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Car was found in an Everglades canal. Hours later, Broward cops found dead body
Deputies responded to reports of a submerged vehicle near Krome Avenue and U.S. Highway 27 around 9 p.m. on Wednesday and found a Chevy Tahoe underwater, Broward Sheriff's Office told the Miami Herald. The agency's dive team, missing persons unit, marine patrol and drone unit were deployed to locate the SUV when, hours later, the dead body turned up.
Marshall Jones, owner of Mack's Fish Camp, an air boat tour business located on the same stretch of canal, was the first to phone authorities and guided rescue crews when they arrived.
'I saw fresh skid marks and disturbance on the side of the levy and bubbles in the canal,' Marshall Jones told the Miami Herald.
Jones described the body as a man in his 30s. He told the Miami Herald he thinks the body was the driver and that he had been ejected from the SUV before he was found.
BSO's Traffic Homicide Unit is now investigating how the sunken car and its driver ended up in the canal.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
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Miami Herald
2 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Testimony of girls on boat leads to new charge for George Pino, sources say
The testimony of the girls on the boat operated by Doral real estate broker George Pino when it crashed during the 2022 Labor Day weekend prompted Miami prosecutors to charge Pino with manslaughter, sources told the Miami Herald. Prosecutors filed the new charge Thursday. Pino, 54, was already charged with vessel homicide, a nearly identical felony charge that also carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. Both charges are for killing 17-year-old Luciana 'Lucy' Fernandez, who was starting her senior year at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy. The Sept. 4, 2022, crash seriously injured her classmate, Katerina 'Katy' Puig, 20, a standout soccer player now confined to a wheelchair and still struggling to regain basic motor skills. The new charge reads that Pino 'intentionally committed an act or acts, and/or acted with culpable negligence .... which caused the death of Luciana Fernandez.' Pino's defense attorney Howard Srebnick could not be immediately reached for comment. On the day of the crash, there were 12 teenage girls on the boat; Pino's daughter, Cecilia, had just turned 18 and had invited 11 of her girlfriends to celebrate on the boating excursion with her parents, George and Cecilia Pino. Sources say several of the girls detailed the events leading up to the crash — including how much alcohol was flowing on the boat hours before — in recent interviews with Pino's attorneys. Records reviewed by the Miami Herald confirm at least one of the girls was drinking heavily that day. Puig's toxicology report from Nicklaus Children's Hospital near South Miami, where she was airlifted the night of the crash, shows her blood alcohol level was almost twice the .08% legal limit for driving. Her test was taken at 10:33 p.m., four hours after the crash. MORE: FWC chair questions why no sobriety test of Pino in fatal boat crash, emails show The day after the crash, the FWC found a stash of empty booze bottles and cans on Pino's boat when its officers pulled it from the bay. The boat had capsized, hurtling the 14 people into the bay. Three girls were unconscious when they were pulled from the water — Lucy, who died the next day in the hospital; Katy, then 17, who suffered traumatic brain injury; and Isabella Rodriguez, then 16, who had a brain bleed but has since recovered. Srebnick, Pino's attorney, has said the empty booze containers were from five boats tied up that day although he hasn't said who were on the other boats. READ MORE: How investigators, prosecutors bungled probe into boat crash that killed teen girl The Herald's investigation found FWC officers violated their training when they did not give Pino a sobriety test, despite the crash involving serious injuries and Pino telling the lead investigator that he had 'two beers.' The FWC's training manual and a slideshow presentation prepared by the State Attorney's Office for the FWC list significant injuries and deaths in a boat crash as probable cause for a blood draw in a sobriety test. Investigators on the scene knew that four of the 14 people on the boat were airlifted as trauma alert patients by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, including Lucy. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission also could have contacted the State Attorney's Office, which has a prosecutor on call 24/7 to help officers get a search warrant, arrest warrants and court orders in these types of cases. In fact, the second page of a State Attorney Office's slideshow for the FWC on vessel homicides gives the hotline number for the prosecutors. The FWC didn't call. This report will be updated as more information becomes available
Miami Herald
7 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Atlanta man accused of scheming with Jackson exec to bilk millions faces conspiracy charge
A businessman accused of playing a key supporting role in an elaborate scheme to bilk millions of dollars from the fundraising arm of Jackson Health System faces a conspiracy charge on Tuesday in Miami federal court. Yergan Jones, who heads an audio visual company in Atlanta, is the latest person to be charged in the alleged conspiracy with Charmaine Gatlin, the former chief operating officer of Jackson Health Foundation, which raises money for Miami-Dade County's public hospital system. Authorities say Gatlin, 52, and Jones, 62, falsified invoices to make it look like Jones' business, American Sound Design, provided about $2 million in purported services for fundraising events that were paid for by Jackson Health Foundation. Jones and his company kept half of the Foundation's payments and kicked back the other $1 million to Gatlin — money that the former Weston resident spent on Louis Vuitton and Gucci handbags and other luxury goods, court records show. Jones' defense attorney, Hector Flores, declined to comment. The fact that Jones has been charged by an information and not a grand jury indictment indicates that he's cooperating with federal prosecutors and eventually plans to plead guilty to the single conspiracy charge, which carries up to five years in prison. Gatlin's defense lawyer, David Howard, also declined to comment. Gatlin pleaded not guilty to multiple conspiracy and fraud charges in June in Miami federal court. But sources familiar with her case say she's planning to change her plea to guilty in a deal with prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office. Prosecutors say Jones, Gatlin and others schemed to 'unlawfully enrich themselves' by submitting 'false and fraudulent invoices' to the Jackson Health Foundation 'for goods and services that were not provided to the Foundation, did not benefit the Foundation, and benefitted themselves instead of the Foundation.' In one exchange, Gatlin contacted Jones from her personal email on Jan. 8, 2024, telling him to increase his bill for audiovisual equipment at Jackson's 'Holiday Parties' to $58,477, according to the information charging Jones. A week later, Gatlin wired that same amount to the bank account of Jones' company, ASD, the information says. That same day, Jones wired a kickback of about $25,000 to Gatilin's personal bank account — then, a few days later, Jones made a $20,000 payment on his American Express card using the Jackson funds. 'To conceal the kickbacks,' the information says, they 'created false invoices making it appear as though Gatlin did 'event management' for ASD events' at Jackson Health System or the Foundation. Atlanta Connection Before Jackson Health System officials learned of the alleged scheme, Gatlin was making about $300,000 as the Foundation's chief operating officer and was well on her way to becoming its top executive. But in late October, she was put on paid administrative leave while an internal investigation 'related to potential misconduct' got underway. In early November, she was 'terminated for cause' by the Foundation's chairman. Her termination letter, obtained by the Miami Herald, did not elaborate. Jackson officials alerted the FBI and federal prosecutors. In May, Gatlin, a Foundation executive over the past decade, was arrested on charges of fleecing $3.6 million from her former employer, fabricating fake invoices from vendors including Jones and receiving kickbacks from them. Her alleged defrauding of the Jackson Health Foundation, however, extended well beyond Miami, according to an indictment. It stretched all the way to Atlanta, where an unnamed 'audiovisual company' and a 'co-conspirator' suspected of collaborating with Gatlin submitted $2 million in 'false and fraudulent' invoices to the Foundation for purported services that were instead provided to a civic organization in Georgia's capital, the indictment says. While the indictment doesn't identify the company or the co-conspirator, the Herald learned last month from multiple sources that Gatlin allegedly schemed with Jones, the CEO of American Sound Design in Atlanta. Public records obtained by the Herald show Jones' company submitted dozens of invoices to the Jackson Health Foundation that Gatlin approved between 2019 and 2024. The indictment alleges the company's invoices were for 'audiovisual services that did not occur' at Jackson Health System or the Foundation. Instead, the Herald confirmed those services were provided by Jones' company to the civic organization in Atlanta, which is 100 Black Men of America, with chapters nationwide including South Florida. 'On at least one occasion, Jones provided services to [100 Black Men of America], but Jones and Gatlin made it appear on the invoice as though the services were being provided to the Foundation,' says the information charging Jones, which didn't include details of the charges. In a statement, the 100 Black Men of America said it was not aware of Gatlin's alleged kickback scheme with Jones and his audiovisual company, including billing the Jackson Health Foundation for services that his firm instead provided to the Atlanta organization. Jones provided those services to the youth mentoring group for its annual conferences between 2019 and 2024 under a different audiovisual company, American Electronic Entertainment, 100 Black Men of America confirmed. In fact, 100 Black Men of America said it directly paid Jones' company more than $500,000 for his work, but the organization did not provide details of the payments. '100 Black Men of America, Inc. has no knowledge of Ms. Gatlin's alleged receipt of cash payments or fraudulent invoices being submitted by Ms. Gatlin or any other vendors in the indictment involving Jackson Health Foundation,' the organization said in the statement provided to the Herald, adding that 'Gatlin has never been paid by the 100 BMOA as a 'go-between' to then pay vendors for services provided to 100 BMOA.' Gatlin had worked for 100 Black Men of America from 2009 to 2014 before Jackson's Foundation hired her a decade ago. During her tenure at Jackson, she continued to work with the Atlanta organization as an unpaid volunteer. After the Foundation dismissed Gatlin last November, 100 Black Men of America hired her in January as a contractor for its annual conference in 2025 —but fired her in May when the organization said it learned about her indictment. 'We are fully cooperating with law enforcement and will continue to do so until this matter is concluded,' the organization said. Follow the Money Gatlin, a University of Florida graduate with a bachelor's degree in French, was arrested on May 21 in a town near Savannah where she now lives. The indictment, filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Young, charged her with a single count of conspiring with other individuals to commit wire fraud, 26 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering. If convicted, the charges carry sentences that could send her to prison for years. Gatlin is accused of authorizing Jackson Health Foundation funds to pay not only Jones' audiovisual company in Atlanta but also a store that sold designer goods and an event planning company in South Florida that created videos, a website and other services for a family member's softball team in Broward County, the indictment says. She's also accused of using the Foundation's money to buy school supplies that were delivered to a church in Riceboro, Georgia, where she lives with her husband. After her arrest, Gatlin was granted a $30,000 bond. Court records show that one of the conditions of her bond was not to contact four contractors, including Jones, who 'were paid' by the Jackson Health Foundation based on 'purported invoices for goods and services approved by' Gatlin, according to the indictment. By far, Gatlin's dealings with Jones dominated her alleged criminal activity, the Herald has learned from sources and court records. Financial documents obtained by the Herald show that Jones' company, American Sound Design, submitted about 40 invoices to the Foundation that Gatlin approved between 2019 and 2024 for services that his firm says were provided to the Jackson Health Foundation. But Jones is better known as the president of AEE Productions, which on its website claims to have done business for major corporations, such as Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines and Walmart, along with NASCAR and 100 Black Men of America. The Jackson Health Foundation was also one of its clients, according to a testimonial by Gatlin. 'Working with AEE Productions is always an exciting time for me. They listen to my ideas and help me create 'the wow' that I am looking for during each event,' reads an online testimonial by Gatlin on AEE Productions' website. 'I have been working with Yergan and his team for over 15 years and each event is better than the last one. Financial records obtained by the Herald show the Jackson Health Foundation received millions of dollars worth of invoices ranging from $5,900 to $81,500 each from Jones' company. American Sound Design claimed in those bills that it provided lighting, sound, staging and production management services for events at Jackson Health System or the Foundation, the invoices show. But the Gatlin indictment says that Jones' company, though not identified by name, never provided any of these services. It's unclear from the indictment how many of these events hosted by the Foundation even took place.
Miami Herald
a day ago
- Miami Herald
Venezuelans make up largest share of migrants deported to third countries under Trump
Venezuelans make up the largest share of migrants deported to third countries since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, according to a Miami Herald analysis of federal data. The records, which show that two of every five migrants deported to third countries are Venezuelan, were obtained by the University of California, Berkeley's Deportation Data Project through a public records request. While the dataset, covering the first half of the year, is likely incomplete, it nonetheless reveals that roughly 2,900 Venezuelan nationals were deported to countries where they were neither born nor were citizens. Almost all were transferred to Spanish-speaking nations, including Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Spain and Portugal. But there were anomalies: At least two were sent to Austria, one to Italy, one to Syria, and one to the remote Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu. Out of 7,900 total deportations to third countries so far this year, more than a third involved Venezuelans — a group that has increasingly been targeted by federal immigration authorities amid allegations that the Nicolás Maduro regime has deliberately released criminals and gang members into U.S.-bound migrant caravans. 'The Trump Administration is committed to keeping the President's promise to the American people and removing illegal aliens from the United States,' Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson told the Herald. In March, the administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to justify the mass deportation of 230 Venezuelans to El Salvador, labeling them criminals or members of the feared Tren de Aragua gang. Upon arrival, they were placed in El Salvador's maximum-security prison known as CECOT. But according to immigration records, more than half of those deported under the so-called 'alien enemies' executive order had no criminal convictions or pending charges. Many had simply applied for asylum. After four months in Salvadoran custody, most were later flown to Venezuela. The rest of the Venezuelans deported to third countries have experienced dramatically different circumstances. Approximately 1,850 were sent to Mexico, 680 to Honduras and more than 200 to El Salvador. While those migrants were not imprisoned upon arrival, many were left vulnerable and stranded without legal recourse, identification, or financial means to continue their journeys. In northern Mexico, migrants are often dropped off in remote towns where there is little infrastructure and no access to legal assistance. Elizabeth Amaran, a South Florida-based immigration attorney, said migrants are being sent to these locations with only a 10-day transit permit and no opportunity to apply for asylum or legal residency. Mexican authorities reportedly inform them upon arrival that no refugee process is available and instruct them to leave the country within days. Left without the option to travel north or remain legally, many find themselves trapped in a legal and humanitarian limbo. 'They're put on buses and told they're going to an office to apply for asylum in Mexico, but that never happens,' Amaran said. 'When they arrive, Mexican officials tell them there's no such process and just give them a 10-day pass to leave. They can't go north, they can't stay. They're trapped.' The policy currently driving the deportations to third countries is rooted in a July 9 memo by Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The directive grants immigration officials new latitude to deport migrants—sometimes with as little as six hours' notice. The memo allows ICE to deport non-citizens, including long-term U.S. residents, to countries other than their own, so long as the individual is given an opportunity to speak with an attorney. That discretionary power was reinforced by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the administration's authority to deport migrants to third countries, provided they are given some form of notice. However, the ruling did not define what constitutes adequate notice or due process, creating a legal gray area that immigration lawyers say has left vulnerable migrants without protections. In practice, legal advocates say the six-hour window is not sufficient for migrants to mount a legal defense or even contact family and lawyers. Many are held in remote facilities far from legal services or consular support. In some cases, migrants have been transferred from detention centers in Florida to others in Louisiana or Texas just days before being deported, with minimal warning. South Florida, home to one of the largest concentrations of Cuban, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan and Haitian immigrants in the country, has emerged as one of the regions most affected by the policy. Many of those affected are asylum seekers with pending applications, refugees with protected status, or longtime residents with old deportation orders that had not been previously enforced. The governments of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are frequently described as totalitarian regimes and face multiple international accusations of human rights violations, while Haiti is currently under a wave of violence that has left most of the country under the control of criminal gangs. The data show that 514 Cubans were reported to third countries during the first half of the year, most of them to Mexico. Around 230 Nicaraguans and roughly 90 Haitians were also moved to countries to which they had no connections. Under the current guidelines, legal protections like 'withholding of removal' — a status that allows individuals to remain in the U.S. if returning to their home country would result in persecution — have become increasingly ineffective. Migrants now must also prove that they would face harm in the third country to which they're being sent, a difficult legal burden, especially when that country is unfamiliar or unsafe. For many Venezuelans, Cubans and Nicaraguans in legal limbo, the erosion of the protections has meant renewed vulnerability. Some had fled political persecution, gang violence, or humanitarian collapse in their home countries. Others had built lives in the U.S. over many years, only to find themselves suddenly subject to removal proceedings under a legal framework that offers few options for appeal. Cases involving Cuban migrants have also come under scrutiny. While the U.S. has historically limited deportations to Cuba due to Havana's strict conditions for accepting returnees, the third-country policy has provided a loophole. Now, Cubans who would otherwise be shielded from deportation are being sent to Mexico or Central America, where they lack legal status, support networks or protection from violence and exploitation. Two of Amaran's recent cases involved Cuban men detained in Florida who were being held in the Krome detention center before being transferred to Louisiana detention facilities. One had a minor theft conviction; the other had no criminal record and was awaiting a decision on a family petition to legally migrate to the United States. Both, she said, were deported to Mexico without adequate warning or the opportunity to present a 'credible fear' interview—a legal step that could have paused their removal and given them the chance to apply for asylum. Neither had legal representation at the time of deportation. Once in Mexico, her clients were put on buses and were told that they would be taken to an office where they would be able to apply for a temporary status to stay in the country. 'But they were misled,' Amaran said. 'They were tricked into getting on the buses to avoid any kind of confrontation, and were taken to a small town the middle of nowhere where officials told them, 'There's nothing for you here, we don't have no papers, no permits to give you. So you have 10 days to leave the country.'' They were given only a 10-day temporary pass stating that they could only travel south, not north, she said. 'So basically, they were left in the middle of nowhere, with no authorization to stay in the country and no money to leave the country. They had to start looking for people, relatives, that could help them leave Mexico, but even sending them money proved hard because they didn't have the documents needed to collect the money transfered,' she said. 'Only one of them found a way to get out, and that is because a relative was able to travel to where he was and got him out... and return to Cuba.' In many deportations to third countries migrants are served removal notices only hours before their flights. Attorneys say the notices often arrive late at night or shortly before business hours begin, making it nearly impossible for detainees to contact legal counsel or consular services. Even when the opportunity to speak with an attorney exists in theory, the logistical reality—limited phone access, language barriers, remote detention centers—means that most deportations proceed without meaningful legal intervention. The problem is compounded by bureaucratic technicalities. Migrants who fail to file their asylum applications within one year of arrival in the U.S. are automatically disqualified from the formal asylum process unless they can prove exceptional circumstances. Others who arrived legally as children but later lost their status due to minor infractions now find themselves targeted under the third-country deportation policy. As the Trump administration doubles down on its hardline immigration agenda, advocates warn that the new deportation strategy undermines established humanitarian norms. By rerouting vulnerable migrants to unfamiliar nations with little to no infrastructure for receiving refugees, the policy effectively circumvents long-standing international commitments to asylum seekers. Though the administration insists the deportations target criminals and threats to national security, available data suggest otherwise. The majority of deported Venezuelans had no criminal history. Many had applied for asylum or other forms of relief and were still awaiting outcomes. Others had been swept up in enforcement operations due to old removal orders or minor legal infractions. The trend has become a source of concern for the leadership of Venezuela's opposition, even though the movement continues to see Washington as its biggest ally in its struggle against Maduro. Reacting to the administration sending Venezuelans to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, Venezuelan opposition leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo González expressed support earlier this year for the U.S. government's crackdown on the dangerous Tren de Aragua gang, but urged President Trump not to penalize honest, hard-working Venezuelans seeking refuge abroad. 'We urge the competent authorities... to take extreme precautions when administering justice, clearly distinguishing between criminals employed by the Maduro regime to commit crimes abroad and the vast majority of innocent migrants,' the opposition leaders said in a joint statement, 'thus avoiding the unjust criminalization of Venezuelan migrants in general.'
