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.