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Wife of former Miami Marlins player hurled a soap dish at him and faces charges, police say

admin — Sat, 06 Jun 2020 11:27:23 +0000

Atlanta Braves outfielder Marcell Ozuna’s wife is accused of hitting him with a soap dish.

First reported by Fox Sports’ Andy Slater, Genesis Ozuna, 33, was arrested May 29 and charged with misdemeanor battery after Marcell Ozuna showed up to the Doral police station with a “small laceration” on his face two weeks prior.

MORE: Ozuna drove to a Miami-area police station to report the alleged incident, I’m told.

Fire rescue checked out Ozuna’s facial injury which was said to be a “small laceration.”

His wife pleaded not guilty and was given a stay-away order.

— Andy Slater (@AndySlater) June 5, 2020

Court records obtained by the Miami Herald show Genesis Ozuna pleaded not guilty and filed a motion to amend the order that required her to stay away from her husband.

The couple, who have been married for 10 years, got into an argument at a party during the early morning of May 12. Their dispute soon turned physical, with both sides hitting one another, officers say.

Hoping to calm down, he left the home for about a hour. His brief hiatus ultimately didn’t work. The couple picked up right where they left off upon his return. She eventually became so enraged that she hurled the dish at his head, striking him in the upper left temple, police say.

It’s unclear what started the argument.

A two-time All-Star, Marcell Ozuna, 29, was entering into his eighth year in the big leagues before the MLB suspended play due to the coronavirus pandemic. He played five seasons with the Miami Marlins before a 2017 trade sent him to St. Louis. After two years with with the Cardinals, he became free agent in 2019.

He signed a one-year, $18 million deal with the Braves in January. He had two hits and batted .083 through nine spring training games.

C. Isaiah Smalls II is a reporter covering breaking and trending news for the Miami Herald. Previously, he worked for ESPN’s The Undefeated as part of their inaugural class of Rhoden Fellows. He is a graduate of both Columbia University and Morehouse College.

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Man, 27, arrested in Miami shooting leaving former UCF football player dead

admin — Sun, 24 May 2020 02:15:32 +0000

MIAMI, Fla. – Miami police detectives said Monday that Jose Trimaine Jose, a 6-foot-3 former University of Central Florida player, was the victim of a Friday afternoon shooting in Wynwood.

Jose also played high school football for Booker T. Washington and Miami Central, according to News 6 news partner WPLG.

His aunt Janice Ricketts said the 28-year-old father left behind three boys.

“He was an awesome dad because he took responsibility,” Ricketts said. “He was taking care of his kids. He loved his mom. He took care of his mom … He was the sweetest person.”

According to detectives, the suspected gunman who shot Jose in the torso, near the intersection of Northwest 20th Street and North Miami Avenue and escaped a massive manhunt at Miami’s Wynwood-Overtown boundary, is Lynwood Walker III.

Walker, who has a “Death Before Dishonor” tattoo on his forehead, had a pending case in Miami-Dade County court. He was arrested Nov. 25 for a domestic violence battery by strangulation, false imprisonment and assault.

Lynwood Walker III is accused of being involved in a fatal shooting Friday afternoon in Wynwood. (Florida Department of Corrections)

Walker, who will celebrate his 28th birthday Feb. 15, fled to another state, but detectives caught up to him and are bringing him back to Miami-Dade County, according to Officer Kiara Delva, a spokeswoman for the Miami Police Department.

Jose also had a criminal record. In 2010, the talented offensive guard had a promising future with a long list of scholarship offers that included the University of Miami. Jose signed with UCF. Records show he lost his way.

When Jose was arrested on aggravated assault and concealed weapons charges in 2010 in Miami-Dade County, the Key Knights football recruit was released from the scholarship. Jose worked hard to redeem himself as a cornerback and defensive tackle before his UCF coach dismissed him over disciplinary issues.

Jose appeared in nine games during his UCF sophomore season in 2011 and eight games during his junior season in 2012 before leaving the team.

Jose faced marijuana-related charges in Orange and Miami-Dade counties in 2016 and 2017. He had become known in the local rap scene as Fat Papi Escobar, and that same year, he released his IgNaRich album.

A witness at Kush, a popular gastropub in Wynwood, said he heard a loud argument that escalated into a shooting on Friday. After the shooting, witnesses told police officers there were two men bleeding on the ground. Miami Fire Rescue took them to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center where doctors pronounced Jose dead.

Detectives haven’t identified the other victim. They are asking anyone with information about the fatal shooting to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.

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Former Miami Dolphins player arrested in Orlando

admin — Wed, 09 May 2018 10:28:40 +0000

ORLANDO, FLA. (WSVN) – Former Miami Dolphins player Dimitri Patterson has been arrested again months after officials say he attacked two Miami-Dade Police officers.

The 34-year-old was handcuffed by U.S. Marshals in Orlando for an active felony warrant issued on Nov. 1. out of Miami-Dade County.

Police have not confirmed what the warrant was for.

Patterson was previously charged for battery on law enforcement officers after he injured two cops while trying to escape a Downtown Miami courtroom on Aug. 15.

Both officers were treated at Jackson Memorial Hospital and eventually released.

Patterson played cornerback for the Dolphins from 2012 to 2013.

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French soccer player had knife in briefs, red wine in hand after bizarre Miami break-in

admin — Thu, 12 Apr 2018 21:51:03 +0000

A former French star footballer who now directs FC Miami City’s soccer club was arrested Wednesday for smashing open a condominium apartment door, stealing a knife and spraying the apartment and a tenant with foam from a fire extinguisher.

Gregory ReneRobert Dutil, 37, was taken into custody while holding a cup of red wine and wearing only his boxer briefs and socks, Miami police said. He was booked into Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and charged with armed burglary, burglary with assault or battery, two counts of criminal mischief, possession of coke and improperly using a fire extinguisher.

Police said just before handcuffing Dutil they noticed a bulge in the left side of his white briefs.

“The defendant then reached for the bulge at which point Officer Russell observed it to be a silver kitchen knife,” the arresting officer wrote in Dutil’s arrest form. “Officer Russell immediately confiscated the knife.”

Dutil, who now directs soccer in Miami began his professional career in the 1990s in France and played in that nation’s First and Second divisions before playing in Spain., according to his profile on the website for Miami FC, which is a semi-professional club in a developmental league. Dutil played on the French team Nimes Olympique during the 2011-2012 season, when it won its first French national title in over a decade.

Police said they were called to the Charter Club condominium at 600 NE 36th St. at about 9 a.m. Wednesday about vandalism and possible battery. When they arrived, Dutil’s arrest report says, the soccer player was sitting on a couch in the hallway wearing only his boxer briefs, socks and holding a cup of red wine.

After confiscating the knife, police said, they made contact with a woman in the apartment that Dutil is accused of breaking into. It was not clear from the arrest report if they knew each other. She told officers that he busted the door open, sprayed her in the face with foam from a fire extinguisher and went on to spray down much of the apartment.

The report says she ran to the balcony and screamed. When a security guard at the condo showed up, he told police that Dutil was still in the apartment. He said he managed to control Dutil and sit him down until police arrived. Police said the female tenant said that Dutil gotten the knife from her kitchen.

Police said the apartment floor was covered in red wine and once they searched Dutil they found suspected cocaine in his socks.

Dutil remained in jail Thursday afternoon. No bond had been set for the armed burglary and burglary with assault or battery charges. He could not be reached for comment and it was not immediately clear if he had retained an attorney.

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Instead of paying players to go to Miami and Louisville, he kept the money, so the FBI let him go

admin — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 09:00:31 +0000

When federal prosecutors announced last September the arrests of 10 men as part of an FBI investigation into the college basketball black market, one of the central figures was Brad Augustine, an Orlando, Fla.-area youth basketball program director accused of negotiating deals to steer his best players to preferred colleges, for a price.

Augustine agreed to send one player to Louisville, prosecutors alleged in a criminal complaint, after an undercover FBI agent handed him an envelope full of cash meant for the player’s mother. Augustine helped broker a deal to send another player to Miami, as long as an Adidas executive agreed to pay the player’s family $150,000, according to prosecutors, who alleged a coach at Miami later identified as Jim Larranaga had knowledge of the negotiations.

A 32-year-old whose previous legal troubles consisted of traffic tickets and toll violations, Augustine faced a potential prison sentence of up to 80 years on charges including wire fraud and wire fraud conspiracy.

But in February, prosecutors dropped all charges against Augustine, without explanation. Two weeks ago, in a court hearing in New York City, one of the lawyers on the case offered a possible reason why: After his arrest, Augustine apparently told federal prosecutors he never intended to pay the players and their families and had kept the little money actually paid out in these deals for himself.

The revelation is the latest sign that some of the allegations that attracted the most public attention last September, when a U.S. Attorney and a top FBI official touted the results of the ongoing probe in a news conference, may be based on recorded conversations of men who falsely represented relationships to top coaches and star recruits in order to get money from Adidas officials. It also demonstrates the central role NCAA rules regarding amateurism play in many of the criminal charges produced from a now two-plus year investigation that has drawn criticism from some legal experts as a waste of federal law enforcement resources.

Earlier this year, federal prosecutors sent a letter to the remaining defendants summarizing some of things Augustine, former director of the Orlando-area 1Family basketball program, told them before they dropped the charges against him. The letter is part of discovery evidence in the case, and is filed under a protective order, barred from public release.

During a March 22 hearing, however, a lawyer representing Jim Gatto — an Adidas executive accused of agreeing to pay $150,000 if Augustine convinced 1Family star Nassir Little to commit to Miami — discussed the letter in open court.

“Mr. Augustine’s statement as summarized by the government … directly contradicts the allegations of the indictment … with respect to Mr. Little, Mr. Augustine had no intention of taking any money and handing it to Mr. Little,” said attorney Michael Schachter, according to a transcript.

“Mr. Augustine says that, in fact, he was not in on the scheme. In fact, there was not going to be any payment that was going to be made to Mr. Little. But effectively he was in his own scheme to rip off Mr. Gatto,” said Schachter, who was arguing the judge should force prosecutors to turn over transcripts or FBI agent notes of discussions with Augustine, because they may contain evidence favorable to Gatto and the other defendants.

Federal prosecutors — who disputed other statements made by defense lawyers during the hearing, a transcript shows — did not disagree with how Schachter described their summary of Augustine’s testimony. Schachter declined to comment for this story, as did a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York. Augustine and his attorney both declined to comment.

The evidence against Augustine included a sting operation in Las Vegas last July, court documents allege, and wiretapped phone conversations of Gatto, another Adidas official, and an aspiring NBA agent.

Last July, the FBI alleged, Augustine took part in a meeting in a Las Vegas hotel, ostensibly to hash out business deals with aspiring NBA agent Christian Dawkins and two men claiming to be investors in Dawkins’ fledgling sports agency. The men posing as investors were actually an undercover FBI agent and a government informant, and the room was wired with video cameras and recording devices.

During the meeting, a complaint alleged, Augustine took an envelope containing $12,700 cash from the undercover agent, as part of a deal in which Augustine would ensure 1Family star Balsa Koprivica — a 7-foot, 17-year-old Serbian considered one of the top recruits in the 2019 class — committed to Louisville. Augustine also agreed to advise Koprivica and his family to hire Dawkins if he became a professional basketball player, prosecutors alleged.

A few weeks later, on Aug. 9, Dawkins was recorded on a wiretapped phone call with Adidas independent contractor Merl Code discussing a deal involving Augustine and another 1Family player. The player was Little, and this time, the school was Miami, an FBI agent alleged. During the call, Dawkins said Augustine had told him Larranaga “knows everything” about the deal, according to a criminal complaint.

A few days later, on another wiretapped call, Code relayed this information to Gatto, his boss at Adidas. Gatto said he already had spoken to Larranaga about the recruit, according to an FBI agent. During another phone conversation later that day, a complaint alleges, Code told Gatto another school sponsored by a rival apparel company was offering $150,000 to get Little. Gatto said he couldn’t afford $150,000 in 2017, an FBI agent wrote, but potentially could spend that much in 2018. Gatto asked Code to see if he could negotiate a lower price for Little.

No money ever changed hands on this deal. The next month, the FBI arrested Gatto, Code, Dawkins and Augustine.

Larranaga, Little, and Little’s father publicly have denied involvement in any of the negotiations described in court documents. Little ultimately committed to the University of North Carolina.

1Family, in a statement, said Augustine was no longer involved with the team and also denied Koprivica or his mother had any knowledge of anyone negotiating backroom deals for his college commitment on their behalf.

Larranaga has acknowledged talking to Gatto last summer about Little, because he was one of the top players in the Adidas grassroots circuit, but said the conversations were innocuous. Larranaga said he never asked Gatto or anyone at Adidas to pay Little to commit to Miami.

Federal prosecutors have yet to charge any coaches at Louisville or Miami with a crime in connection with allegations that have produced wire fraud charges against the two Adidas officials and Dawkins, the aspiring agent.

Rick Pitino, who lost his job at Louisville days after the arrests last September, also has maintained he had no knowledge of payments for recruits.

Attorneys for both coaches have suggested Augustine and Dawkins falsely boasted of relationships with Pitino and Larranaga, and federal prosecutors printed these claims in court documents without verification or a proper dose of skepticism.

“We’ve done everything we can to convince the U.S. Attorneys that Coach Larranaga is not involved,” said Larranaga’s attorney, Stuart Grossman. “It falls on deaf ears. We know we weren’t involved in any criminal activity whatsoever, and they won’t give us the courtesy of admitting they were wrong.”

That federal prosecutors apparently decided to drop charges against Augustine after he told them he hadn’t been brokering deals to steer recruits to specific college programs, but instead had kept money for himself, is a reminder of the unusual legal theory at the core of much of the criminal charges produced so far in the FBI probe.

Fraud is a crime that requires a victim. When Augustine was charged with wire fraud, the alleged victims were Miami and Louisville, prosecutors allege, as the schools could have been sanctioned by the NCAA, and sustained financial penalties, if it had come to light some of their players were profiting from their talents.

“So if the money doesn’t go to the athlete, the FBI and prosecutors are fine with it?” said Andy Schwarz, an economist and outspoken critic of the NCAA’s amateurism rules. “How does that make any sense?”

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Instead of paying players to go to Miami and Louisville, he kept the money, so the FBI let him go

admin — Wed, 04 Apr 2018 19:21:05 +0000

When federal prosecutors announced last September the arrests of 10 men as part of an FBI investigation into the college basketball black market, one of the central figures was Brad Augustine, an Orlando, Florida-area youth basketball program director accused of negotiating deals to steer his best players to preferred colleges, for a price.

“Mr. Augustine’s statement as summarized by the government . . . directly contradicts the allegations of the indictment . . . with respect to Mr. Little, Mr. Augustine had no intention of taking any money and handing it to Mr. Little,” said attorney Michael Schachter, according to a transcript.

No money ever changed hands on this deal. The next month, the FBI arrested Gatto, Code, Dawkins and Augustine.

Larranaga, Little, and Little’s father publicly have denied involvement in any of the negotiations described in court documents. Little ultimately committed to the University of North Carolina.

Rick Pitino, who lost his job at Louisville days after the arrests last September, also has maintained he had no knowledge of payments for recruits.

“We’ve done everything we can to convince the U.S. Attorneys that coach Larranaga is not involved,” said Larranaga’s attorney, Stuart Grossman. “It falls on deaf ears. We know we weren’t involved in any criminal activity whatsoever, and they won’t give us the courtesy of admitting they were wrong.”

The FBI also probed payments to college athletes in the ’80s. It didn’t end well. »

Adidas has gotten a Boost »

Defiant Rick Pitino insists he did nothing wrong — and wants back in »

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Instead of paying players to go to Miami and Louisville, he kept the money. The FBI let him go.

admin — Wed, 04 Apr 2018 15:57:01 +0000

When federal prosecutors announced last September the arrests of 10 men as part of an FBI investigation into the college basketball black market, one of the central figures was Brad Augustine, an Orlando-area youth basketball program director accused of negotiating deals to steer his best players to preferred colleges, for a price.

But in February, prosecutors dropped all charges against Augustine, without explanation. Two weeks ago, in a court hearing in New York City, one of the lawyers on the case offered a possible reason why: After his arrest, Augustine apparently told federal prosecutors he never intended to pay the players and their families, and had kept the little money actually paid out in these deals for himself.

[The FBI also probed payments to college athletes in the ’80s. It didn’t end well.]

Last July, the FBI alleged, Augustine took part in a meeting in a Las Vegas hotel, ostensibly to hash out business deals with aspiring NBA agent Christian Dawkins and two men claiming to be investors in Dawkins’s fledgling sports agency. The men posing as investors were actually an undercover FBI agent and a government informant, and the room was wired with video cameras and recording devices.

[Defiant and wounded, Rick Pitino insists he did nothing wrong — and wants back in]

No money ever changed hands on this deal. The next month, the FBI arrested Gatto, Code, Dawkins and Augustine.

Larranaga, Little, and Little’s father publicly have denied involvement in any of the negotiations described in court documents. Little ultimately committed to the University of North Carolina.

1Family, in a statement, said Augustine was no longer involved with the team, and also denied Koprivica or his mother had any knowledge of anyone negotiating backroom deals for his college commitment on their behalf.

[Is the FBI cleaning up college basketball or wasting its time?]

Rick Pitino, who lost his job at Louisville days after the arrests last September, also has maintained he had no knowledge of payments for recruits.

“We’ve done everything we can to convince the U.S. Attorneys that Coach Larranaga is not involved,” said Larranaga’s attorney, Stuart Z. Grossman. “It falls on deaf ears. We know we weren’t involved in any criminal activity whatsoever, and they won’t give us the courtesy of admitting they were wrong.”

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