Crime Week

This week we have stories from Boca Isles, Saturnia Boca Gardens, Watergate Estates, Boca Springs, Sandalfoot Cove, Mizner Preserve and Boca Rio. Details include a busted opioid ring, domestic violence, fraud, and larceny. The worst of it is an adult male from Boca Isles showing dick pics to teenage female victims at the CVS at Yamato and 441.

We start off small with James Chau of Saturnia. His wife wanted to call the police to say he’d been drinking and he grabbed the phone out of her hand. Somehow that turned into domestic battery. Chau is 50 and his wife is 35.

In a case that has been widely reported, Efrain Francisco Sebastian was arrested for leaving the scene of an accident causing death. The accident happened in mid-May on Glades Road at or near the intersection with Jog. Sebastian allegedly hit pedestrian Luis Rodriguez and then fled the scene.

The accident happened before 5 am. Sebastian and Rodriguez both have East Boca addresses. Sebastian was arrested in South Dakota.

The passengers’ statements will not be helpful to Mr. Sebastian.

Pharmacist Vera Orenshteyn was arrested at the Kmart Pharmacy on Palmetto Park Road. She’s a resident of Boca Isles South.

According to WPBF, Orenshteyn participated in a scheme to distribute prescription opioids. An affidavit from the Florida AG spells out quite a lot of detail:

ALEXANDER GRICHENER, further referred to as “A. GRICHENER” is the leader of a criminal organization that is involved in a large-scale prescription drug diversion operation. The Organization recruits patients to go to specific doctor’s offices to obtain prescriptions for controlled substances. Fraudulent prescriptions that have been obtained for the Organization include but are not limited to Oxycodone, Oxymorphone, Hydromorphone, Alprazolam (Xanax), and Promethazine with Codeine. The patients also obtain prescriptions for other non-narcotic medications, which are also turned over to the Organization. The recruited patients use their own personal information for specific doctor’s offices and fake alias’ for other doctor’s offices in order to obtain multiple sets of fraudulent prescriptions.

It specifically refers to Orenshteyn:

The majority of the pharmacies utilized by the Organization are Publix and Walgreens pharmacies located in Miami Dade County, Broward County and Palm Beach County. The Organization also uses one specific Kmart located at 1401 West Palmetto Park Road in Boca Raton, Florida. The pharmacist at the Kmart pharmacy is VERA ORENSHTEYN, further referred to as “ORENSHTEYN.” According to the CHS-1, ORENSHTEYN has knowledge of the Organization’s criminal activity and is being paid on the side for her assistance in acquiring the narcotics from Kmart Pharmacy.

After reading through the affidavit, all we see is that Orenshteyn filled prescriptions that were brought to her. While the affidavit claims she had knowledge of criminal activity, we see nothing in it that proves she had such knowledge nor that she was receiving side payments.

The facts surrounding it may be suspicious (a high volume of Miami prescriptions being filled at a Boca Kmart), but that doesn’t seem like enough proof to us.

The full affidavit is below:

This one is just creepy. Matias Mena (24) of Boca Isles North was arrested after several young women from the CVS at Yamato and 441 reported his behavior to PBSO.

On the non-criminal but still disturbing side of things, he was following a group of 12-year-old girls around the store. On top of that he approached more than one staff member asking them to help him find mascara for his girlfriend. He would show them a blurry picture of the mascara and then “accidentally” swipe to picture of a penis. At least one of the staff members was under the age of 18, making it the crime of showing obscene material to a minor.

We don’t see any criminal history for Mena but he has had a few traffic tickets including one for going 71 in a 35 zone in Broward.

66-year-old Richard Clarke of the Alister Apartments (Boca Entrada) was pulled over when Boca PD noticed his car had a license plate that had been reported stolen. He confessed to stealing it. He also had two warrants for failing to show up to court on traffic cases.

Leoni De Sena (47) of Boca Springs was arrested for welfare fraud. For a period of two years from 2014 to 2016 she allegedly collected about $11,000 total in food and medical benefits. She claimed her husband was only making about $500/week when in actuality he was making nearly $100,000 a year.

Serial trespasser Ann Gewirtz (78) was arrested in the Garden Shops Publix parking lot (Palmetto & Powerline). She had been previously ordered off the property by PBSO and given a written warning to stay off. When deputies arrived she had parked her white Mustang in a handicap spot and was honking at customers attempting to solicit them for unstated purposes.

Joshua Neff is back and this time it’s a felony contempt for again violating a no-contact order with his former boyfriend. The previous incident in March was only a misdemeanor.

Neff is described in the police affidavit as a server at Maggiano’s. It says he’s afraid that his 6’3″ black drug dealer is going to hurt him. So if you think you have problems …

We previously wrote about the DUI arrest of Blaine Blake in March. The charge has been increased from misdemeanor DUI causing injury to felony DUI causing serious injury. Blake is a resident of Mizner Preserve off Boca Rio Road.

We don’t see anything in the paperwork to show what changed, but the victim’s name is Xavier Tavarez. The victim may be a professional kite surfer.

37 year old Todd Bernstein of Boca Gardens was arrested on 441 in Boynton Beach for DUI. He refused a breath test. Priors include a 2008 cocaine arrest and a domestic battery arrest in 2015.

Sandra Casey (49) of the Banyan community in Boca Rio was arrested for domestic battery after punching and pushing her girlfriend.

Joseph Jones (34) of Lakewood Oaks near St. Andrews Blvd. was arrested for trafficking in synthetic cannabinoids.

If you’re looking for a case that makes you wonder why the drug war continues, this will keep you wondering. Jones’ uncle and his parents both told investigators that Jones has had multiple brain surgeries and has a medical marijuana license.

There is no indication he was selling the THC edibles that were in the package police were following. It appears they were for his own personal use.

This week has a larger than usual concentration of cases from Watergate Estates and Sandalfoot Cove.

Jenry Rodriguez (49) of Flotilla Place in the trailer park is accused of insurance fraud. The accusation seems to be that Rodriguez submitted altered or misleading photographs of damaged jet skis to Progressive Insurance.

In filing the claim he submitted digital photos that retained the dates when the photos were originally taken and when they were altered. The original photos were dated before the claimed accident date.

This looks like a complicated case so we’re not sure if this is a genuine crime or just a misunderstanding.

Kimberly Pickrell (48) of N. Branch Road in the trailer park was arrested near Flotilla Place after a deputy observed her briefly enter and then exit a car, which he concluded was a drug deal.

Upon approach he saw her throw a baggie behind her. It had crack cocaine and heroin in it.

She has had several cases in the past including retail theft, grand theft, and offering to commit prostitution.

57 year old Edward Montry of Dolphin Road in the trailer park was arrested for possession of heroin with intent to sell. After two buys from an informant deputies obtained a search warrant and found the heroin, crack pipes and other paraphernalia.

Montry has a lengthy list of cases over the past 15 years or more. They’re mostly misdemeanors and ordinance violations, but there are a few felonies including a felony battery that got him 12 months in jail.

Another great drug war moment falls under the “no good deed goes unpunished” category. Cardoso drove his friend to the fire station to get help after the friend overdosed. Fire Rescue was able to revive the friend, who had stopped breathing.

Cardoso was rewarded with a felony arrest for possession of heroin, alprazolam (Xanax) and Adderall. The Adderall and Xanax charges have been dropped already but the heroin charge remains.

Cardoso’s address is in the Isle of Boca Dunes condos. He has had several traffic cases in the past but nothing more serious that we can see.

Christopher Koehler (27) of Watergate Circle in the trailer park was arrested for felony domestic battery both by strangulation and causing serious bodily harm. He dragged his girlfriend out of bed, choked her, and punched her in the head. The affidavit indicates she had a neck x-ray and the result was redacted, but it appears it showed a serious injury.

He had two previous domestic arrests in February, and has a history of several traffic offenses.

Leonard Albritton (47) of the trailer park was arrested for violating a domestic restraining order. There’s a lot of redactions but it appears he’s accused of grabbing a child by the neck, causing injuries.

He has a history of domestic violence cases from December and from back in 2015.

Scott Zagofski (39) of the Glen at Boca apartments in Sandalfoot Cove was arrested for domestic battery. This is a pretty mild one where he’s accused of grabbing his girlfriend’s wrist and throwing water on her.

He had an arrest in 2017 for felony battery on a senior, and we see an old assault case from 2005 but that could be someone else.