Police Chief Miguel Esposito may get an "A" for effort, but Miami's state prosecutor says he deserves an "F" for execution after he arrested eight people connected to the city in a corruption probe Thursday.
In a note to Esposito and Mayor Tomas Regalado, State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle puts the breaks on the city's efforts to steamroll corruption by city employees. She calls into question the arrest of at least two nonprofit employees caught in the dragnet.
"I am sure that you all know very well that based on the evidence presented to my prosecutors and their analysis of the law there is no state criminal charge that can be filed," she wrote concerning the arrests of Johnnie Brown and Vincent Cobham.
Brown and Cobham are employees of the Alternative Program, a nonprofit group that deals with community service and monitoring of people who have been arrested.
Cobham is the grandson of famous Miami community and civil rights activist Georgia Ayers, who lambasted the chief and mayor during the press conference announcing the arrest of eight city employees on Thursday.
Rundle claims her office had already looked into the possibly pressing charges on Brown and Cobham, but did not have enough evidence to prosecute. Esposito had the same information, but decided to move on the bust anyway.
Then came the dog and pony show, with Regalado touting the arrests as the "beginning of the end" of corruption in the city.
Along with the two nonprofit employees, Esposito moved in on three cops, a city employee and two other nonprofit employees on charges ranging from theft and official misconduct to perjury and identity theft.
Brown and Cobham would be facing state charges, which would mean Rundle's office would handle the prosecution, but if that's the case, the two men may never see a judge.
