Crime Report: Watergate, Watergate, Watergate
We’re trying our crime reports in more frequent shorter bursts. Instead of very long articles with 20 or more incidents, we’ll be doing more of them in shorter chunks of less than 10 each.
In this report we have multiple incidents involving Watergate Estates, which some consider the center of crime in West Boca. But we start with a child care worker accused of abusing a small child.
Estafany Acosta made the news for breaking a 3-year-old’s leg. She even made national news – Newsweek.
The 24-year-old Venezuelan citizen was working at Early Learning Academy on Yamato behind the St. David Armenian Church. She is a resident of Kensington Walk in Boca Del Mar, across from the YMCA.
The police affidavit is very detailed and our readers can read the whole document if they like. In short the 3-year-old was difficult to deal with and Acosta handled the situation very poorly. At one point while trying to get the child to sit down an behave, she allegedly sat on him or kneeled on him, causing the fracture, and then lied about it saying he kicked a chair.
If you’re looking for a babysitter, maybe she’s not the one. Acosta has no priors. She is charged with aggravated battery on a child. She was released without having to post a bond and is represented by the public defender.
Thomas Rivera (42) of Watergate Estates was arrested for cocaine. He has a long history with 33 cases in our local courts, plus a new case in January – felony criminal traffic for driving without a license.
A deputy noticed Rivera sleeping in his SUV in the parking lot of The Brickyard after 4 am.
Nothing good happens after 2 am.
“Out of concern for the person’s health,” the deputy opened the driver’s door. This is a weak excuse for violating Rivera’s Fourth Amendment rights, but it might fly with a judge.
Once the door was open the deputy noticed a plastic bag of cocaine in Rivera’s pocket. A search also revealed 9 bags of marijuana, but that charge has not been filed yet.
Jocelyn Gross (22, Fairfield at Boca) was arrested for fraud. She had a 2015 case for retail theft.
Gross allegedly took a Flamingo Taxi from Miami home to Boca, and then refused to pay the $111 fare. That led to the fraud charge. She’s also charged with resisting law enforcement because she “refused to comply with commands.”
Ordinarily that vague description would not be enough to support a charge of resisting.
18-year-old Raphaele DeSouza lives in the Banyan Lakes section of Boca Rio. She’s accused of stealing a credit card and fraudulent use of a credit card.
Allegedly DeSouza stole the credit card from a coworker at Billabong and spent over $1400 on it in four stores in Town Center Mall.
DeSouza appears to be a student at Spanish River High. We see no prior arrests.
Brandon Yurcak (27, Watergate Estates) was arrested on a warrant but we were unable to find any case in South Florida where there was a warrant for him. We found a pending criminal traffic case against him for driving a Chevy sedan without a license inside the Watergate Estates community.
The ticket indicates a home address in Ocala. We found a few cases in his past there, including a 2007 DUI, and driving while suspended in 2012 and 2016. It appears he still hasn’t paid the fine on that 2016 case, with over $1400 due.
46-year-old Leon Maddox, aka Leon Holston, of East Boca was arrested for robbery. He has a long history of priors including an FDLE record.
According to the police affidavit, Maddox works as a bus boy at Troy’s BBQ. He allegedly attacked a woman in front of the Hair Cuttery on Federal Highway just north of Camino Real.
The victim says she dated him a few months earlier. He approached her and demanded money, forced her to the ground and grabbed her wallet.
She told police she did not want to press charges.
In another Watergate Estates incident, Michael Webber (38) was. arrested for burglary. His reported address is on Tradewinds in the trailer park, and the offense took place on Flotilla Place.
Webber is a registered sexual predator with four felony cases filed against him in Broward County from 2001 to 2006. He spent over 10 years in state prison from 2007 to 2017.
Webber allegedly reached through a window of the residence and slapped the victim. This is the third violation of his felony probation from the 2006 Broward case. He is currently staying in the Broward Sheriff’s resort pending a trial on the violation of probation.
Reache Evans (44, East Boca) was arrested for cocaine. He has spent a few stints in state prison.
Boca PD observed Evans involved in what appeared to be a drug transaction at a gas station on Dixie Highway. They found crack cocaine and a crack pipe. Evans tried to run, causing an officer to fall.
Evans is charged with 3 counts including possession with intent to sell, resisting and escape, and is housed in the PBSO resort on Gun Club Road pending $75,000 bond.