Note: See Update at bottom, in response to a number of
comments from friends and family of the accused.
In what appear to be unrelated incidents, two young men were arrested for “strong arm robbery”, a felony that means the robber was unarmed.
Jose Malave and Andres “Dre” Garza appear to be friends and possibly partners in crime. Of course anyone arrested is innocent until proven guilty.
Malave’s Facebook page indicates he’s a student at Spanish River High School in the class of 2014 (though he may have changed schools), and he may also be a distance runner on the school’s cross-country team. The blotter indicates he’s 18 years old and lives in the Bel-Aire apartments near the corner of 441 and SW 3rd. He was arrested just after midnight on the 27th, with the offense date supposedly the same day. That would suggest he was caught in the act, but it may also be a typo.
Andres Garza was arrested on the 28th for an offense that reportedly occurred on the 24th, the same unarmed robbery charge, though it may have been a different incident. Garza is 19 and his reported address is just east of Sandalfoot Plaza near SW 18th Street.
The two were also arrested in September, both for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and the dates are close but don’t line up perfectly. Consistent with what we’ve seen of the criminal “justice” system in South Florida, those felony charges against both were dropped. Malave has also been charged twice for driving without a license, and both of those charges were dropped.
Garza’s Facebook page doesn’t say anything about Spanish River or even about Boca, but his girlfriend appears to be a Spanish River student. Malave’s girlfriend indicates she graduated from Spanish River in 2013.
Of course neither girlfriend seems to mind the arrest histories. The picture on the right, below, indicates that Garza’s girlfriend is aware of the problem.
And Malave’s Facebook page has a post from another friend calling for him to be freed. It indicates 8 Likes, and one of those is the girlfriend.
We’ve heard that Spanish River is the best public high school in West Boca and the test scores are probably the best. However, stories like these suggest that no school is immune from problems.
Update: There have been a bunch of comments from the friends and/or family of the two young men. Apparently they’re really sweet innocent fellows. However, a brief look at Mr. Malave’s Facebook page suggests otherwise:
And the picture every parent wants to see their child in:
Second Update: Since the comments are continuing, and are now accompanied by threats, let’s see a little more about what a wonderful fellow this Jose Malave is. Below is another screenshot from his Facebook page showing a post he did of a video of a pep rally. The video is embedded below. At about 1:45 in, someone jumps out on the floor and acts like a jackass, disrupting the event. From the posting and the comments, it appears this was Mr. Malave.
