Prosecutors on Thursday dismissed all child molestation charges against former Key West police officer Henry Florentino Arroyo. The state charged Arroyo, 42, in March 2014 with two charges of second- degree felony lewd and lascivious exhibition of a child younger than16 and one count of lewd and lascivious molestation of a child younger than 12 last year. He was facing life in prison if he had been convicted of the last charge.

“The (alleged) victim’s parents requested the state discontinue the prosecution of this case, because the parents believe it is in the child’s best interests,” reads a court document filed by Assistant State Attorney Val Winter. “The guardian ad litem (a child’s legal advo- cate) appointed to represent the child’s best interests concurs with this request.”

Arroyo’s lawyer, Jerry Ballarotto, declined to comment.

“Although we may want to prosecute offenders, parents have their children’s best interest at heart,” said Monroe County State Attorney Catherine Vogel. “These parents have decided it is in the best interest of their child to discontinue this prosecution and we have been unsuccessful in convincing them otherwise.”

Winter declined to comment on the case and Vogel declined to comment further.

Arroyo was released from Monroe County Detention Center on Stock Island on March 24, 2014 after posting $100,000 bail after his arrest. Arroyo was placed on paid administrative leave on Dec. 17, 2013 pending the outcome of a joint criminal investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Department of Children and Families and the State Attorney’s Office.
He resigned from the force on Feb. 6, 2014.

Whether Arroyo will re- apply for his job with Key West police was not clear Thursday.

“To my knowledge, Henry Arroyo has not applied,” said Key West police spokeswoman Alyson Crean. “If he does, the decision will be considered at that time, according to the hiring process of the department.”

Arroyo had been working as the school resource officer at Key West High School, but was removed from that position when he was placed on leave. Arroyo also was a former board member for the Police Athletic League (PAL) — a police-oriented juvenile program that uses sports and recreation as a crime-prevention tool.

There was never any evidence or allegations in court records that alleged any criminal activity by Arroyo within either of those organizations.

alinhardt@keysnews.com

Convictions of ex-Elmira man overturned in Florida
Written by Jason Whong 4:42 PM, Jul 17, 2013 | stargazette.com

A Florida appeals court has blotted out the 2011 convictions of a former Elmira man who has already served the prison time from his sentence in that case.

The state’s Third District Court of Appeal ruled that a Monroe County, Fla., court erred in the trial of John C. Merrone, 41, of Stock Island, Fla., by not letting Merrone’s attorney recall a prosecution witness to corroborate the story of a defense witness. Merrone is a 1990 graduate of Notre Dame High School in Southport, according to this newspaper’s archives.

“I’m 100 percent innocent,” Merrone said Wednesday by phone. “I always have been, and this doesn’t change the fact that I was innocent from the get-go.” Merrone declined to comment further, citing advice from attorneys not to make additional statements.

The appeal court erased Merrone’s 2011 convictions on a count of felony false imprisonment and two counts of misdemeanor battery. At his trial, he was acquitted of the more serious aggravated battery and sexual battery charges lodged against him.
He has already served two years in jail. Merrone probably won’t be able to receive any compensation from the state for his incarceration, said his attorney, Jerry Ballarotto, of Trenton, N.J.

“It’s a shame,” Ballarotto said. “He was completely an innocent man. … This is a classic example that justice delayed is justice denied. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it is.”

The opinion
In an opinion filed June 26, the appeal court said the trial court should have allowed Ballarotto to recall a Monroe County, Fla., sheriff’s detective to the stand after the jury heard testimony from defense witness Frank Silver, Merrone’s roommate, who also worked at Merrone’s charter boat business.

Silver testified that he was in the apartment the night of the alleged sexual battery, that he heard two people having sex and that the woman sounded happy, according to the appeal court. Silver said he would have come out of his room if he thought someone was being hurt.
He also testified that he received $2,100 from Merrone before the trial because Merrone owed it to him for running the boat business while he was in jail; he said the payment didn’t affect his testimony.

After Silver testified, Ballarotto asked to recall the detective to testify about what Silver said on the night of Merrone’s arrest, but the judge would not allow it, agreeing with the prosecution that such testimony would be hearsay.

Because the prosecution suggested in its opening statement, in its cross-examination of Silver, and in its closing argument that Silver’s testimony may have been motivated by the $2,100 payment, the defense should have been allowed to ask the detective what Silver said, the appeal court wrote in its opinion.

“The defense was entitled to show that Silver provided the same version of events to the police before he ever rendered these services to, or was owed money by, Merrone,” the appeal court wrote.

What’s next
The decision vacates the convictions and holds those charges for a new trial. It is marked as not final; the state has some time to ask the appeal court to hear the appeal again. There will only be a rehearing if the state asks for one and the court agrees.

A clerk at the appeal court wouldn’t say Wednesday how long the state has to request a rehearing or if another copy of the decision has been marked final.

“Now the prosecutor has to decide if they want to try it again or not,”Ballarotto said. “My suspicion is that they won’t.”
“He was found not guilty of the serious charge at the time of the trial,”Ballarotto said. “The appellate court now says that the judge made these errors and … it may have affected the outcome of the case, indeed, the conviction may not have resulted.”

A prosecutor at the State Attorney’s Office in Key West, Fla. did not return a call seeking comment.

BY ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff
August 18, 2012

Election Day has come and gone, but the rhetoric is still intense between the county’s ousted top prosecutor and defense attorneys in two high-profile cases awaiting trial.

Following his defeat at the polls in the Democratic primary Tuesday, Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward publicly accused defense attorneys of delaying cases until he leaves office in January in an effort to get more favorable treatment from his successor. The cases he cited include the rape case of the son of a former federal magistrate, and the burglary and assault case of a prominent resident whose family owns a major construction company.

Criminal defense attorneys fired back Friday, with one of them saying it was Ward’s disgraceful and unethical behavior that prompted his request for a continuance.

Attorney Joe Klock represents Hugh Warwick Morgan, 31, who is charged with sexual battery, domestic battery and burglary in connection with an alleged assault on a woman at a Truman Avenue apartment in December 2009. Morgan is the son of former federal magistrate and Key West attorney Hugh Morgan.

On Friday, Klock came out swinging, calling on Ward to recuse himself from overseeing the Morgan case because of the attitude the lame-duck prosecutor has taken toward the case — a reference to statements Ward made on US-1 Radio accusing Morgan’s father of removing or conspiring to remove Ward’s campaign signs.

“Mr. Ward has acted in a fashion that is a disgrace to his position as state attorney,” Klock said. “To make comments like this about a pending case is beyond attorney ethics. We did ask to continue the case until January, precisely because of his actions.”

The prosecutor in the case, Assistant State Attorney Mark Wilson, confirmed that Klock called his office Wednesday to arrange a teleconference with Miami-Dade circuit Judge Nushin Sayfie to ask that the case be continued until January.

“Mr. Klock said the case should be continued until January, citing prosecutorial vindictiveness, and the motion was denied,” Wilson said Friday.

The trial is set for Sept. 24 and has been since March, according to court records.

This is the not the first row between Klock and Ward.

In June 2010, Klock asked that Ward recuse himself from the Morgan case after Ward called Monroe County Judge Ruth Becker after she granted Morgan bail on a marijuana charge. The charge was later dismissed for lack of evidence.

Klock said such conversations between an attorney or prosecutor and a judge without the presence of the opposing lawyer — called ex parte communications — violate The Florida Bar’s professional conduct rules.

This week, Ward claimed another high-profile case, that of Paul Edward Toppino and his co-defendants, has dragged on for too long. Defense attorneys Jerry Ballarotto and Don Barrett brushed aside the claim.

Toppino, whose family owns the Keys-based construction firm Charley Toppino & Sons Inc., is charged with felony burglary with assault or battery, felony burglary while armed with a handgun and misdemeanor battery in connection with a July 2011 fight with a tenant over unpaid rent at a friend’s rental property.

“I don’t care who the prosecutor in this case is, and as far as I’m concerned, politics has no place in the courtroom,” said Ballarotto on Friday. “This case is under the supervision of [circuit Judge Mark Jones]just like any other case on the docket. When the judge decides we’re ready to go to trial, we will.”

Ballarotto conceded there have been delays in the case, but noted the case is only a year old and that it is proceeding on regular schedule.

“The last time the case was continued it was largely due to a death in my family, and depositions had to be canceled,” responded Barrett, who represents the landlord and Toppino’s co-defendant. Barrett also noted that there are four attorneys involved with the case, which complicates scheduling.

The trial tentatively is scheduled for Sept. 18, according to court records.

Ward was defeated Tuesday by Democrat Catherine Vogel, who faces her former boss Republican Mark Kohl in the general election in November. Kohl was state attorney before Ward.

BY ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff
April 14, 2012

If the thought of serving jury duty is unpleasant, imagine having to drive to Miami every day or pay for a hotel room for a week or more to do your civic duty.

Florida Keys attorneys and some federal judges are concerned about that possibility in light of a judicial panel that is considering shuttering the historic federal courthouse in Key West.

The Sidney M. Aronovitz U.S. Courthouse at 301 Simonton St., named after a late judge and third-generation Key Wester, was 17th on a national list of 62 federal courthouses slotted for possible closure due to tough economic times.

No local judge is permanently assigned to the courthouse, where three Miami judges and a Fort Lauderdale magistrate take turns presiding: U.S. District Judges James Lawrence King, Jose E. Martinez, K. Michael Moore, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Lurana Snow.

Should it close — there is no date set on when the decision will be made — potential jurors, clerks, lawyers, defendants and litigants would be required to travel to Miami for court proceedings, which would be too great a burden, said Key West attorneys David Paul Horan and Jerry Ballarotto. It is the first such instance Horan could recall of any discussion concerning possible courthouse closure.

They are not alone. Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno in Miami wrote to the Judicial Conference of the U.S. and its Space and Facilities Committee Chairman District Judge Michael Ponsor of Springfield, Mass., urging them to keep the courthouse open.

The Judicial Conference was created by Congress in 1922 to serve as the policymaking body and administrator of the federal courts, according to its website.

“From your list of courthouses under scrutiny, the trial hours for district judges in Key West are the ninth highest of the 63 facilities listed,” Moreno wrote to Ponsor. “We had approximately 300 jurors reporting for the first day of jury service and another 200 days of continuing jury service at the Aronovitz courthouse in fiscal year 2010.”

Ballarotto called it “outrageous” to ask residents to drive to Miami. He was perturbed that the government also would ask criminal defendants who have not been convicted to travel such a distance, as well as their families and witnesses.

The attorney noted the recent uptick in fisheries cases, particularly alleged lobster violations.

“If the federal government has the money for NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) agents to put GPS trackers on our fishermen’s boats and follow them in helicopters and staff an FBI office in Key West, then it should certainly have the funds to maintain our courthouse, where we can defend ourselves and demand a trial by a jury of our peers as guaranteed by the Constitution,” Ballarotto said.

The timing of the possible closure seems odd to Ballarotto, Horan and fellow attorney and former Key West Chamber of Commerce President Cara Higgins, all of whom noted last year’s multimillion-dollar construction of a new sally port and renovation of the U.S. Marshal’s Office.

“Think of the money they recently invested in it,” Higgins said. “That would be a complete waste of taxpayer money.”

Horan has been researching the history of the courthouse since the issue arose.

“Key West wouldn’t be the Key West we know it today, had it not been for salvors,” Horan said, adding that the need for salvage law brought the federal court here in the 1800s, which in turn drew Bahamian salvors and wreckers who had to bring their salvaged goods to the nearest U.S. port of entry. “What happened? All those Bahamian salvors moved to Key West and that’s why we have so many Bahamian families in Key West.”

The two-story building was built in 1932 using Key Largo limestone from the Windley Key quarry and is the site of the first federal court in Florida, with a rich history in admiralty law, drug cases from the drug smuggling days of the 1970s and the Mariel boatlift.

Moreno notes in his letter that the last issue could be revisited.

“With its close proximity to communist Cuba, the Key West courthouse is the point of entry of potentially thousands of refugees in the future as it has happened repeatedly in the past,” Moreno wrote. “The Aronovitz courthouse is a center stone in the district’s security plan that was created in coordination with the United States Attorney’s Office to manage our response when the Castro brothers die, causing a floodgate of refugees into Florida through Key West.

“At this point, no discussion of the Key West courthouse would be complete without mention of the geographic and historical significance of that location in the fabric of our country’s legal development.” The decision to close the courthouse should not be made on a fiscal basis alone, Ballarotto said.

“Keep in mind that the other two courthouses in the Southern District of Florida are in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, only a few miles from each other,” Ballarotto said. “Why don’t they close one of those courthouses? Frankly, if this is the extent of the commitment the federal government is willing to make to Key West, maybe we should reconsider our secession from the union.”

Paul Edward Toppino, 67, of Catherine Street, was charged with felony burglary with assault or battery; felony burglary while armed, allegedly with a loaded .38-caliber handgun; and misdemeanor battery. Two people with him also were charged with felonies.

KEY WEST
Toppino agrees to misdemeanor plea deal in assault case
By SEAN KINNEY
skinney@keynoter.com
Posted – Saturday, December 01, 2012 09:01 AM EST

Paul Toppino, 69, has agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors who allege on July 19, 2011, he and two others broke into a Key West man’s apartment and beat him over unpaid rent. The Monroe County State Attorney’s Office is recommending a sentence including 120 days in the Monroe County Detention Center on Stock Island.

The terms of the plea, detailed in a letter from Assistant State Attorney Mark Wilson to Toppino counsel Jerome Ballarotto, indicate Toppino will plea to one count ofmisdemeanor battery and one count of misdemeanor trespassing in an occupied structure.

Ex-cop facing charges seeks release

Wednesday, January 13, 2010
BY ROBERT SILK Free Press Staff rsilk@keysnews.com

PLANTATION KEY — A former Miami Beach cop charged with attempted murder of his estranged wife and her boyfriend at her Plantation Key home last spring is asking for the chance to be set free on bond.

William Thomas Skinner, 54, is scheduled to appear before Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Luis Garcia on Friday, Jan. 15, when his lawyers will ask that bail be set.

For several months Skinner’s lawyers, Cara Higgins and Jerome Ballarotto, sought a court order for Skinner to be moved to a psychiatric hospital, where he was to have received treatment for depression and suicidal tendencies. Garcia, however, has denied their petitions.
On Dec. 30 Skinner’s defense team changed tact and asked instead for the bond hearing.

Higgins, last week, declined to get into the specifics when asked why Skinner wouldn’t be a risk should he be released from jail on bond. But she did say he has been treated for depression.

“There have been some recent developments,” she said. “Everything is going to be educed at the hearing. There is no reason why he shouldn’t be bonded out right now.”

The Monroe County State Attorney’s Office disagrees.
“[T]he state contends that there is absolutely no conditions of release that can reasonable (sic) protect the community, especially the victims and even the defendant himself from the risk of physical harm,” Assistant State Attorney Colleen Dunne wrote in a Jan. 5 motion.

According to police and investigative reports, Skinner showed up unannounced at Indira’s north Plantation Key home on the morning of June 1. After putting his wife in a choke hold in front of their 4-year-old son Luke, Skinner let her loose and returned to his car. A moment later he came back gun in hand.Indira placed a phone call to 911 as her boyfriend, Jesus Ruvalcaba, tried to hold Skinner off at the door, reports say.

Prosecutors want to question superintendent
Friday, May 1, 2009
BY JOHN L. GUERRA Citizen Staff

The State Attorney’s Office was still waiting to question the Monroe County schools superintendent about the allegations against his wife Thursday, the day she surrendered on an arrest warrant.

Randy Acevedo has not been charged or accused of wrongdoing. Monique Acevedo was charged with stealing school money when she was the district’s adult education coordinator, a post she resigned March 3, the day after the scandal broke.

“We’ve asked to talk to him, but so far it hasn’t happened,” State Attorney Dennis Ward said.

The request was made through Randy Acevedo’s Key West attorney, Jerome A. Ballarotto.

“I’ve been in discussions with Mr. Ballarotto on the possibility of sitting down with Randy. He wants to know the nature of the questions we’re going to ask,” Assistant State Attorney Mark Wilson said Thursday. “Mr. Acevedo can invoke the spousal privilege that protects private communication between husband and wife.”
There may be some exceptions, however. Conversations that occurred between them but in front of a third person would not be protected, Wilson said. A judge likely will have to decide whether the law protects the couple’s conversations about work, considering his dual role.

“He’s not only her husband, he was her supervisor and superintendent in the chain of command. How can he decline to answer questions about things he did or didn’t do in his official capacity?” Wilson said. “In his role as superintendent he can be asked when his wife’s misconduct came to his attention and what did he do about it. But the court would have to decide, does [the privilege]apply or not?”

Acevedo has not returned The Citizen’s numerous phone calls and e-mails seeking comment over several days and did not acknowledge reporters at the jail Thursday night.

Call for resignation
Meanwhile, the School Board on Thursday said it will not call a special meeting on Saturday to ask the superintendent to resign, but may address the issue during its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday.

At the urging of board member Steve Pribramsky, school district attorney Dirk Smits on Thursday called the other four board members to ask them whether they would agree to an emergency meeting, but Smits was unable to get at least two others to agree.

Information continued to seep out of City Hall this week to help flesh out the sex scandal story that resulted in the abrupt resignation of Police Chief Bill Mauldin last Tuesday. A one‐page investigative report prepared by City Attorney Shawn Smith and City Human Resources Director Sandy Gilbert sent to City Manager Jim Scholl on Tuesday revealed that Smith and Gilbert conducted four interviews in the course of their investigation into allegations by Christie Phillips, the City’s Communications Manager, that Mauldin repeatedly sexually harassed her.

More than one source has told Key West The Newspaper that Mauldin’s contact with Phillips may have risen to the level of sexual battery. “On March 25, 2008, we met with the victim, who provided details of the accusations,” Smith and Gilbert wrote. “Upon questioning, she revealed four to five specific encounters of alleged Sexual harassment in a variety of forms by the Chief.” According to the report, the incidents occurred between September and November 2006. The report did not address why Phillips waited more than a year to complain. Interviews were then conducted with “two individuals who reportedly witnessed the demeanor and were told information by the victim shortly after the incidents.”

Smith and Gilbert told Scholl that the witnesses’ statements were “consistent with the accounts provided by the victim.” Then, Smith and Gilbert interviewed Mauldin and, according to their report, he denied any improper conduct. But he resigned the same day the Smith‐Gilbert report was delivered to City Manager Scholl. In a letter to City Attorney Smith, Attorney Jerome Ballarotto, representing Mauldin, outlined the terms of Mauldin’s resignation. In essence, Mauldin will be compensated only for his accrued annual leave and sick leave and his contributions to his retirement plan will be refunded. City Officials also allowed Mauldin to resign voluntarily, rather than be fired. They also agreed to continue to fully indemnify him and represent him in “all litigation that arose in the scope of the performance of his duties as the Chief of Police for the City of Key West.” Mauldin is currently a defendant in at least two lawsuits, along with the City.