(CMR) A Florida woman is facing charges of conspiracy to murder and first-degree murder after she reportedly used funds from a COVID-19 Paycheck Protection Program loan to hire a hitman.
Reports are that Jasmine Martinez (33) reportedly used part of a $15,000 PPP loan to pay a hitman who allegedly shot and killed TSA agent Le'Shonte Jones (24). Jones was shot on 3 May outside of her southwest Miami-Dade apartment in broad daylight.
Both women reportedly knew each other as Martinez was arrested and charged with battery back in 2018 for allegedly beating up Jones.
Jones showed up to testify against Martinez in February 2020. After the scheduled court hearing for that case at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building in Miami, Jones reported being held at gunpoint and robbed in the parking lot by two men, one of which was Martinez’s ex-boyfriend Kelly Nelson, who is currently in jail. Jones had agreed to testify against Nelson, investigators said.
Martinez reportedly received the loan on April 20, 2021, and withdrew $10,000 of it from her account just days before Jones was shot to death. A bullet grazed her three-year-old child.
Javon Carter, who police believe was the hitman, has since been arrested and charged. He was charged with first-degree murder and the attempted murder of Jones's 3-year-old daughter.
According to The Miami Herald, Martinez was arrested along with Romiel Robinson, who is said to be in a relationship with Martinez, on charges of conspiracy to murder and first-degree murder.
Police reportedly found a video on Carter's phone that showed him counting money just hours after Jones's death, saying “just another day in the office,” New York Times reported.
Martinez's lawyer, Fallon Zirpoli, said his client “denied any involvement in this tragedy since the first time law enforcement approached her last summer.”
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