City Council Meeting

[doc justice]

There was an interesting city council meeting tonight.

As expected Rolle, Aquino and Kent were present.

It was funny whenever I got within 30 ft of Myrna she would cover her name tag with her folder so couldn't see it.

Should have some video to put up later.

Your City Manager Gretsas, just can't get out of his own frigging way can he.

It appears there may be a prior restrain claim as well as an equal protection claim coming his way soon.


To all the good guys out there stay safe and God bless.

[doc justice]

The speech I was planning to give. The underlinded sentence is where Gretsas rudely and unprofessionally cut me off.


January Homestead City Council Speech
Honorable Mayor Porter and City Commissioners, thank you for this opportunity to speak here tonight.

I would like to thank all of the noble police officers both past and present who have admirably given of themselves to help keep this city and its residents safe.

In this respect I congratulate you on getting approval passed for the new police station. No public servant should ever be exposed to a toxic environment in order to serve us.

My greater concern however, lies with a cancer that is eating at the heart of this department. This cancer is the blatant corruption within the department that rises all the way to the top to include Internal Affairs detective Antonio Aquino and Chief of Police Alexander Rolle.

This corruption has damaged or ruined the lives of many innocent persons. Sadly those wrongly damaged by include both police officers and civilians alike.

The council surely is aware that Chief Rolle and Detective Aquino are under investigation for official misconduct in the destruction of public records. Mayor Porter I emailed you, upon your request, evidence in the form of a video in November, showing that Chief Rolle has again committed official misconduct by destroying public records, with a corrupt intent.

After I publicly published this evidence of corruption, Chief Rolle and the Homestead Police department retaliated against me and have yet again violated my First Amendment rights by having the State Attorney threaten me with prosecution.

This saga started because I asked Homestead Police Officer Alejandro Murguido to drive respectfully and obey the law. He then retaliated against me, so I tried filed a complaint. After which both Chief Rolle and Detective Aquino have prevented me from making a formal complaint. I also have evidence of Officer Alejandro Murguido falsely arresting other people, which at least Aquino is aware of.

A cherished principle in our society is that all men are innocent until proven guilty. However, it cannot be fathomed why the City Manager and/or the City Council would not take it upon themselves to have those accused of corruption, particularly the Chief of Police, placed on administrative leave during the course of a proper investigation,while appointing an acting Chief in the meantime.

Failure to do this at a minimum, allows these predators to continue to prey upon the good people of this city. It creates the appearance of collusion or at least an appearance of indifference to the corruption. Also it leaves the taxpayers of this city on the hook for an ever growing liability.

Now that the full Council and City Manager are aware of the corruption, I am sure that every law abiding citizen expects proper actions will be taken without unreasonable delay.

I have prepared a short timeline of events for the council members. Included in this is my contact information. If there is any way I can help the city in these matters please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thank you again for your time this evening, and may God bless our Country and this City.

[doc justice]

A copy of the timeline I gave copies of to the city council, city manager, city attorney and city clerk. So now they are on proper notice, they can no longer claim plausible deniability.


Abridged Timeline of Retaliation by Alejandro Murguido, Antonio Aquino and Alexander Rolle.
In May of 2009, I witness Homestead Police Officer Alejandro Murguido run through the stop sign in my neighborhood at approximately 20-30 MPH. Shortly after this, I drove past and stopped in front of his house to get his license number to file a complaint. Murguido approached me, and asked what I was doing. After explaining my actions, Murguido begged me not to file a complaint and requested that if I had any problems with him, to bring them to his attention as a neighbor and a gentleman, and to not file a complaint. I left and did not file a complaint as per Murguido’s request.

On 10/29/2012, I was walking down my street and saw Murguido in his front yard speaking with his lawn man. The prior week he had ran me and another driver in the community off the road. Murguido was not responding to a call, nor were his light/sirens activated.
I motioned for Murguido’s attention to ask him to please drive safely and obey the law in the community (which is not Homestead), as I was concerned for the safety of my family and community. He came to the road where I was standing, and we had a consensual conversation, then I left and walked away.
After walking about 2 blocks, Muguido got in his police cruiser and chased me down. He demanded that I stop or he would arrest me. He then told me that he was going to show me that you don’t mess with a cop. He held me for over an hour and a half. In total 11-12 officers came to the scene. I was illegally searched and told if I were to walk down my street and walk past the stop sign at SW 202 Ave, I would be arrested for criminal trespass.
I was told that I had committed no crimes, but was advised that if I tried to file a complaint that it would not be good for me. Among the other rights violations, there is a clear First Amendment right violation.

On 10/30/2012, I met with Special Agent Madeline Duty of the Miami FBI Field Office. I was advised to get my evidence together and to file a complaint with the police department. I had also contacted State Representative Holly Raschein’s Office for help, who forwarded a letter on my behalf to then Mayor Steve Bateman, as Homestead PD and their IA would not return my calls. This contact was made before Murguido took any adverse actions against me.

On 11/1/2012, I went to the Urgent Care on Campbell drive to get medical help as I did not eat or sleep for four days due to distress and fears of retaliation by Homestead Police Officers if I filed a complaint.
As I was waiting for an ambulance to take me to the hospital to get treatment, two Homestead Officers showed up and detained me against my will for over two hours.
One Officer Veronica Blanco forced me to sit on a filthy curb under duress. I asked her what was the reasonable suspicion or probable cause to detain me, as this was the second time I was being detained that week by Homestead officers without being told the legal justification. Blanco responded that I did not want to get into a “statute pissing contest” with her, as I would lose. She then demanded that I tell her why I was so upset. I answered that I wanted to exercise my Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. She responded that if I did not talk to her and tell her what happened she would have me locked up in a mental institution against my will, violating my Fifth Amendment right. I then requested to have an attorney, and she ignored this and continued to question and detain for almost two more hours, violating my Sixth and Fourth Amendment rights.
I was never allowed to get the medical treatment which I had voluntarily come seeking, and the actions of the officers only served to further aggravate the medical crises I was experiencing. I at one point advised Blanco of my medical condition (i.e. at rest my BP was 167/11 with a pulse of 125, this is borderline going into tachycardia). I advised her that her verbal attacks on me were worsening my condition. To this she just ridiculed me and increased her verbal attacks.
I feel Blanco’s actions were a reasonably calculated attempt to elicit a response from me that she and her partner could use to justify physically injuring my persons.
This information was also relayed to Murguido against HIPPA law and Homestead PD confidentiality polices.

On 12/27/2012, I called Homestead PD and spoke with Sgt. Thomas Surman. I requested the dashcam footage from Murguido’s cruiser. He responded that while Murguido had a dashcam, that it had been broken for six months, and there was a work order to have it repaired, but it had not been acted on. Public records request came back negative for the dashcam video or the supposed work order. I advised Surman of Murguido’s crimes and that I wanted to file a complaint. In violation of policy Surman never reported this up the chain, nor did he document it.

On 1/24/2013, I called and spoke with Lt. Johnson, I advised her of the actions of Murguido and that I wanted to file a complaint. She said she would be out the next week for medical reasons, and that she or Murguido’s supervisor would call me back.
Also I called and left a message for Internal Affairs (IA) Det. Antonio Aquino. I left my name and contact, and stated that I wanted to come in to make a formal complaint as I felt that multiple felonies had been committed against me under both Federal and Florida law. In a 2/7/2014 meeting with Chief Rolle and Det. Aquino, Aquino admitted that he had an electronic copy of the message I had left him. However, a public records request for this recording came back negative.

On 2/13/2013, I called Lt. Johnson and again left her a message informing her that none of her, Murguido’s supervisor, or IA had returned my calls.

On 2/15/2013, Officer Murguido made false statements to Miami-Dade Police, that I had committed Aggravated Stalking and Corruption through Threats against him, both third degree felonies. The record shows that Murguido was off duty but made the statements in the IA office at Homestead Police Department. The records also show that Murguido and Aquino talked about this case, even though later Aquino pretended to have no knowledge. Why did Murguido wait almost four months before attempting to file anything, when I was held by him for over an hour and a half?
It is noted Murguido’s actions were only taken after I had repeatedly tried to file a complaint against him. The record shows that he was advised that I was trying to file a complaint against him with IA and was advised to file against me. The record also shows that Aquino gave Murguido ample time to get all of his complaints filed first. Aquino later falsely states that I only tried to reinitiate my complaint after Murguido filed against me. However, how could I reinitiate a complaint, which I had never initiated?
This is retaliation against First Amendment rights.

On 2/28/2013, Murguido filed a false stalking restraining order against me. He committed perjury in his sworn statement. This is retaliation against First Amendment rights.
The record shows that Murguido was on duty from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, making it impossible for him to file this complaint on his own time, once again using city resources in his personal vendetta against me, violating policy.
Among other false statements he made the following statements:
a. That I had contacted IA and that he was advised to file against me.
b. That I am “unstable” and that I had a “nervous breakdown” from the 10/29/2012 incident.
c. That I have a “history of clinically diagnosed mental health problems”.
d. That I made threats against him, which the audio recording proves is a lie.
e. That he asked me to leave “several time”, then “five additional” times and I would not leave.

On 3/6/2013, I was served with the restraining order.

[doc justice]

On 3/19/2013, Det. Aquino finally returned my call from 1/24/2013. Aquino attempted to say that he was returning my phone call from several days earlier. I called him on this false statement, and he started to act guilty and nervous, then quickly changed the subject, and asked me if I would come in to file a complaint. I advised him that I wanted to file a complaint, but as Murguido had filed false charges against me, my attorneys advised me to wait until the case was closed before filing a complaint.
Aquino was not able to explain why and how Murguido knew that I had tried to contact IA, or that I had went to the doctor’s office. Aquino attempted to say that it was because I had personally told Murguido, even though I have had no contact with Murguido since 10/29/2012.
Aquino later sent me a certified letter confirming that he had not called me back until 3/19/2013.
This shows that Aquino is involved in a conspiracy against rights and has violated my first amendment rights.

On 4/15/2013, I was arrested from my property based on the false statements given to Miami-Dade PD by Murguido on 2/15/2013. The arrest was without a warrant, lacking the critical elements of probable cause, the officers refused to inform me of the charges against me were for over an hour, even after repeated request. Also this arrest was six months after the incident in which the police said I had committed no crime.
It is noted that Murguido even had his son and neighbor make false statements under oath to the Miami-Dade investigators against me, which I have a record of.

On 4/24/2013, Murguido failed to appear for court for the restraining order and it was dismissed. He also skipped two scheduled depositions with my attorney. Curiously he made my attorney go through the court liaison office to schedule these, where it appears he did this so that he could claim overtime for his appearances against me, in violation of policy.

On 6/17/2013, Murguido in uniform showed up to court for the scheduled criminal hearing against me. I entered a written plea of not guilty and entered into PTI/PTD.

On 1/9/2014, all criminal charges against me were dismissed in my favor.

On 1/31/2014, Murguido drove past and turned in front of my house, something I have never seen him do in the six years I had lived at my house. He was on his police motorcycle, and about when he got lined up with my property he began to gun his engine and chirp his siren. I took a photo of Murguido at the intersection of SW 199th Ave and SW 320 St. It is time stamped at 12:02 pm, and I will swear that he stayed in that location for at least another two minutes before leaving. Google maps estimates the driving time from this location to the station is about 7 minutes. How then did he get to the station at 12:03 pm? Is he stealing time here as well?

On 2/7/2014, I had a meeting with Chief Rolle. This meeting was openly and lawfully recorded. My recorder was placed upon his desk separate from all other materials in a plain and notorious manner. Therefore, there was implied consent. I had a witness for my protection present, Rolle brought people into the room, we could overhear the secretaries, and there were maintenance people coming and going. Therefore, there was no reasonable expectation of privacy. However, most importantly this is a protected First Amendment right. The controlling case law from Smith v. City of Cumming, “The First Amendment protects the right to gather information about what public officials do on public property, specifically the right to record matters of public interest”. In this respect the Chief of Police is a public official, the police department is public property, and police corruption is a matter of public interest.
In this meeting the Chief and Aquino would not allow me to file a formal complaint about Murguido’s earlier actions, only that he had driven past my house gunning his engine and chirping his siren. This complaint came back saying that he was chasing after an ATV, which Rolle had told me in the meeting after speaking with Surman. I believe Murguido’s statements that he was chasing an ATV to be false. However, if Murguido’s statement is true, then he never reported this pursuit, which was outside of his jurisdiction, in violation of policy.
Further, Aquino makes other false statements in the record about what was said during our 3/19/2013 phone call and this meeting, one such false statement is that I told him that as ‘I was guilty and had taken a plea deal, that I understood there was nothing that could be done to Murguido, but I had been inspired by the ordeal to go to law school and run for political office’. When in reality Aquino stated that there was a police officer bill of rights which gave a 180 day time limit for the department to take adverse action against Murguido, and it had been over a year.
I sent Aquino an email and a copy by certified mail on 2/27/2014. In this letter I informed him that while there was a police officer bill of rights, which had a 180 day time limit, there was also a provision that pauses the time limit during the course of any criminal investigation or prosecution. Aquino opened the complaint (even without my statement) on 2/13/2013. Murguido filed his criminal complaint on 2/15/2013, pausing the clock. Then the charges were not dismissed until 1/9/2014, unpausing the clock, where our meeting was on 2/7/2014, exactly a month of the clock had ran out. This would have left ample time for Aquino to investigate. However, Aquino decided to wholly ignore this letter, and Rolle ignored the letter I had sent to him on the same date.

On 5/22/2014, Aquino finally closed out the IA file that had been opened when I called on 2/13/2013. It took Homestead PD 46 days after I filed a request on 5/29/2014 for this record to be provided. I also separately filed a request to personally inspect this record, and Homestead PD has failed to even respond to this request in over 200 days.
It is also a violation of policy, as the policy requires IA complaints to be closed within 45 days, unless there is permission given by the chief. Aquino alleges in the report that the Chief gave him permission to keep the file open from 3/2014, but there is no record other than Aquino’s statement. Also there is no mention of, or record of permission to have kept the file open from 2/2013 to 3/2014.

On 8/19/2014, at around 11:00 pm, my story was published online. http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2014/08/cops-retaliate-miami-man/

[doc justice]

On 8/20/2014, Murguido attempted to file a criminal complaint with Miami-Dade PD, who refused to take action on his complaint. This is retaliation against First Amendment rights.

On 8/22/2014, Murguido filed another Stalking restraining order. This time he alleges as the acts of Stalking is that I filed complaints against him, and the media published my story including his address. All of this is protected First Amendment activity. Therefore, this is retaliation against First Amendment rights.
Also in his statement he swears that he was at Homestead PD on 8/19/2014 when Surman showed him the article. This violates policy for reading non-related police materials on duty. It also raises the question of how frequently Surman is online while at work, since he had to see this article and report it to Murguido within an hour of it being published.

On 10/15/2014, Murguido failed to appear for court and the case was dismissed. Murguido had also skipped another deposition, to make three depositions in total he has skipped with my attorney.
I went home and wrote a note on Leoaffairs.com under the Homestead section how Murguido was a coward and failed to appear again for the case he had brought forward. Murguido then went and filed a motion to vacate the dismissal, which was granted. This is retaliation against First Amendment rights.

On 11/14/2014, Officer Murguido failed to appear for the third time now, and the case was dismissed. The judge ruled that Murguido would no longer be able to bring these claims back unless he could show just cause such as a medical emergency. Further, the judge ruled that these actions did not constitute stalking.

On 11/21/2014, after uncovering solid proof that Chief Rolle had once again committed felony official misconduct by destroying public records, I made and posted a video on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czMpouApGuI

On 11/25/2014, what is believed to be a Homestead Police Officer made a post on the leoaffairs blog warning me that the Chief and others were “formulating a different approach”, suggesting that they were going to continue to retaliate against me for exercising my First Amendment rights.
Somewhere around this time, Chief Rolle and Homestead PD filed a criminal complaint with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, regarding my lawful recording. This is retaliation against First Amendment rights.

On 12/9/2014, Assistant State Attorney Jacci Seskin drafted a cease and desist letter to me, threatening felony prosecution for exercising my right to gather information about public officials on public property. This is retaliation against First Amendment rights.

On January 13, 2015, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez-Rundle got served with my federal complaint for her office chilling my First Amendment rights.












Abridged Version of Murguido’s Past History.
Murguido has been in at least 8-9 accidents in police vehicles, generating at least 6 injury reports. This supports my contention that he has a pattern of dangerous driving practices.

Murguido has made at least 6 false statements to supervisors, and has made at least 1 false statement to the State Attorney’s Office. Murguido also lied about drug use on his polygraph for employment with Homestead PD. This supports my contention that he has a propensity to lie and is not trustworthy, and that Murguido had even suborned his son to make false official statements.

Murguido has a sustained IA file for writing 3 tickets in retaliation, with malicious intent, and lacking legal justification. This supports my contention that Murguido retaliates against those who challenge or report him. This is at least 11 documented times in the public record that Murguido has made false statements/allegations, which are not related to me or my case.

Murguido almost was held in contempt of court for being disrespectful to a judge, and also has sustained complaint for overreacting to the public. This support my contention that Murguido does not comport himself in a calm and respectful manner to those he interacts with.

Murguido has a past record of being arrested for burglary and possession of burglary tools, even though he was not found guilty, it circumstantially supports that he might be susceptible to theft, supporting my contention that he has stolen time and resources from the city in his unlawful harassment of me.




My Contact Information
Dr. James Eric McDonough
Cell: XXX-XXX-XXXX
Email: phd2b05@gmail.com