The first public glimpse into the absentee ballot machine in Hialeah may come this week via the uncle of former Mayor Julio Robaina, known as “El Tio,” who was arrested last year in one of the dominos to fall after boletera Deisy Cabrera was first arrested.
Tio Sergio Robaina, who was arrested in August, faces two federal counts of ballot tampering and has his first hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday in front of Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch, who was smart enough to rebuff arguments made in January by Robaina’s Hialeah attorney, Thomas Cobitz . Cobitz, partner with his nephew’s attorney, John Rodriguez — who represents Julito against those nasty loan sharking allegations that likely cost the former Hialeah honcho the Miami-Dade mayoral race in 2011 — said the charges were unconstitutional and should be dismissed because neighboring counties have different laws regarding ABs.
Hirsch didn’t buy that argument and refused to dismiss the case. Can’t wait to see what they try to sell him next.
Robaina is also charged with two counts of violating a new Miami-Dade County ordinance which makes it illegal to carry more than two ABs at any time. In the weeks leading up to the August primary — the center of the very competitive race between former School Board Member Renier Diaz de la Portilla and teacher Manny Diaz, Jr., who is now a state rep — Robaina, 75, allegedly collected dozens of absentee ballots.
>Well, that is according to what was told to authorities by Anamary Pedrosa, a former aide to Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban Bovo, who resigned shortly after she was caught shuttling 164 ballots from the commissioner’s district office to the post office. Pedrosa has not been charged and has reportedly been given immunity — an attempt to save her future and apparently promising legal career — in exchange for cooperation.
Will she testify at Robaina’s hearing?
“I don’t think so,” said Attorney to the Pols and former State Rep. JC Planas, who has given Pedrosa some legal advice. “To my knowledge, she has not been subpoenad nor do I expect her to be.”
Planas said that, most likely, testimony would come from the actual voters whose ballots Robaina allegedly messed with.
Not Diaz? Or Bovo? Aw, man.
A dog can dream, can’t she?
Tio Sergio Robaina goes to court for his AB tampering added by Ladra on
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