Politics – Page 20 – West Boca News

Big Arrest in Home Explosion

Sheriff’s deputies have made an arrest in the Sandalfoot Cove home explosion case.
Eduardo Antonio Agudelo, age 34 and a native of Colombia, was arrested Tuesday afternoon and is being held on $18,000 bond. He’s been charged with what appears to be four felony counts:
1. Arson
2. Possession of over 20 grams of marijuana
3. Marijuana producing
4. Renting a property knowingly used for manufacturing illegal drugs
West Boca News has obtained two probable cause affidavits from the case, and researched Mr. Agudelo’s arrest history as well.

Of course we remind our readers that arrestees are innocent until proven guilty, and also that despite our crime coverage, West Boca has a lower crime rate than East Boca and much lower than the county as a whole.

In Palm Beach County, Mr. Agudelo has 10 cases listed though they appear to be from 6 incidents including 3 traffic stops. Aside from those, in 2006 he was arrested for a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge. That case was dropped by prosecutors.

In 2007 he was charged with felony marijuana possession and was sentenced to 18 months probation along with community service and nearly $500 in “fees.” Now he’s producing his own marijuana! The reports don’t disclose whether or not he was actually selling the marijuana he was growing, but if he was, he’d probably would’ve been using some seed to sale software so he could keep track of his expenses and his stock.

He also has had a few traffic tickets in Broward but we don’t see anything criminal there. We do see a history in Miami-Dade as well:

That shows four counts from 1998. Most were dropped, but the felony burglary and grand theft charges were resolved with probation and “adjudication withheld.”

He was arrested by the sheriff and booked the same day. From the arrest report, it appears that Mr. Agudelo voluntarily appeared at the Sheriff’s office on Gun Club Road in West Palm Beach. His “first appearance” was scheduled for this morning at 9 am but we do not have an update on what happened yet.
The affidavits show that the vehicle parked in front of the house was registered in Mr. Agudelo’s name along with a woman at an address in Miami-Dade County.
They also found substantial “correspondence” between Mr. Agudelo and a different woman [name omitted] (25) who has had a couple traffic cases in Broward County. She might be one of the women pictured in this photo, but we can’t be sure. We found it at a blog titled [woman’s name omitted – link broken].
We see a possible connection between the two associated with North Bay Village, an island between Miami and Miami Beach along the JFK Causeway.
The police affidavit indicates that a neighbor’s surveillance video shows Mr. Agudelo on the scene shortly after the explosion along with an as-yet unidentified woman. It’s lucky the neighbor was in possession of a camera similar to that of My Animal Command’s – Solar Trail Cameras For Security and Surveillance otherwise Mr. Agudelo may have never been arrested and tried.
On review of the affidavits, the arson charge looks like a stretch. Here’s what the investigating officer wrote:

As written it seems like he’s trying to squeeze an accident into an intentional arson. However the statute, section 806.01, includes damage resulting from commission of any felony, so the intent may refer to the other felonies charged. We still think it’s a weak arson case.
It may also be difficult to prove a connection between Agudelo and the other criminal acts. The police claim video puts him at the scene but we don’t know how clear that video is, and there does not appear to be any evidence showing what he did, if anything, inside the house.
Do they have enough for probable cause? Sure, that looks pretty clear. But proving his guilty beyond a reasonable doubt? That’s not going to be easy unless something else happens.
One other bit from all of this. There are two separate arrest reports. For some reason they have two arrests, one for the arson and another for the other three charges. In one arrest report they list his occupation as “unknown.”

And in the other a different officer listed Agudelo’s occupation as “drug producer.”

Now that’s a cop with a sense of humor.

Jessica Ticktin: A Judge Candidate from West Boca

We had the pleasure of meeting judicial candidate Jessica Ticktin this morning at the Mission Bay Panera. Ms. Ticktin grew up in greater Boca Raton and is a resident of West Boca (west of Jog near Yamato).
She spent three weeks with her first child at West Boca Medical Center and was very happy with their pediatric care and NICU facility. She and her husband are happily expecting their second child, also a boy. She told us the baby is due in June but his name is a closely guarded secret. They are regulars at places like Babies R Us and Home Depot, as well as Regency Court near their home. Her husband owns Boca Car Wash in East Boca, at the corner of Glades and Federal Highway. They are members of Temple B’nai Israel, which has a lot of West Boca members.
Ticktin faces one challenge male candidates rarely have to deal with – she’s pretty. While we were sitting in Panera an older and balding gentleman approached her out of the blue and offered to buy her hair from her. She handled it gracefully.
This race is one of the most interesting judicial races we’ve ever seen. There was a procedural dance lining up which candidate was running for which seat, partially documented by the Post on Politics. Here’s a summary as best we understand it (and we’re not sure we do):
Judge Diana Lewis currently sits as a Circuit Judge in “Group 14.” Ticktin filed to run for Group 14. Lewis then switched to Group 32 after a judge in that group retired. Ticktin switched from 14 to 32. At the last minute Lewis switched back to 14, and Ticktin filed to switch back to 14 a mere fifteen minutes later, with much of the drama playing out in Tallahassee.
Also in this dance was another candidate we recently interviewed, Samantha Schosberg Feuer, who is now the only candidate in Group 32. We will write more about the Group 14 race closer to the August 26th election date.
In our meeting this morning Ticktin impressed us. She’s passionate about children and as a result has spent much of her career handling family law cases. Her academic and legal background are substantial. She’s a Boca High graduate with a B.S. from FSU and a law degree from Stetson. She’s a member of various bar associations and admitted to practice in three federal courts as well as the Florida Supreme Court. For four years she was managing partner of The Ticktin Law Group but stepped back from the managing role after her son was born.
As a judge she aims to control the courtroom while treating people with respect. Ticktin admires judges who are not afraid to “do the right thing.” She understands that a judge’s role is to resolve disputes, not to create them.
We haven’t formed any opinion on the race yet, and hope to hear soon from Judge Lewis about her experience.

Questions to Ted Deutch & Lois Frankel on Climate Change

Political talk about climate change is heating up again (pun intended). A friend just sent us this scare piece from the New York Times. The two members of Congress who represent West Boca and most of Palm Beach County are our neighbor Ted Deutch and also Lois Frankel.
Frankel posted this yesterday on Facebook:

Post by Rep. Lois Frankel.

Deutch is a member of Henry Waxman’s Safe Climate Caucus.
We could get into a discussion of whether climate change is real or not, but that’s unnecessary. Let’s suppose it’s genuine – that human emissions of carbon into the atmosphere are changing and indeed have changed the climate, putting us all at risk and threatening to flood much of southeast Florida.
The New York Times article says:

the only major policy solutions to climate change [are] taxing or regulating the oil, gas and coal industries

But these are not solutions. Such policies might reduce increases in carbon emissions or maybe they would even reduce total carbon emissions. In the “science” advanced by the climate change community, this would not stop global warming. It would merely slow it a little.
To solve the problem, we would have to stop carbon emissions (and even that might not be enough). That means eliminating all use of these fossil fuels. To avoid economic collapse, these sources of energy would have to be replaced. So we have a few questions.
Dear Representatives Deutch and Frankel:
1. Where in Palm Beach County do you propose to locate the nuclear power plants, solar farms and wind farms necessary to replace the energy we will lose from not using oil, gas and coal?
2. Leading electric car maker Tesla faces lawsuits from car dealerships opposing their business model. Electric cars will be necessary in the post-carbon world you advocate. The UAW is fighting their labor model.
What are you doing in Congress to remove such obstacles to electric cars?
3. One of the largest carbon emitters in our country is the federal government. What government activities are you willing to eliminate? Do you support bringing all US troops home from overseas? Are you prepared to end drug prohibition and your war on guns by closing the DEA and ATF?
4. Even if we stop carbon emissions from the US, we would need other countries to stop their carbon emissions too. How do you propose to get China and Russia to stop carbon emissions?
We’ll send this to Deutch and Frankel via Twitter, but we invite our readers to offer their thoughts in the comments, either here or on the West Boca News Facebook page.
Please note that we will keep a tight rein on comments – stick to the issues and stay away from partisan shots, name calling or profanity. Also, there will be no discussion about whether climate change is real or not. Have those conversations elsewhere. This post assumes for the sake of argument that it is real and the discussion is limited to what would actually stop it and how to get it done. So stick to the five questions above.

Hobby Lobby Update and Michael's

West Boca News consulted with an industry insider about the soon-to-open Hobby Lobby in West Boca. It will be in West Boca Square, the plaza on the northwest corner of 441 and Palmetto, with Target, Burger King and Chili’s, replacing the Beall’s that closed this past summer.

We asked the insider (who preferred to remain anonymous) about the impact of Hobby Lobby on the Michael’s store in Somerset Shoppes (northeast corner of Glades and Lyons). She said the new Hobby Lobby will destroy that Michael’s for a few reasons.
First, the Hobby Lobby’s location will cut into nearly all of Michael’s customer base west of 441, as well as much of their business west of Lyons.
Second, the Hobby Lobby will be twice as large as the Michael’s store, so the selection will be better. Note that we previously reported the Hobby Lobby would be 78,000 square feet. We had that wrong. Hobby Lobby said in a press release that the store would be 52,000 square feet, which is still more than twice the size of the Michael’s. The property appraiser lists the building at 78,000 square feet so we’re not sure what’s happening with the extra space.
Third, the Hobby Lobby will be newer and that naturally draws customers. Our insider said she’s seen Hobby Lobby in other states and they do very well.
She did offer one caveat. Hobby Lobby has restricted hours, closed on Sundays and open only until 8 pm the rest of the week. She feels that will leave some business for Michael’s, but probably not enough to survive.
West Boca News thinks there are two other challenges for Hobby Lobby that may help Michael’s survive. Michael’s has been in that location for a while and has some local customer loyalty to rely on. Meanwhile Hobby Lobby has had some rough spots recently with the Jewish community and with political liberals over their Obamacare lawsuit. Both are substantial parts of the West Boca market.

Black arrow points to new Hobby Lobby; Red points to Michael's. — Arrows point to new Hobby Lobby (lower left) and to Michael’s (upper right).

Judge Candidate Samantha Schosberg Feuer

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting with Samantha Schosberg Feuer (pronounced like “fewer”). She is a candidate for Circuit Court Judge for the 15th Judicial Circuit. That is, for Palm Beach County.

Mrs. Schosberg Feuer’s legal career has mainly consisted of working as a prosecutor and for the Florida Attorney General in “consumer protection.” Her campaign website is named Samantha For Judge. She also has a long list of “community involvement” such as being past president of the Florida Association of Women Lawyers. She is certainly well qualified for the position.
There are certain things I look for in a judge. One critical piece is courtroom experience. There are some lawyers who run for judge after spending their careers mostly outside courtrooms. That worries those of us who do spend time in court. Schosberg Feuer clearly has substantial trial experience, so she ticks off that box favorably.
She also makes a good impression in person – sharp and clearly knows what she’s doing. She has a lot of energy, and I worry a little that she will try to control the courtroom too much. That can make it hard for the attorneys to do their jobs.
I was mostly impressed with her. She’s clearly on the ball when it comes to the harsh ethics rules that come into play when you run for judge. Something I find helpful with trial lawyers is to ask questions that give them an opportunity to tell stories. A lawyer who’s had a lot of trials will have a lot of stories to tell. And good trial lawyers are also good story tellers. It goes with the job. I did not find her stories compelling. But that’s important in a lawyer, not in a judge.
Here’s a video of the press conference when she announced her run:

We are not making any endorsement decision yet. We are waiting to hear from other candidates, both in judge races and others. So far we will be meeting with one other candidate from the other contested Circuit Court race. Hopefully others will contact us and we will be able to provide more information to our readers.