Crime Report – Wild Week

In our latest crime report we’ve got stabbing, grabbing, biting, stealing, more stealing, more stealing, heroin, cocaine, a contractor from the lower levels of hell, Xanax in a man’s butt crack, and a bloody nose ring.

The most interesting case is an attempted murder accusation against a Boca High student with a victim who a jury will hate, and a defense lawyer who filed a bizarre Stand Your Ground motion.

On top of that we have details on a new sexual predator residing in a West Boca.

Neighborhoods include Boca Isles, Palmetto Pines, Meadow Lakes, Broken Sound, Boca Landings, Coral Lakes (Glades Road Library), Estates of Boca Lyons, Watergate Estates and Sandalfoot Cove.

Detroit-born Sarah Hibbard, 23, was arrested for cocaine possession after a traffic stop on SW 66th Ave coming out of the Sandalfoot Square plaza. Hibbard initially refused to consent to a search of the car, but then for some reason she handed her purse to the deputy and told him to go ahead and search it.

He found a gram of cocaine. We see no priors for Hibbard, though she has a Nevada drivers license so it’s possible she had issues there.

30-year-old Judelin Bertrand of Watergate Estates was arrested for aggravated assault. This is a bit of an odd one as he is accused of holding a pair of scissors in his girlfriend’s direction, “in a stabbing position” and somehow this becomes aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

We see no priors for Bertrand.

Vincent DeSanctis (51) of Boca Isles South was arrested for domestic battery after grabbing his wife while trying to grab her phone during an argument about their 16-year-old daughter. She also claimed he’s bipolar.

We see no priors for him.

Quinton Cole (34) is back after previous appearances in March and February. This time he’s accused of stealing $99 worth of DeWalt batteries from Home Depot in the Westwinds plaza (Glades and 441). Cole’s reported address is in Coral Lakes, the neighborhood behind the Glades Road library.

Incidentally, we’ve noticed a lot of DeWalt items for sale in the Facebook marketplace, and a lot of store thefts we’ve seen lately have been DeWalt items.

Alexander Gilman (27) of Boca Landings was also arrested for stealing items from the same Home Depot, but his total was over $700. Gilman told deputies he was going to sell the items so he could use the money to buy heroin.

Gilman was arrested with Cole for heroin in that February report.

Colombia-born Magda Moreno Nino (34), a resident of the San Marco apartments in Broken Sound, was arrested for domestic battery after grabbing her husband’s collar during an argument.

We see no priors for her.

56-year-old Bradley Hurley was arrested in Boca Barwood for 2 felony counts, and then nine days later he was arrested for another incident.

The first felony was for stealing his ex-girlfriend’s van. The other two charges were for stealing money from residents of Sandalfoot Cove. Hurley offered to repair a fence for one person and a gate for another. In each of those he charged an upfront cost for materials, cashed the checks, did none of the work and did not respond when contacted about not doing the work.

Hurley has a lengthy history with FDLE including two prison stints in the late 80s and early 90s, and a longer stay from 2012 to 2015 for what looks like a 2012 repeat DUI in Fort Lauderdale that may have involved a death, combined with a 2008 case involving burglary.

And you thought your contractor was sketchy.

Boca High student Kahlyel Adams was arrested for attempted murder with a firearm. He is now 18 but was 17 at the time of the incident and subsequent arrest.

Boca PD responded to the Oaks of Boca apartment complex near Boca Regional Hospital after reports of a shooting. They found 22-year-old Christian Jerry, who had been shot multiple times. Jerry had just been released from his second stint in state prison. Having an FDLE record that starts at age 19 is not a good sign for this victim.

Adams’ sister reported to police that the victim had hit his girlfriend after she caught him cheating on her. He then hit Adams’ sister when she came to assist the girlfriend. Not long after with Adams now on the scene, the victim pushed Adams’ sister to the ground. Adams then fired multiple shots at the victim and then fled the scene.

Steven Sessa, a private defense lawyer based in West Palm Beach, filed a Stand Your Ground motion for Adams that includes several paragraphs that make little or no sense in this case and appear to have been included from a motion in some other case. The paragraphs refer to whether the Stand Your Ground defense applies to protect bail bond agents and police.

It is disturbing to see such a carelessly written motion filed in a serious felony case like this.

Further complicating the case, Sessa just filed a motion yesterday to withdraw from the case citing irreconcilable differences with his client.

Adams, an East Boca resident, remains in the county jail with no bond set yet. There are hearings scheduled for next week including bail, stand your ground, Sessa’s motion to withdraw.

It’s an interesting case with a bad-guy victim. It’s not clear what the basis is for the Stand Your Ground defense based on what we see in the police report, but it’s possible Adams will argue we haven’t seen yet. At trial, a jury may tend to have some sympathy for Adams. The teen was faced with an older man and known criminal attacking his sister.

Eric Mejias (42) of Watergate Estates was approached by a deputy sheriff after a car that was dropping him off around the time of a traffic stop.

During the traffic stop the deputy found alprazolam (Xanax) in the car. The female driver said the Xanax belonged to Mejias and “he’s hiding more Xanax in his ass.”

Mejias has an FDLE record thanks to a 3-year sentence for drug trafficking out of Broward.

Henry Avalos Castro (33, Palmetto Pines) was arrested for battery after an alleged fight with his wife. The deputy reported both smelled of alcoholic beverage and there was a significant amount of blood on the scene, apparently from an injury related to the wife’s nose ring.

Meadow Lakes resident Jason Menchaca (41) was arrested for DUI after an encounter with PBSO after 2 am.

Nothing good happens after 2 am.

The deputy was stopped with a DUI suspect in the back seat when Menchaca’s vehicle stopped near the deputy’s vehicle, partly in the lane of travel.

After about 5 minutes the deputy approached and asked if Menchaca needed assistance. Menchaca told him he had been drinking and was lost trying to find his way to Dania Beach.

For some reason the deputy then considered the possibility that Menchaca might be impaired. After a brief but thorough investigation Menchaca refused a breath test and was charged with DUI. Records indicate Menchaca had another DUI arrest in 2009.

As a final note, PBSO reports that Manuel Alejandro Martinez, a registered Sexual Predator, is now living in the Watergate Estates trailer park at the corner of Tradewind and North Branch.

Martinez, referred to by some in the family as Alex, was prosecuted in 2016 for a Lake Worth incident in 2015. He was 17 years old and had sex with a 7-year-old girl he was living with. Similar acts apparently also took place when the family was in Houston, Texas. He was released from prison in early October after a 3-year sentence.

We’re not sure how you only get 3 years for that.