joe Garcia

Joe Martinez, the former Miami-Dade Commission chairman who lost his bid to become county mayor last year, said Friday that he intends to run against U.S. Rep. Joe Garcia in 2014.

“I’m meeting with different people and feeling them out, seeing what the level of support will be there,” Martinez told The Miami Herald shortly after announcing his intentions on Facebook. He wants to get in the race, Martinez said, “to shake it up.”

Martinez’s name has been floated in political circles in connection with the 26th Congressional District since Garcia, a Democrat, defeated incumbent Republican Rep. David Rivera in November. The district extends from Kendall to Key West.

Cites experience

Martinez, a Republican, said he sees himself as a pragmatist in tune with residents’ needs after his 12 years on the County Commission, including two terms as chairman. In his first term, former Mayor Carlos Alvarez campaigned for a strong-mayor referendum. In his second, Alvarez was recalled.

Both times, Martinez said, he helped lead the county. “It actually ran really smoothly,” Martinez said.

He gave up his seat last year to unsuccessfully challenge Mayor Carlos Gimenez. Martinez said Friday that he has since opened a public relations and business development consulting firm.

Focused on duties

Garcia’s chief of staff, Jeffrey Garcia (no relation), said that the congressman “is focused on doing the work that the people sent him here to do.”

“There’ll be plenty of time for politics later,” he added.

Martinez, conceding that “it’s too early to tell” how well Garcia will do as a freshman congressman, said he’s committed to running in two years.

“I’ve survived Miami-Dade politics,” he said. “What’s Washington?”

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Little Havana families stuck in crumbling condos

The owners of condominiums in the Havana Palms complex in Little Havana feel as if they are living aboard the Titanic. Everything is sinking.

“We’re afraid to walk in our own living rooms, to step into the bathroom, to gain weight, because our floors sink deeper every day,” said Mario Pineda, 53.

At the peak of the real estate bubble, between 2006 and 2009, about 20 neighbors bought condominiums in the renovated complex in the 900 block of Southwest Second Street. Some paid almost $190,000 — a fair price, they believed, for a piece of the American Dream.

From the outside, the condos looked lovely. Inside, there were tile floors, freshly painted walls and newly appointed bathrooms.

But there were problems.

Several neighbors said that they noticed cracks in their walls shortly after they moved in, and said the cracks seemed to have been covered up with plaster.

As time passed, cracks in the walls of Andrés Sergio Alvarez’s condo spread from the floor to the ceiling.

His neighbor, Juana Blandón, said she fears her bathroom will collapse because the floor is cracked right down the middle. She has her bathtub propped up with a pair of wooden planks.

Mario and Genny Pineda live in terror because their apartment is on the second floor. They avoid walking in the middle of the living room because the floor tiles are loose and sink with every step.

Over time, the problems got worse.

On Jan. 10, the Reyna and Jesús Garcia’s living room floor collapsed. The family, with two teenage daughters, has since moved to a rental apartment.

“Luckily, that happened at midnight, so nobody was hurt,” said Reyna García as she pointed to the rotten floor boards in the middle of the living room.

Not long after, the city of Miami declared the buildings a danger to the community. Municipal inspectors told the homeowners they had 30 days to make the repairs necessary to comply with the city codes.

“The building is uninhabitable,” said Mariano Fernández, director of the Department of Construction. “There are structural problems and health problems.”

The company that sold the condominiums was Montara Land V LLC, formed in May 2005 by lawyer Anibal Duarte-Viera and real estate agent Gabriel de la Campa. Miami-Dade County records indicate that Montara Land V borrowed $2.775 million to buy the complex, which was built in 1946.

“We bought that property as investors,” Duarte-Viera said.

By October 2006, Montara Land V had converted the apartments into condominiums under the name Havana Palms, and put them up for sale. Duarte-Viera said he had hired a company to manage the building and remembers doing some repairs, though he could not give details.

The condominiums’ buyers aspired to a typical middle-class life. They remember the big red signs outside the complex, announcing the possibility of obtaining financing through Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami.

Some received a loan from the county; others, a subsidy from the city for new property owners who will remain in their homes for several years.

“Everybody was excited at seeing this pretty place, one that we could buy with the help of the government,” said Reyna García, 39.

The new homeowners had to make monthly maintenance payments of $166 to $220. According to the homeowners, those payments were collected through Duarte-Viera’s and De la Campa’s company.

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Feds catch convicted Miami lawyer-banker on lam for 27 years in Mexico

Back in the 1980s, Miami lawyer Manuel Lopez-Castro was convicted of racketeering charges for helping a marijuana ring flush with cash buy a majority interest in Sunshine State Bank during the heyday of drug trafficking and money laundering in South Florida.

But rather than surrender to start his 27-year prison sentence in early 1986, Lopez-Castro fled to Mexico and eventually dropped the “Castro” in his last name when he obtained a fraudulent Mexican birth certificate, authorities say.

This week, the feds finally caught up with the longtime fugitive.

Mexican police arrested Lopez-Castro, 61, during a traffic stop in Cancun Tuesday, when he jumped out of his vehicle and ran. He didn’t get far. Mexican authorities officially deported Lopez-Castro and turned him over to U.S. Marshals Wednesday for the flight to Miami.

On Thursday afternoon, Lopez-Castro will be in Miami federal court where he was convicted at trial in October 1985.

Lopez-Castro was convicted of helping a marijuana smuggler buy a majority share of the South Miami bank. According to an indictment, the lawyer acted as a Sunshine State official who assisted the bank’s executives, co-defendants Ray and Rafael Corona, in laundering drug profits.

Lopez-Castro failed to show up on Jan. 30, 1986, at a federal prison in Tallahassee. That’s when the lawyer, disbarred after his conviction, was to begin serving his sentence.

Then-U.S. District Judge James W. Kehoe signed a warrant for Lopez-Castro’s arrest. He had been free on bonds totaling $260,000 while he appealed his conviction.

Lopez-Castro’s parents had pledged their home as part of the collateral for the bonds. Castro had surrendered his U.S. passport when the bonds were set. He had been known to travel frequently to Costa Rica and Panama.

Federal agents searched Lopez-Castro’s home at 8100 Old Cutler Rd. for information about his disappearance. The property was valued at $350,000.

At trial, Lopez-Castro’s wife, Paulette, sat through nearly every day of the proceedings. She also vanished, according to a Miami Herald story at the time. The couple had two children, Manuel, 2, and Natalia, 6.

After the lengthy trial, the federal jury convicted Lopez-Castro and one other man, acquitted a third defendant and failed to reach a verdict on the two main defendants charged with helping the marijuana smuggler buy his way into the South Miami bank.

The jury deadlocked in their deliberations of Ray Corona, former board chairman of Sunshine State Bank, and his father, Rafael Corona, the bank’s former managing director. But they were retried in 1986, convicted and sentenced to prison for 20 and 5 years, respectively.

Both Coronas were charged with taking $2 million from Jose Antonio Fernandez, known on the street as La Mentirita or “The Little Liar,” and using the money to buy the Sunshine State Bank in May 1978. Fernandez’s interest in the bank was concealed; on paper, the bank was purchased by the wife of a Panamanian money launderer.

In the first trial, jurors failed to resolve the case against the Coronas because they apparently did not believe the testimony of the government’s star witness, Fernandez. Before trial, he had pleaded guilty to smuggling some 600,000 pounds of marijuana into the United States in 1977-84.

Fernandez told the jury how he filled shopping bags with cash and gave the money to the Coronas to buy Sunshine State Bank, and then asked them to conceal his ownership of it.

The Coronas agreed, Fernandez said, in exchange for stock and their being named officers of the bank.

Prosecutors marshaled volumes of evidence and carefully explained to the jury how the Coronas negotiated with Fernandez, paid for the bank with drug profits, then celebrated with champagne when the bank purchase was approved by regulators.

But Ray Corona, 37, and Rafael Corona, 64, who testified in their defense, told jurors that they were duped by Fernandez.

Fernandez was sentenced to 50 years in prison on narcotics charges, but later had his sentence reduced based on his cooperation with prosecutors.

The jury convicted Lopez-Castro and Gerardo Jorge Guevara, 42. Both assisted with Fernandez’s ownership of Sunshine State Bank, the jury found. The jury convicted them of numerous racketeering and fraud charges.

The jury acquitted William Vaughn, 64, who directed a company described as a “front” by government investigators, who said it was used to launder Fernandez’s drug profits.

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Key West’s ‘Scrub Club’ reportedly scrubbing debit cards of adult-entertainment clients

Key West has a long-held reputation as an anything-goes party town that tolerates -- and in many cases facilitates -- an array of bawdy pastimes.

A stroll down Duval Street yields strip clubs, clothing-optional bars and establishments catering to alternative lifestyles. But the Adult Entertainment Club, formerly and colloquially known as the Scrub Club, at 1221 Duval is different.

In the 765-day period between Jan. 1, 2011, and this past Feb. 4, Key West police logged 301 calls related to the Adult Entertainment Club -- that's a call every 2.5 days, a staggering number for an 800-square-foot place in a neighborhood otherwise populated by cafes, wine shops, boutiques and art galleries.

The main complaint: Unauthorized use of customers' debit or credit cards, often to the tune of thousands of dollars.

The club's website, signs and brochures offer scantily clad women available for "bachelor parties, fantasy and fetish shows, nude snorkeling, nude parasailing [and] divorce parties." It offers "free shuttle and 24/7 escort service."

But the voluminous police reports, along with a long trail of Internet posts, message-board threads and complaints with the Better Business Bureau of Southeast Florida and the Caribbean, paint a far different picture of what goes on inside. But barring specific complaints, the Key West Police Department has no plan to take a closer look.

The pattern is usually the same:

It's late at night and an intoxicated man steps inside, where he pays an entrance fee, usually more than $100. That begins a conversation with one of the female employees, described on the business website as "classy and sophisticated," leading to a private room.

From there, it's not clear what goes on other than the price goes up, the man supplies his debit card and personal identification number to the woman -- he's generally nude at this point -- and she leaves the room. Later on, the man notices unauthorized charges on his card and contacts police.

Case in point: On Feb. 4 around 2 a.m., a Russian tourist who told police "he had been drinking" went into the club and agreed to pay $100, according to a report prepared by Officer David Fraga.

"While in the club [the tourist] said he gave his ATM card to one of the employees along with his PIN." Four hours later, "He saw there was a total amount of about $2,500 charged on his card."

Fraga told the man to "go to the business and fill out a complaint form for the issue."

A few days earlier, on Jan. 31, a man from St. Johns, Fla., called police to report that on Jan. 26, when he was in town visiting, he went into the Adult Entertainment Club and "agreed to pay $200 with one of the females working on this date for sex," according to a report prepared by Officer Tricia Milliken.

He also said he agreed to tip the female $100 prior to the services being rendered and gave her his Visa debit card and PIN. He "stated he expected sex from the female and she would not give him what he expected, so he got dressed and left the establishment."

When he returned to St. Johns, he said he realized his card was charged $1,000, not $100. Milliken provided him with a case number.

Police spokeswoman Alyson Crean said the department has heard the Adult Entertainment Club is about more than just "entertainment," but that the department focuses its attention on higher-priority initiatives like dealing with aggressive vagrants drinking and panhandling on city streets, and quelling drug dealing.

"We do not get complaints of prostitution," she said via e-mail. "Certainly there are intimations and innuendoes that this activity may be occurring. That being said, without any complaints, there are other, higher priorities set by the community and by the department."

"Look at the issue of vagrancy and panhandling. A task force made up of business owners, residents and even the mayor has told the department that the community will not tolerate certain behaviors, and we have four quality-of-life officers dedicated to seeing that priority is addressed."

"Getting drug dealers off the streets is another issue that the community has made very clear is a top priority for our city. Same thing with reducing incidents of burglary. So in those terms, I would answer that there is no specific enforcement strategy for this business."

The city's Code Compliance Department has been more proactive, fining the business $500 last year after investigating offsite promotional and solicitation activity. Basically, club employees would park their advertisement-emblazoned vehicle in other parts of Old Town and hand out brochures for the business in violation of code.

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Woman gets 55 years in Rilya Wilson foster-child abuse case

Geralyn Graham was sentenced to 55 years in prison Tuesday in the Rilya Wilson kidnapping ad abuse case.

The Kendall woman, 67, was convicted by jury last month in a case that roiled Florida’s child welfare agency, which was supposed to monitor the child. The body of Rilya, who was 4 years old when she vanished, has never been found.

Graham got 30 years for kidnapping and 25 years for aggravated child abuse.

"One can only be inherently evil to inflict that type of pain and torment on an innocent child,” Circuit Court Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez said. “Rilya Wilson deserved nothing less than a loving, caring, nurturing environment. Instead she lived in fear and suffered in a house of torture, torment and abuse."

Tinkler Mendez could have sentenced Graham to as much as life in prison.

Prosecutors believe Graham smothered Rilya, a foster child, with a pillow, disposed of her body near water in South Miami-Dade, then spent years telling conflicting versions of what happened to the child. Jurors, by an 11-1 vote, deadlocked on a count of first-degree murder.

The jury convicted her of kidnapping, two counts of aggravated child abuse and one of child abuse.

The case was significant for the Florida Department of Children & Families, which did not notice the girl was missing for 15 months. Graham told investigators that a mystery DCF worker whisked the child away for mental health treatment.

Graham was later arrested for and convicted of fraud. Based on incriminating statements from her domestic partner, Graham was then charged with aggravated child abuse of Rilya.

Her partner, Pamela Graham, no relation, agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of child neglect.

Pamela Graham, a meek shell of a woman, testified at trial that Geralyn Graham would bind the child’s hands to the bed railing with plastic “flex cuffs” and confine Rilya in a laundry room for hours.

A friend of the pair told police that Graham borrowed a dog cage to put Rilya in when she misbehaved, although no could say they saw the child in there as punishment.

Acquaintances also testified that Graham gave conflicting stories about what happened to the girl — to some, she claimed the girl was on a road trip with a “Spanish lady” friend.

A grand jury indicted Geralyn Graham in 2005 after she allegedly confessed in detail to inmate Robin Lunceford, who testified at trial over four days. Two other inmates also testified that Graham, while behind bars, suggested she killed the child.

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Former state GOP chairman Jim Greer pleads guilty to theft

ORLANDO --
Former Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer pleaded guilty Monday morning to four charges of grand theft, avoiding trial in a case that could have potentially embarrassed former Gov. Charlie Crist and much of the state’s Republican elite.

Greer stood next to his lawyer Damon Chase a little before 10:30 a.m. and entered four separate guilty pleas as part of a last-minute deal with prosecutors. Jury selection had been expected to begin this morning.

“Sometimes clearing your name is not as important as taking care of your family,” Chase said.

Greer declined to comment as he left the courtroom.

As part of the deal, Greer faces a maximum of 42.6 months in prison. Sentencing is scheduled March 27.

A trial threatened to expose inner workings and potentially sordid details of the Republican Party of Florida as well as is top leaders past and present.

The case centered around Greer’s creation of a company to handle fundraising duties for the state GOP, Victory Strategies. Greer diverted about $200,000 in party funds to Victory Strategies but contended Republican leaders — including Crist — knew about the arrangement and approved of it.

Crist, who likely would have been called to testify during the trial, denies knowing about the fundraising arrangement.

Others who had been expected to testify include House Speaker Dean Cannon, former Senate President Mike Haridopolos, former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, state Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine and a long list of other GOP notables.

Though Greer and Chase had said the case would go to trial, talks of a plea deal have been in the works for weeks.

Greer is still suing the state GOP in an effort to collect $130,000 he was promised when he agreed to resign as chairman in 2010.

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