Orlando Criminal Defense Law Blog

On May 9, a Florida man pleaded guilty to multiple counts of tax evasion and wire fraud in a federal court in Pensacola. The defendant is the former mayor of Milton, but the charges stemmed from his job as the executive director of the Santa Rosa branch of the United Way. The branch was shut down as a result of his actions.

According to federal prosecutors, the 65-year-old defendant embezzled over $650,000 from the Santa Rosa United Way between 2011 and 2018. He did this by taking money earmarked to pay the branch's ongoing operating expenses and using unrecorded donation checks to cover the difference. He then attempted to hide his activities behind a complex scheme of financial transactions. He also tried to block internal and external audits at the branch because they would have discovered his scheme. In addition, he also failed to report the embezzled income, which totaled between $86,000 and $99,000 each year of the scheme, to the Internal Revenue Service.

A Florida man is facing first-degree murder charges after police discovered the bodies of two women in his luxury condo in Miami. The 46-year-old defendant allegedly confessed to the murders during a separate investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

According to police records, Homeland Security personnel reported the defendant's confession to the Miami Police Department. Officers then went to his condo on Northeast 32nd Street and discovered the bodies of two women in one of the bedrooms. Each of the bodies had multiple stab wounds. An upstairs neighbor told local media that she observed many investigators on the scene and smelled "a terrible smell" when the building's elevator stopped on the floor where the condo was located as she was riding it down.

A 32-year-old Florida man who police believe committed a murder in Miami Beach in April has been taken into custody in New York. The man is alleged to have used a sword to take the life of a 77-year-old man. Police have not revealed a possible motive for the crime, but they do say the man may have worked for a short time as the victim's caregiver.

Officers from the New York City Police Department and the New York City Transit Police apprehended the man as he exited a subway train in Manhattan on the morning of May 5. Reports reveal that police in Florida distributed the man's photograph to law enforcement in New York after learning that he had fled Florida and might be heading to the city. According to media reports, the man resisted arrest and faces an additional charge for assaulting a police officer.

Florida authorities recently announced a major drug bust that led to the indictment of nearly 50 people in Polk County. Several of the defendants have reportedly been living in the United States without authorization.

According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, the arrests were the culmination of a law enforcement investigation named "Operation Meth Death Peddlers." During the course of the investigation, officers reportedly uncovered a large drug trafficking scheme that shipped methamphetamine in from California and Mexico and distributed it to locations in Polk County, Georgia, South Carolina and Texas. They claim to have seized approximately 50 pounds of drugs and an unspecified amount of cash and firearms.