Fort Lauderdale Criminal Attorney Blog

July 13, 2009

Fort Lauderdale Police Chief’s Wife Spared Mandatory 20 year Prison Sentence

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

The wife of Fort Lauderdale police chief Frank Adderley has been spared a 20 year minimum mandatory sentence by the Office of the State Attorney for Broward County. Eleanor Adderley was originally charged with aggravated assault with a firearm which carries a stiff 20 year minimum sentence. However, the charge was amended to aggravated assault without a firearm. Bizarrely, her plea also includes the charge of using a gun in an occupied building.

After negotiations with Jeff Marcus, chief of the felony division for the Broward State Attorney’s Office, Eleanor Adderley was offered a plea deal that would effectively bypass the 20 year minimum sentence. Marcus said the bargain was a practical way of tailoring the punishment to the crime.
“It’s in essence a legal fiction,” Marcus said. “Did she discharge the weapon? Of course she did, right? But if we deem that the mandatory sentence would not be appropriate, then we would amend those words out.” It’s a means to “the right result,” Marcus said.

Regardless, many are left to wonder why such an exception was made in this case. “My first impression is that the counts of the plea bargain are internally inconsistent and incompatible, because one of the counts omits the presence of the firearm, while the other presumes the presence of a firearm,” said Tony Alfieri, director of the University of Miami law school’s Center for Ethics and Public Service. “My second impression is that the plea bargain not only mocks the notion of even-handed criminal justice but also undermines public confidence in the fair and unbiased enforcement of the law.”

June 30, 2009

Florida Expungements and Record Sealings; A Hot Priority During a Cold Recession

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

The current economic situation has lead to thousands of job losses. As people begin to search for new employment, they are often rudely awakened by something they may have long forgotten; their criminal history.

With the economic downturn many Floridians are rushing to begin their Florida Expungment or Record Sealing process. Some have lost their jobs while others seek better opportunities for themselves and their families. However, all are haunted by their prior criminal history.

The Florida Expungement or Record Sealing laws allow an individual to essentially “erase” prior contact with the criminal justice system provided they meet certain criteria. The Florida Expungement or Record Sealing law states that an individual shall only expunge or seal “one” arrest. This means that an individual can only expunge or seal charges arising from the same instance or occurrence. Additionally, the individual seeking the Florida Expungement or Record Sealing could not have been “adjudicated” on that or any other charge in order to qualify.

The key to a successful Florida expungment or Record Sealing is to not wait until the last minute. “The problem most people have is that they wait until they have already been denied that new opportunity due to past criminal history. This is unfortunate because this loss may have been easily avoidable had the individual acted sooner.”
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June 23, 2009

Broward County DUI Cop Kept Badge Despite Repeated Complaints From Women

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

The Sun-Sentinel Published a story today alleging that Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy Charles Grady managed to keep his job despite numerous complaints from women regarding his behavior.

A review of Grady’s service record by the Sun Sentinel turned up complaints from women over the years who claimed the deputy had berated, belittled, molested, fondled, hog-tied or pepper-sprayed them. In 2006, the Broward County Sheriff’s Office paid $7,500.00 to settle a claim after the Deputy hog-tied a Broward County DUI suspect while she was in her holding cell. Yet, the Deputy still managed to keep his badge, his gun, and the ability to harm the public at large.

After recent complaints by female Broward County DUI suspects, Deputy Grady was charged by the Office of the State Attorney with two counts of misdemeanor battery. The Broward County Sheriff’s Deputy received two years probation. However, as part of the plea deal the State Attorney’s Office has agreed not to prosecute the Deputy for armed sexual battery. This incident allegedly occurred when the Deputy forced a woman to perform oral sex on him while at gunpoint.

Prosecutor David Schulson insisted Grady received no special treatment because he was a sheriff’s deputy, and said the stripper’s complaint would not have held up in court because “there was no independent evidence supporting [the victim’s] allegations, forensic or otherwise.”

April 15, 2009

From Florida to Kentucky: The Drug Pipeline Keeps Growing

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

In a sting dubbed Operation Pill Crusher, two dozen alleged drug dealers in Kentucky have been arrested and accused of obtaining prescription drugs at popular Florida pain clinics and taking them back to Kentucky to sell. A Miami Herald investigation published last week showed that pain clinics in Florida — particularly Broward County — are dispensing prescription narcotics daily to traffickers traveling from Kentucky and other states.
Doctors charge a few hundred dollars for an MRI that justifies the prescription and, in many cases, the drug seekers get monthly prescriptions filled at the clinics, for as many as 300 pills, without ever having to go to a pharmacy.

The drug dealers are making thousands of dollars for each trip to Florida. Each 30 milligram Roxicodone is selling for $30 on the street in Kentucky, a 15 milligram Roxicodone is selling for $15, and a Xanax brings about $4.

The stories showed that local doctors are dispensing the pills with little or no oversight — exploiting lax state laws and health regulations — while feeding an epidemic spreading across the eastern United States. On Tuesday, Kentucky law enforcement agents were rounding up alleged traffickers who police say are subsidizing car, van and airplane loads of people traveling to Fort Lauderdale to get prescription drugs from dozens of clinics.

Thousands of Kentuckians are traveling to South Florida’s pain clinics. Once there, people get prescriptions for hundreds of painkillers like oxycodone, sold under the brand name Roxicodone, and for Xanax, an anti-depressant.

A combination of factors has led to the much-traveled Kentucky-Broward County pipeline. Kentucky and 37 other states electronically monitor the number of narcotics prescriptions a person obtains from physicians. But Florida has no such system.

ANSARA RESPONDS
Pain clinics are everywhere in Broward County. I took a short drive the other day down Oakland Park Boulevard and saw over seven pain clinics just a few miles apart. It is no secret that the Fort Lauderdale Police and the Broward County Sheriff’s Office keep a tight watch on these pain clinics.
Interestingly, Florida has no system in place to monitor doctor shopping. That combined with lax health regulations have created a free for all for drug traffickers. In Kentucky, the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting system, known by the acronym KASPER, tracks the people who are prescribing, dispensing and obtaining pills.

April 8, 2009

Fort Lauderdale Judge Frees UBS Client on $12 Million Bond

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

A Florida judge on Wednesday ordered the release on a $12 million bond of an accountant charged with tax evasion in the first prosecution of wealthy U.S. clients of Swiss bank UBS. Steven Michael Rubinstein, who worked for a company in the yacht-building business, was arrested and charged last week with filing a false tax return by failing to disclose the account he controlled at UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank.

U.S. authorities have said there will be other tax evasion prosecutions against American clients of UBS as they wage a legal battle with the Swiss bank to try to force it to give up the names of tens of thousands of Americans suspected of cheating the U.S. government by concealing accounts abroad.

Tax evasion is not considered a crime in Switzerland.

ANSARA RESPONDS
Should this legal battle result in a victory for the United States Government, expect a wave of criminal prosecutions for tax evasion amoung America’s wealthiest.
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April 2, 2009

Broward County DUI Cop Now Charged with Battery

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

A Broward sheriff’s deputy has been charged — and has resigned from his job — after two women reported that he touched them inappropriately after traffic stops last year.

Authorities on Monday charged Charles E. Grady, 39, a deputy for nearly 12 years, with two counts of misdemeanor battery. In addition, prosecutors revealed they have already reduced or dropped charges in dozens of cases in which Grady was involved.

Grady resigned Wednesday. He had been suspended since the allegations were brought to BSO in December, the agency said.

BSO said that Grady had ”inappropriate contact” with two women. Court records state that the first incident happened on Sept. 19 and the second on Dec. 19. Both are alleged to have occurred as part of traffic stops.

ANSARA RESPONDS
Broward County DUI Deputy Charles E. Grady has been charged with two counts of misdemeanor battery. Let me explain what needs to occur in order for an individual to be charged with criminal battery in Florida.
Florida Statute 784.03 states that a battery occurs when a person 1) actually and intentionally touches or strikes another person against the will of the other; or 2) Intentionally causes bodily harm to another person.

March 9, 2009

Plantation Police Oppose New Drug Testing Policy

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

plantation%20police.jpg PLANTATION – Leaders of the city’s police union want to change their contract so officers won’t have to take drug tests without knowing who accused them of abusing drugs.

“I could go to a pay phone right now and say, ‘Officer X is taking drugs?’ ” said Michael Hanlon, president of the police union. Under current rules, the department could force that officer to take a drug test.

“That’s just absolutely unacceptable,” he said. “They don’t have to even provide proof the confidential informant exists.”

ANSARA RESPONDS
It is no secret that drug abuse can occur even within law enforcement. It appears that the Plantation Police Department is grumbling because under these new rules police officers may be drug tested should a “confidential informant” report drug abuse by an officer.

I believe that law enforcement must be held to a higher standard. Law enforcement officers hold extreme power and this fact should not be overlooked. This new policy simply makes more sense than random testing. If an officer has a problem getting drug tested than maybe this is the wrong profession to be in. Why should a police agency have to show an officer “proof” that a confidential informant exist? Last time I checked I am pretty sure that police officers worked for the police agency; not vice versa.

This new policy will allow any individual or perhaps even another officer to anonymously confront an officer’s possible drug use without fear of retaliation. It is no secret that drug abuse among law enforcement officers does in fact occur. Now we have a better policy to address it. Let’s hope the Plantation Police Department does the right thing and ultimately adopts this new policy.

February 24, 2009

Boca Raton woman charged with negligent manslaughter after killing 2

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

BOCA RATON – Florida Highway Patrol charged a 20-year-old Boca Raton woman with two counts of negligent manslaughter and drunken driving relating to a fatal car accident that killed two people.
Daniela Torres was arrested Monday afternoon following a six-month investigation into the crash, which happened on Interstate 95 near Palmetto Park Road in August.

Torres was on her way home from work at a restaurant in Fort Lauderdale and driving about 85 mph when she changed lanes and rear-ended a slower-moving sedan driven by James Andrew Carr, 42. Torres’ Saab pushed the sedan onto a grass shoulder, and it overturned. Carr and passengers Deborah Peterson, 44, and Calvin Braggs were ejected. Carr and Peterson were killed. A witness said she was weaving from the outside lane to the center lane when she hit the sedan.

February 16, 2009

Fort Lauderdale Judge Frees ex-Yankee Jim Leyritz in Fatal DUI Case

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

Former Yankee Jim Leyritz caught a legal break Tuesday when a Broward circuit judge released him from jail.

Leyritz, facing DUI manslaughter charges stemming from the December 2007 crash that killed Fredia Veitch, 30, in Fort Lauderdale. A court-ordered monitoring device showed he drove four times with alcohol in his system since September, a violation of his bond.

Attorneys agreed in court this week that Leyritz should be released from jail because of a technicality that voided the warrant for his arrest that had been signed by Broward Circuit Judge Marc Gold.
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February 2, 2009

Michael Phelps smokes Marijuana: Effects felt in Fort Lauderdale

By The Law Offices of Richard Ansara, P.A.

Michael Phelps embarrassed himself again after a triumphant Olympics, this time getting his picture snapped as he inhaled from a marijuana pipe. The photo wound up in a British tabloid Sunday, forcing Phelps to publicly apologize and his handlers to deal with sponsors who are surely none too pleased about the swimmer’s choices away from the pool.

“I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment,” Phelps said in the statement released by one of his agents. “I’m 23 years old and despite the successes I’ve had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again.”