Author Archives: Jay Butchko
The Long Road To Justice For The Defendants Arrested By Deputy Notorious For Falsifying Evidence In Drug Cases
In the hours after being released from jail after an arrest on suspicion of drug possession, many defendants Google phrases like “possible defenses for drug possession charges.” When you do this, you find out that you can be acquitted if you establish reasonable doubt that the substance the police confiscated from you was an… Read More »
Miami Man Sentenced To Prison For Paying Kickbacks In Connection To Drug Testing Lab
Living with substance use disorder and achieving long-term sobriety is difficult enough, but unscrupulous actors in the addiction treatment and recovery industry make it even more difficult. Unfortunately, a disproportionate share of such unscrupulous activity takes place right here in South Florida. First it was the strip mall pain clinics where people would drive… Read More »
Miami-Dade Teacher Arrested For Molestation Of 14-Year-Old Former Student
Florida’s age of consent for sexual activity is 18, but that does not mean that everyone who has ever been sexually active before turning 18 will get in legal trouble. The law generally does not punish teens who are close in age for having sexual relationships with each other unless coercion is involved. Relationships… Read More »
Former University Of Miami Professor, His Wife, And His Sister Face Charges For Conspiracy And Money Laundering
Long before Facebook made it possible for college students to spread rumors to the entire world in real time, students have been making up far-fetched rumors about what kinds of criminal activities their professors might be up to when they are not in class. Perhaps when you were a student, you and your friends… Read More »
North Miami Man Sentenced To Prison For Identity Theft And Tax Refund Scheme
Elderly people often lament that the current generation of young men tends not to embrace the 9-to-5 workday the way that their fathers and grandfathers did. For reasons too complex to factor into the average grandparents’ grump session, salaried jobs are the exception rather than the rule for men in their 20s. Some guys… Read More »
Real Life “Bad Boys” Cops Sentenced To 15 Months In Prison After Drug Sting
Nothing is better than seeing your favorite Miami landmarks on the silver screen, regardless of how you feel about the overall movie. Scarface is a bit too gritty, and The Birdcage is too pollyannaish, but the Bad Boys franchise just might be the perfect Miami flicks. The movies starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence… Read More »
Miami Matchmaker Faces Criminal Charges For Conspiracy To Commit Marriage Fraud
When your relatives or friends tell you that you are getting married for the wrong reasons, the appropriate response is usually to tell them to mind your own beeswax. Plenty of people who are happily married today entered into their marriages because of motivations that could easily make them targets of workplace gossip or… Read More »
Four Floridians Charged In Multi-State “Grandparent Scam”
One of the ways that seniors can protect themselves from financial abuse is by simply staying connected to a wide network of family members and friends. It’s hard to get drawn into a long phone conversation or email exchange with a stranger, in which the stranger will eventually ask you for money, if you… Read More »
Palm Beach County Detectives Catch Minnesota Man Traveling To South Florida For What He Thought Was A Tryst With A High School Girl
Parents of teens have plenty of things to worry about. It is nerve-wracking to know that your teen is driving to school in South Florida traffic, even if she proved to you that she could handle the responsibility by saving all the money from her summer job and using it to pay for car… Read More »
Man Pleads Guilty To Embezzling $12.8 Million From Hospital And Using It To Fund Family Member’s Adult Entertainment Career
Medical debt is one of the leading causes of financial hardship among Americans. When you get a medical bill, some of the charges make no sense. Between the insurance write-offs and the itemized charges with vague names, it is easy to get the impression that lots of middlemen are enriching themselves at your expense… Read More »
Miami-Dade School Board Pays Settlement To Sexual Assault Victims As Former Teacher Serves Prison Sentence
Movies and TV shows make high school look glamorous, but no matter how old you are, you remember the awkwardness, the conflicts with your parents, and the worries about the future. Middle school, by contrast, is such a miserable experience that no amount of Hollywood glitz can mask its stench, and that’s only if… Read More »
Judge Orders New Trial In Sweepstakes Case Because Prosecutors Ordered Defendant Who Pleaded Guilty To Spy On His Co-Defendants
One of the reasons that it is important to hire a defense lawyer for a criminal case and to work closely with your defense lawyer is that prosecutors will try to mess with your mind. During the investigation, representatives of the state tell you all kinds of things, with the hope that you will… Read More »
Three Arrested In Coconut Grove Quitclaim Fraud Scheme
Coconut Grove is the oldest continuous neighborhood in Miami, and some of the families there have lived there for generations. Shirley Gibson’s grandfather immigrated to Florida in 1904 and settled in Coconut Grove, and her family still owns the land he bought; she inherited two vacant lots from her father Clarence when he died… Read More »
Two South Florida Men Arrested For Trafficking Opioids On The Darknet
The darknet has emboldened participants in the illegal drug trade. When you venture into the dark corners of the Internet that search engines cannot access, the photo-realistic graphics are absent, but so is the feeling that anyone can find out anything about anyone with just a few clicks. It is a feeling of online… Read More »
Recreational DNA Testing Leads To 2021 Arrest In 2007 Rape Case
Getting a DNA test for genealogy purposes sounds like a lot more fun than it actually is. On the one hand, it is a wonder that you can find out so much about a person’s ancestry from a simple blood test or cheek swab; consumer DNA testing (as opposed to court-ordered or forensic DNA… Read More »
Broward Man Sentenced To Ten Years For Possession Of Child Exploitative Material
Sexual activity between consenting adults is legal, and as long as the World Wide Web has existed, online communication has often been synonymous with online communication about sex. Not long after social networking sites appeared, people began to use them to flirt, to ogle, and otherwise to discuss sex. If you are truly ancient,… Read More »
Former Procurement Director Of Broward Health Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy To Commit Money Laundering
Hospital bills are mind-bogglingly expensive, and the more you think about them, the more confusing the math gets. Patients pay what they can, collection agencies buy unpaid hospital debts, insurance companies negotiate about prices, leading to write-offs of part of the sticker price of services rendered, and those are just the parts that are… Read More »
Hialeah Mother And Son Accused Of Defrauding Elderly Relative Out Of His Life’s Savings
The COVID-19 pandemic was terrifying for elderly Floridians and their families. Several generations of retirees have placed their hopes on retiring to Florida, and saving their money toward that purpose, so that they can enjoy walks on the beach and frequent visits from family members. The pandemic threw all of those plans into disarray. … Read More »
BSO Supervisor Arrested On Allegations Of Workers’ Compensation Fraud
The people who answer the phone when you call 911 have a responsibility to take all calls seriously. No matter how strange the emergency that the caller is describing, the dispatchers must send first responders to your location until it becomes clear that there is no emergency. (For this reason, making fraudulent calls to… Read More »
Broward Gastroenterologist Faces Charges For Sending Sexually Explicit Messages To Teens
In the past year, people who have never worked in the medical profession have spent more time than ever before thinking about how doctors spend their time. Since last spring, the medical profession has mobilized its resources to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, and its efforts have paid off to such an extent that summer… Read More »
