Latest news with #Resto
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Yahoo
CT man allegedly went more than 100 mph to avoid traffic stop on I-384
A man was arrested on Saturday after state police said he went more than 100 mph to avoid a traffic stop on Interstate 384 in East Hartford. The driver was first spotted by a trooper at 12:09 a.m. on Interstate 84 East where he was allegedly seen failing to stay in one lane in an Infiniti Sedan, according to Connecticut State Police. The trooper followed the driver off of Exit 56 and onto I-384 East where he allegedly could be seen drifting from its lane and crossing from Exit 1 back to the right lane of the highway. State police said the trooper flipped on their emergency lights and siren to pull the driver over, but he allegedly did not stop and accelerated to speeds of more than 100 mph. The trooper checked the vehicle's registration and found that the license plate matched the Infiniti before disengaging in the stop attempt, according to state police. The trooper then went to the registered owner's residence in East Hartford and spotted the vehicle, which was allegedly still warm to the touch. State police said 21-year-old Eric Resto agreed to speak with the trooper and admitted to being the driver of the Infiniti. He said he was scared and took off because he did not know why he was being pulled over, according to state police. Resto was arrested on charges of reckless driving, disobeying signal of an officer, engaging police in a pursuit, failure to maintain proper lane on a limited access highway and interfering with an officer/resisting. He was released on a $5,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Manchester Superior Court on May 16.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Yahoo
Armed man who tried to enter Tampa strip club wearing devil mask sentenced to prison
A man accused of trying to enter Tampa's Mons Venus strip club armed with a gun and wearing a devil mask has been sentenced to a decade in state prison as part of a deal with prosecutors. Michael Rudman, 46, pleaded guilty Thursday to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and four other charges. As part of a plea agreement, Rudman was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He will receive credit for the two years he has spent in the Hillsborough County jail waiting for his case to be resolved. He faced as many as 30 years in state prison if convicted at trial. 'The brave actions of a security guard named Manny Resto prevented this case from becoming what could have been a much more violent crime,' Hillsborough State Attorney's Office spokesperson Erin Maloney said in an emailed statement. 'This 46-year-old defendant will spend 10 years day-for-day behind bars for his assault of Mr. Resto, who was merely doing his job. This resolution puts this defendant in prison for a significant amount of time and spared the taxpayers the expense of a trial that would likely have resulted in a similar resolution.' The resolution came two years and a day after Rudman's arrest at the club after a physical struggle near the front door that Resto later called 'a fight for my life.' Police Chief Lee Bercaw said at the time that he believed the guards prevented a mass shooting, but Rudman's attorney told the Tampa Bay Times that he doesn't believe that was his client's intent. Rudman arrived at the club, located at 2040 N. Dale Mabry Highway, in a silver Toyota pickup around 1:15 a.m. on Sunday, March 19, 2023, according to court documents. Rudman parked the truck on the side of the building, left it running and got out holding a Glock 9mm pistol and wearing a red and black 'Satan mask,' documents state. Resto saw Rudman coming and tried to wrestle the gun out of his hand. Rudman hit Resto multiple times during the struggle, according to prosecutors. The gun discharged once during the fight but no one was shot. Rudman was carrying three magazines, each with a 17-round capacity, documents state. One of the magazines had seven live rounds and the other two were fully loaded. Inside his truck, investigators found nine knives. At a news conference two days later, Resto, a former professional wrestler known as the 'Puerto Rican Punisher,' said he initially thought Rudman was another guard trying to play a prank on him, but then realized that wasn't the case and immediately concentrated on getting the gun out of Rudman's hands. He called on his days as a wrestler and previous security guard experience to get Rudman — whom Resto described as a 'very big man' — on the ground. 'I decided that he was not going to enter the club and hurt anybody,' Resto said. 'I wasn't going to let this happen. I was not going to let him win.' Resto got Rudman to the ground and was trying to hold him down when two more guards came to help. Surveillance video from the club shows Resto then picking up the gun and pointing it at Rudman, who rushed at him. A round discharged from the gun during the confrontation and hit the door. One security guard sustained minor injuries. No one else was hurt. As part of the deal approved Thursday by Judge G. Gregory Green, Rudman also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault with a weapon, possessing a firearm while under a risk protection order, possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Rudman's attorney, Jawdet Rubaii, said in an interview that the minimum allowable prison sentence according to state guidelines — about 4½ years — would have been more appropriate, but they agreed to the deal because Rudman faced a much longer prison sentence if convicted at trial. Rubaii said Rudman has schizophrenia and was off his prescribed medication at the time of the incident due to supply shortages and a lack of contact with mental health care professionals stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. Rubaii noted Rudman does not have a lengthy criminal history but does have a history of being taken into protective custody under Florida's Baker Act. Rubaii said he understands why Bercaw and others believe Rudman was at the club intending to commit a mass shooting, but Rubaii doesn't believe that. He said Rudman never pointed the gun at anyone. 'What about all the people outside? Why not start there? Shoot your way in,' Rubaii said. 'And why, when you get in a tussling match with a guy who's grabbing the gun from you, you don't point it and shoot anybody? It doesn't make sense.' Rubaii said his client's life was likely saved when he was stopped by security guards because he could have been shot by someone in the club had he gained entry. Rudman was under a risk protection order in Pinellas County at the time of his arrest that prohibited him from possessing a firearm. The orders are issued by a judge at a law enforcement agency's request if they are believed to be a danger to themselves or others. In Rudman's case, a Pinellas judge had extended a risk protection order until October 2023 because the court found, among other factors, Rudman 'engaged in a threat of violence against themselves or others,' 'has violated a previous or existing risk protection order,' and 'has stalked another person,' court documents state. After his arrest in Tampa, Rudman was charged in Pinellas with violating the order, a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Records show that case is still pending.
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Yahoo
2023 Bronx shopping center murder linked to massive cocaine debt, drug trafficking
The brutal 2023 murder of a man shot dead in front of his wife at a Bronx shopping center was the deadly outcome of a cocaine-trafficking debt that spiraled violently out of control, federal prosecutors revealed Thursday. Raymond Resto, 49, was ambushed in the parking lot of a Target store at the Throgs Neck Shopping Center as he and his wife were leaving their car to catch a waiting cab on Nov. 26, 2023, the Daily News previously reported. A group of people pushed Resto's wife aside, blocked Resto's path and tried to force him into the BMW they pulled up in. When they were unsuccessful, they shot him in the head and chest before speeding off without saying a word, officials said. Resto was pronounced dead at Jacobi Medical Center shortly after the shooting. Charged in the slaying are Ivan Collado, Arecio Collado, Patricia Villalba and Jerry Vargas, who federal prosecutors said were seeking repayment for a significant cocaine debt owed by one of Resto's drug-slinging associates. Villalba, Arecio Collado and Vargas were indicted Thursday on numerous charges, including murder, conspiracy to commit kidnapping resulting in death, cyberstalking resulting in death, narcotics conspiracy and weapons possession. Ivan Collado, who was arrested in February 2024, faces the same charges, along with additional accusations of making false statements. He has been held at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center since his arrest, records show. According to federal prosecutors, from November 2023 to February 2024, Ivan and Arecio Collado and Villalba were involved in a drug conspiracy, distributing large quantities of cocaine across the city and elsewhere. The Collados and Villalba supplied a drug-dealing associate of Resto's with kilograms of cocaine. But when the associate failed to repay the drug debt, the suppliers turned their focus on Resto, seeking retribution for the unpaid money, prosecutors charge. The accused drug dealers, along with Vargas, plotted to locate and murder Resto over the cocaine debt, going as far as installing a GPS tracking device on his car to pinpoint his location. After months of intimidation, the dealers followed the victim and his wife to the shopping center, where they ambushed him. 'As alleged, these defendants carried out a sophisticated and brazen scheme to stalk, kidnap and kill Raymond Resto over a drug debt,' U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon said in a statement. 'They murdered Resto in front of his wife in the parking lot of the Throgs Neck Shopping Center in the Bronx.' Resto's criminal history dated back to 1991, when he was arrested for robbery. In 2019, Resto was also charged in a federal conspiracy drug case. After the slaying, Resto's sister told The News that he was a devoted father: 'He was all of that,' she said at their mother's Harlem apartment. 'A good person and a giving person.' If convicted, Villalba, the Collados and Vargas could spend the rest of their lives behind bars. As it continues to investigate, the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York urges anyone with more information on the drug traffickers to come forward.
