It’s Friday, February 4th - and NBC 6 has the top stories for the day.
No. 1 - A teacher at a Miami-Dade County high school ended up behind bars after police said he allegedly asked a female student to kiss him after class.
Andy Barbosa-Morell, 40, was arrested Tuesday and charged with two counts, including child abuse and offenses against a student by an authority figure. According to an arrest report, Barbosa approached the student during a Spanish class at Felix Varela High School on Jan. 28 and began touching her leg. Later in the class, Barbosa allegedly came up from behind the student and grabbed her hair before jerking her head up and telling her in Spanish not to talk. Barbosa allegedly asked the victim for a kiss after class. The student left the room and reported the incident to police, which was corroborated by other students who were in the class, the report said.
No. 2 - A year after her son was shot and killed in Palmetto Bay, a mother is still searching for answers about who killed him.
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Aaron Swerdloff had turned 22 years old just days before he was fatally shot in the area of Southwest 176th Street and Southwest 92nd Avenue on Jan. 6, 2021. His mother Deann Walton continues to canvass the area, passing out flyers in the hopes that someone witnessed the shooting. Swerdloff had gone to a friend's house and had only been gone for about five minutes when the shooting happened, Walton said. She recalled what she went through when she received the call that he'd been shot. Click here to hear her emotional words in a report from NBC 6’s Nicole Lauren you’ll see Only on 6.
No. 3 - NBC 6 is continuing to investigate the wrongful arrest of a Coconut Creek man, Leonardo Silva Oliveira, who spent almost six days behind bars when he was mistaken for a wanted felon with the same name.
Newly released internal documents from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office show the department started its own investigation that reveals multiple layers of missteps by different law enforcement agencies. But the source of the issue, according to PBSO, was that some wrong information was put into an arrest warrant ultimately leading to the wrong Oliveira being arrested. The documents provided by the PBSO lay out how the wrong Leonardo Silva Oliveira, 26, was arrested from the sheriff’s office point of view. Click here for a report from NBC 6 investigator Heather Walker.
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No. 4 - A group of men accused of beating up a gay couple in Miami Beach back in 2018 is now claiming the actions were self-defense.
Juan Carlos Lopez, Luis Alonso, Adonis Diaz and Pablo Figuerora are facing charges of aggravated battery in the April 8, 2018 attack after the Pride Parade. According to police, Rene Chalarca and Dmitry Logunov were near public restrooms when they were randomly attacked. Surveillance video shows the couple walking holding hands when a group attacks them. The victims were allegedly called anti-gay slurs by the suspects. Four years later, the case has yet to go to trial. Now, a judge has to decide on a defense motion to dismiss the case. Click here for a report from NBC 6’s Jamie Guirola.
No. 5 - Neighbors who live in the Hammocks, a large southwest Miami-Dade community, are up in arms. They say their monthly association fees will increase astronomically.
Alan Chevel and his Cedar Landing neighbors are bracing for a major monthly hike in their HOA fees. Their subdivision is in the Hammocks. And starting March 1, the Hammocks Community Association will be increasing their monthly fees by about 300% from what they’ve been paying. The amount does depend on which part of the Hammocks you live in. Click here for more on why that is upsetting them and the association’s response in a report from NBC 6’s Alyssa Hyman.
No. 6 - Who’s ready for another Olympics?
Less than seven months after the conclusion of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, it is time for the 2022 Beijing Olympics. The quick turnaround is due to the postponement of the Tokyo Games caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which pushed the event from the summer of 2020 to 2021. Now, the regularly scheduled Winter Olympics are set to commence. The 2022 Olympics will be historic for Beijing, as it will soon become the first city to ever host the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics. The event begins Friday at 6:30 a.m. and if you want to watch the Opening Ceremonies again, you can catch them again at 8 p.m. on NBC 6.
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