Judge gives bird-flipping defendant 30 days in jail: The rest of the story [UPDATED x1]

UPDATED 1x below.

You don't have to travel very far in South Florida to find someone like Penelope Soto. She's the 18 year-old girl who flipped-off a Miami judge this week during an appearance in bond court. The judge, Jorge Rodriguez-Chomat, gave her 30 days in jail.

South Beach is full of Penelope Sotos. As a Miami Beach cop I know has told me on more than one occasion, "If rude behavior ever becomes illegal, South Beach will be the world's largest penal colony."

Enter the Miami Herald's Morals Watchdog, columnist Fabiola Santiago.

In a column in today's paper, Fabi calls Soto a "disrespectful, dismissive brat" and "a poster child of a flaky celebrity-worshiping generation."

And Judge Rodriguez-Chomat? “Such a gentleman,” an unnamed "court insider" told Fabi.

Well, that settles that! Kind, sweet, grandfatherly, "gentleman" judge - a model of judicial restraint -  metes out justice to snotty "brat." We know it's true because Fabi said so. Case closed.

Not quite.

In Aug. 1998, the Miami Herald reported:

State Rep. Jorge Rodriguez-Chomat , R-West Dade, is betting voters will overlook his reputation for having a short fuse and a sharp tongue and return him to Tallahassee for a third term representing District 114.
[...]
In February [1998] when Florida International University professor Dario Moreno described Miami on national television as "almost the definition of a Third World Banana Republic," Rodriguez-Chomat retaliated by threatening FIU President Mitch Maidique to hurt the university when funding issues came up in Tallahassee if Maidique didn't take a stand against Moreno. Maidique refused and Rodriguez-Chomat was forced to apologize and retract his statement."

In a 2010 Dade County Bar Association judicial poll, Rodriguez-Chomat "was rated unqualified by more than 46 percent of respondents," according to Jose Pagliery, then a Daily Business Review staff writer. Fabi conveniently ignored those juicy tidbits when when crafting her column.

But wait, there's more!

As is sometimes the case, the comments left by readers at the bottom of Herald stories are more informative and balanced than the stories themselves. This is one of those occasions.

Someone who calls himself "skepticinMD," left this comment after reading Fabi's column:

I saw the video and while it is clear the girl is not exactly the model of decorum, it also seems to me the judge was on a bit of a power trip. After setting her bail, he shows a lack of decorum with his dismissive "bye-bye," to which she respectfully replied in the native tongue of much of So. Florida (and evidently, both she and the judge,) "Adios" -- which is much more respectful than the judge's high and mighty "bye-bye." Sure the girl is a bit of a dope, but she also appears to be a druggie -- heavy volumes of Xanax are usually reserved for people with major panic disorders. The doses can make people excessively talkative (like she was) and irritable/impulsive -- especially upon withdrawal.

But that's still no reason for the judge being a thin-skinned bully. But there's a pattern here. When the judge was ...in the [Florida] State Legislature, there's a famous picture of him mixing it up on the floor with another lawmaker when the judge thought the other lawmaker got personal.

It is easy to see this in black and white -- a disrespectful party girl who is used to flirting her way through life, getting her comeuppance. But this bully in a black robe is hardly the model of humanity who should be delivering society's disapprobation. His snickering mockery is simply the flip side of the girl's callow disrespect. The thing is, the judge should know better -- but bullies rarely do. They just seek out more powerful positions. As a judge, his ability to [exert] power over a pretty but bubble-headed party-girl seems, [to Santiago], to be a virtue. When he was on the floor of the legislature engaging in fisticuffs, the other party had the ability to hit back. We should expect better from our robed jurists!

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UPDATE:  From the St. Petersburg Times, April 10, 1998:

[Carlos] Valdes said [Jorge] Rodriguez-Chomat had walked over to him and repeatedly called him a jackass.

"By the third or fourth time (he said it), I just said, "You must be looking at yourself in the mirror,' " Valdes recounted. "He grabbed my tie, and I was just trying to keep him away." He said Rodriguez-Chomat also tried to punch him.

TALLAHASSEE, FL. 4/9/98-Reps. Jorge Rodriguez-Chomat, R-Miami, left, and Carlos Valdes, R-Miami, scuffle on the floor of the House of Representatives as Rep. Bruno Barreiro, R-Miami Beach, right, tries to intervene Thursday at the Capitol in Tallahassee. Earlier during debate over the School Readiness Voucher Program bill Valdes pointed out that Rodriguez-Chomat's children attend a private school. Rodriguez-Chomat took exception to the comments and said he felt the statements overly personalized the debate. Photograph by COLIN HACKLEY

They're calling this the best Super Bowl ad

Some are calling this ad for Dodge Ram trucks that aired late in the game, the "best Super Bowl ad."

One blogger wrote, "If you were waiting for a commercial that would be the talk of every office in America on Monday morning, you had to wait until the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl to spot the epic ad from Dodge Ram featuring the words of Paul Harvey."

Watch the ad and see if you don't agree.

H/T: Marty

Delinquent on Duty - Miami-Dade cops caught on camera goofing off

Back in August 2011, CBS4 reporter Jim DeFede came across a short item (below) in the Miami Herald that piqued his interest.

An entire squad of Miami-Dade police officers working out of the Kendall sub-station had been suspended. Rumors started circulating that the officers had been goofing off instead of answering calls.

Because the cops were still under investigation, exact details on the allegations were hard to come by.

But DeFede stuck with the story and now, after a months-long investigation, numerous public records requests and sifting through hours of secretly-recorded surveillance videos, DeFede will reveal what happened to the suspended Miami-Dade cops Monday night at 11pm on CBS4.

Miami-Dade police investigate an entire squad of Kendall cops

Miami Herald - August 11, 2011

by Michelle Hammmontree-Garcia

A Kendall District police squad, made up of five to six officers and a sergeant, has been put on suspension with pay while the Miami-Dade Police Internal Affairs Bureau conducts an investigation.

The squad has been on suspension for at least a month. But Miami-Dade police have little else to say other than that Internal Affairs in investigating their conduct while on duty.

Maj. James O?Donnell, who heads the Kendall District station, said: ?At this point they are under investigation for actions conducted while on their work schedule. Once the investigation is complete, appropriate action will be taken, if necessary.

Although police internal affairs investigations of individual officers are not uncommon with an agency as large as the Miami-Dade Police Department, a probe of an entire squad is unusual.

Documents pertaining to internal investigations of police officers are exempt from Florida's public records law until the probe is complete.

Q: Who's in charge at the Miami Herald? A: No one. [UPDATED x1]

SEE UPDATE BELOW.


"Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way." -Gen. George S. Patton

"There's no one providing any kind of leadership in our newsroom." -Anonymous Miami Herald staffer. 

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Item: A 20 year-old South Beach bartender leaving work hits and kills a pedestrian in the early morning hours of Monday, Jan. 28. The bartender flees the scene. A witness follows her car for 38 blocks and gives police a running account of her actions. Police arrest her at 56th and Collins. The story leads every evening newscast on all of Miami TV news outlets.

The following day, the Miami Herald devotes 8 sentences to the story and buries it on page 3B of the local section.

Item: When three men break in and ransack a Miami Beach house yesterday where an 11 year-old boy is home alone with his dog, the terrified boy takes refuge in a closet and calls 911. Police arrive quickly and arrest all three. The story leads the evening newscasts on Local 10, WSVN, NBC6 and CBS4. The story is even featured on a network news show.

The Miami Herald, home of South Florida's "24/7 Information Specialists," completely ignores the story.

But, the paper still has a dance critic. 

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UPDATE - Item: Aug. 11, 2011 - Miami Police officers arrest two extremely dangerous, armed men. A classic case of cops doing something right. Police send out a press release to every media outlet in town. The Miami Herald completely ignores the story. (Both men - Jovens Esperance and Christopher Sealy - remain jailed on a variety of charges including attempted murder.)

Item: In Nov. 2010, 20 year-old Michael Beatty was gunned down in broad daylight near NW 15 Avenue & 59th Street in Liberty City.

Beatty's murder was caught on video from several angles. Surveillance video showed a man chasing him with a weapon that resembled a Mac-10.  Apparently the editors at the Herald consider a cold-blooded, daylight murder in Liberty City just another day in the 'hood not worthy of reporting. Even though the story was reported on the website of a British newspaper. More than 2 years later, the Herald has yet to print one word on Beatty's vicious murder.

Nov. 2010: Gunman chases Michael Beatty
in Liberty City.

'I'm home alone, please hurry.'

Terrance Marquis Young gets a free ride to the Miami-Dade County jail
Friday courtesy of Miami Beach Police. (Photo WSVN.)

Here's a story with a happy ending that involves the Miami Beach Police Department and one you won't find in your morning paper.

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Via WSVN:

Left to right: Lance Matthew Riley, Terrance Marquis Young
and Willie Devell Travis Cuyler Jr.

An 11-year-old boy's 911 call when three men broke into his home resulted in the arrest of the alleged perpetrators, Friday morning.

The Miami Beach resident said that he was just doing what his mother taught him to do in case of a break-in: hide and call 911. "I was scared to death, I was just thinking [to myself], 'I hope they don't catch me, please don't [let them] find me,'" said Lee, the young boy whose quick thinking saved the day.

After seeing three men breaking the glass in the front door, Lee immediately dialed 911.

911 operator: "911, what is your emergency?"

Lee: "Hi, I'm in Miami Beach, Florida. Someone tried to break into my house, please hurry."

911 operator: "OK, I need your phone number."

Lee: "They're breaking the door, please hurry."

911 operator: "OK, are you there?"

Lee: "Yes, I'm home. I'm home alone, please hurry."

The boy then hid behind a closet door while the alleged robbers ransacked his home, located on the 3200 block of Chase Avenue in Miami Beach. "I was in the closet, and then one of them was right in front of me trying to look around, but they didn't see me," Lee said.

Police arrived moments later, catching the getaway driver in his white Dodge Charger in the driveway. The two others took off running and were apprehended blocks away.

Lee then called his mother, Leticia, who was out exercising in the Miami Beach boardwalk. She called 911 as well, not realizing the alleged robbers had been captured.
[...]
Miami Beach Police Sergeant Bobby Hernandez credited Lee for taking the three crooks off the streets. "When the officers actually made entry into the house, they located him in the closet," said Officer Bobby Hernandez.

"When they opened the closet door, he was trembling, he was so scared, but he was still brave enough to stay on the phone [with the 911 operator]," Hernandez continued. The officer added that Lee's "first priority" following the incident "was finding Lola, his dog."
[...]
Now in police custody, the alleged thieves, Willie Cuyler, Lance Riley and Terrance Young, are facing multiple charges.

Balloon-popping Jack Russell Terrier picks Super Bowl XLVII winner on Jay Leno show

And the winner is....


UPDATE: (Click here to see the the Jack Russell Terrier pick the winner of the Seattle/Denver game.)