Client charged with Attempted 1st Degree Murder with a Deadly Weapon, Aggravated Battery with a Deadly Weapon, Burglary with an Assault and Battery and Grand Theft of a Vehicle. Client was facing a sentence of life in prison and was being detained without bond in Miami-Dade County. The incident stemmed from a domestic dispute where the Client was accused of entering his girlfriend’s house armed with a hammer and immediately attacking the girlfriend and another individual present at the scene.

Miami criminal lawyer Robert E. Abreu immediately requested an Arthur Hearing to determine if the Client should receive a bond or be held in custody pending trial. After a thorough investigation of the case, evidence was presented at the hearing that no attempted murder had taken place. The Client was released on bond and after extensive discovery depositions and negotiations, Client plead guilty to Aggravated Battery and Grand theft of a Vehicle and received probation. In exchange the State dropped the two more serious charges of Attempted 1st Degree Murder and Burglary with an Assault and Battery.

Our client was arrested along with 15 other defendants following a 10-month investigation by the Miami-Dade Mortgage Fraud Task Force, the US Secret Service, and the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution.

The fraud involved the use of two separate companies located in Miami-Dade County. The conspiring title agents would prepare fraudulent HUD-1 statements on behalf of the other co-conspirators that would then be provided to the lender. A HUD-1 settlement statement is a document that informs the lender how disbursements will be made after a loan is funded.

Many of the HUD-1 statements involved in this case contained fraudulently inflated sales contract prices. For example, a seller might believe his property sold for $1 million but a fraudulent HUD-1 might reflect the contract sales price as $1.25 million.

Charged with 10 counts of money laundering, racketeering, grand theft, and mortgage fraud, and facing a total of 190 years state prison if convicted, our client needed a mortgage fraud lawyer who understood the complicated nature in which the crime was constructed. The final results was that our client received credit for the time he served in jail and probationary period with an early termination provision.

Client was found in a marijuana grow-house with 20 or so "baby" marijuana plants. Total combined weight of marijuana = 26 grams (equivalent to about 6 pieces of paper). State charged Client with Attempted Trafficking, a 2nd degree felony. State's theory was that the plants, if allowed to grow, unimpeded, would eventually reach the 25 lbs trafficking requirement.

State's plea offer was 364 days in jail.

After thoroughly researching this new and novel legal issue, the Abreu Law Firm filed a Motion to Dismiss the charges. In support of this Motion, we argued that the State had no real evidence to support its claim that the plants would continue to grow. The Abreu Law Firm further argued that the State essentially fabricated a crime where none existed.

The State eventually dismissed it's the charge of "Attempted Trafficking" but filed new charge for Renting a Home for Purpose of Trafficking, a 3rd degree felony.

After further negotiation, our client received the following resolution:

Withhold of Adjudication, 1 year probation, early terminate after three (3) months if our client stays gainfully employed.

Client charged in a fifty-five count indictment together with 15 other co-defendants for participating in a pattern of racketeering activity including bookmaking and money laundering. Client was facing 30 years state prison as a result of the charges against him. The charges stemmed from a joint State and Federal investigation code named "Operation Action." Client was alleged to have participated by being the key source in providing the winning numbers that were then used to pay off illegal wagers in the "bolita." Authorities conducted a lengthy investigation that included wiretaps of our client as well as a police raid on his home where evidence of his participation was found.

After several months of working diligently on this case, The Abreu Law Firm was able to negotiate a resolution that placed the client on 3 years probation, with the possibility for early termination of probation after 6 months.

Our client was charged in federal court with Marijuana cultivation. He hired the Abreu Law Firm to defend him in his federal case.

FACTS: When the DEA came into our client’s grow-house, they found over 900 marijuana seedlings, a sophisticated growing operation, and a shotgun (for insurance). It seemed that this was your common-day grow-house, but further investigation revealed that our client’s house was not actually a typical grow-house, but rather a grow-house “start-up supply depot” for most of Miami-Dade County. In other words, our client helped supply all the materials needed to start a grow-house. His group would provide high-powered lights, seedling plants, fertilizer, electrical connections, irrigation systems, and all the supplies needed to start a marijuana cultivation operation. As our client was trained as an electrician in Cuba, his job was to set-up the electrical system and to steal electricity from the local power grid.

RESULT: Through extensive negotiations between Mr. Abreu and the Assistant U.S. Attorney, our client was able to reach a positive agreement with the U.S. Government that resulted in him receiving a large sentence reduction.

FACTS: Our client was a participant in a Florida Lottery Ticket scam, also known as the Pigeon Dropper scam. He was charged with Organized Fraud, Grand Theft (3rd degree), and Possession of a False Driver’s License. Our client hired the Abreu Law Firm to represent him in this State court prosecution.

The scam worked like this: A woman would approach the victim and present a winning Florida lottery ticket. The woman would tell the victim that she was an illegal alien and, as such, could not cash the ticket without risking deportation. The scam artists would ask for a small fee – about $10,000 – for this winning lottery ticket, which was forged so that it would be worth between $50,000 and $100,000. To make the lottery ticket more attractive, the scamers would have the victim dial a fake number to a fake Florida Lottery agent. The agent (another participant in the scam) would tell the victim that the ticket was indeed worth money.

For more information on how the scam worked, Go to this news article on the Florida Lottery Ticket scam. Note that this article does not concern our client, but it gives you an idea on how the scam worked, or, as the case may be, how the scam was supposed to work.

RESULT: The Abreu Law Firm was able to convince the prosecutor to lower the charges from a felony to a misdemeanor with credit for the time our client already served in jail. As soon as our client took the plea, he was released from Corrections.

Ever wonder why you have to enter your ZIP code every time you pump gas with a credit card? The answer lies with Operation Gas Leak, which was a huge criminal enterprise in Miami-Dade that involved 40-plus defendants, and 44-plus vehicles, two of which were full-sized gas tankers.

FACTS: The scam involved over 50 individuals. First, there were the street people, who obtained stolen credit cards and used them to purchase gas at numerous gas stations in Miami-Dade County. These individuals would use cars equipped with an additional, home-made gas tank. The gas was pumped into the personal vehicles with the illegal tanks, and then transported to a central location, a.k.a. the “Fuel Farm.” At the Fuel Farm, the gas was pumped from the hidden tanks into large, full-sized gas tankers (18-wheelers). The tankers would then return to the gas stations (from where the gas was originally taken from) and sell the gas back to the gas stations at reduced prices. Go to this page for more information on how the scam worked and many law enforcement authorities involved.

RESULT: The Abreu Law Firm represented the #3 defendant in the entire organization who owned the Fuel Farm property and many of the smaller vehicles. She was charged with RICO and Conspiracy to Commit RICO. After tough lawyering and extensive negotiations, Mr. Abreu had the charges against his client dismissed and the seized property returned. This case ended up being on the largest RICO cases in South Florida history.

FACTS: Our client was out with friends one night when she had one (1) drink before calling it an early night. On her way home, she was pulled over by one of the top DUI officers in Miami. After participating the road-side sobriety exercises, our client was arrested for Driving Under the Influence.

During the trial, Mr. Abreu and Mr. Wolenski brought out key facts that helped persuade the jury that our client was indeed Not Guilty of DUI. For instance, to conduct the sobriety exercises, the officer walked our client over US1 to a dark parking lot, across the highway from her car, standing in a dimly lit lot, late at night, with no one around her except two policemen. Anxious and afraid, she participated in the sobriety exercises in her bare feet. Once arrested, our client knew that the officer had already made up his mind that she was intoxicated, and that nothing would change, despite her full compliance. Disgusted, our client refused to take a breathalyzer.

RESULT: After a three day jury trial, the jury deliberated for approximately 30 minutes before returning a verdict of Not Guilty. Our client walked out of the courtroom a free person with no criminal record.

FACTS: Our client was driving when the police pulled him over for speeding. As soon as our client opened his window, suspect marijuana smoke poured out of the driver’s window. A search incident to arrest revealed a loaded gun under the driver’s seat, ammunition, several baggies of cocaine, MDMA, and marijuana.

Due to his prior criminal history, the State labeled our client as a Habitual Felony Offender. As such, he was facing 17 years in state prison.

RESULT: After negotiating with the State Attorney, the Abreu Law Firm was able to secure a plea offer of only 17% of what our client could have received as a Habitual Felony Offender.

FACTS: Our client was arrested in Miami-Dade County but wanted on charges of Armed Robbery in California. Unfortunately for our client, he was facing life imprisonment in California under the 3 Strikes Law.

RESULT: Mr. Abreu fought the California extradition and won. During an intense hearing, filed a Writ of Habeas Corpus and successfully argued that the paperwork regarding the extradition was defective. The Court granted the Write and dismissed the extradition. Soon after, our client was released.