Local law enforcement stayed busy tracking down perpetrators throughout the island chain in 2024. The Florida Keys also had a visit from FBI agents who arrested more than 20 in a cocaine trafficking ring. Meanwhile, the courts were bustling with activity as high-profile cases took center stage.
Threat against Key West student leads to Coral Shores student’s arrest
An 18-year-old Upper Keys student was jailed for threatening to kill a Key West teen in a Snapchat post that prompted a March 12 lockdown at Key West High School. Isaac Rodney Holmes, 18, was arrested March 18 on a felony charge of intimidation, which Florida law defines as sending “written or electronic threats to kill, do bodily injury or conduct a mass shooting or an act of terrorism.”
A week before his arrest, Holmes posted a video on his Snapchat account that tagged a Key West teen with the sentence, “w8 for u gon see cheeto.” School officials and police feared Holmes, having threatened to kill the 17-year-old Key West student, was headed to KWHS on a bus with a sports team coming from Coral Shores High School for an event. Deputies obtained an arrest warrant for Holmes on March 14, two days after the KWHS lockdown.
In December, Holmes received 24 months of probation and 100 community service hours.
MCSO deputy warned boyfriend of drug raids
A Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputy is facing felony charges after allegedly using police computer systems to help her boyfriend’s drug-dealing activities, the Keys Weekly learned from an arrest affidavit in late July.
Jennifer Ketcham, 40, allegedly used law enforcement computers, networks, databases and her position as an acting supervisor to warn her boyfriend, Ryan Hernandez, about impending drug raids and of narcotics officers patrolling certain areas of the Lower Keys. Ketcham advised Hernandez of areas to avoid on Stock Island in 2023 while she was an acting supervisor, who dictated the zones to which patrol deputies are assigned. Ketcham was later fired. A pre-trial conference is set for Jan. 14 before Judge Albert Kelley in Key West.
Feds bust Keys suspects in cocaine trafficking case
FBI agents descended on Marathon on Sept. 5, arresting 22 Keys suspects involved in an alleged cocaine trafficking ring. The suspects, which included Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority employees, commercial charter boat operators and a former City of Marathon employee, faced federal drug and firearm offenses.
John Robert Strama Jr., 42, of Marathon, faced additional charges of cocaine distribution, using a child under the age of 14 to engage in drug trafficking and avoid detection and apprehension, and possessing a firearm and ammunition after a previous felony conviction. Nyran Antonio Ross, 32, of Marathon; Tyrell Lamar Williams, 36, of Marathon; Macarthur Junior Sheppard, 36, of Marathon; and Kenyatta Scott Jr., 32, of Key West also face additional federal charges for cocaine distribution within 1,000 feet of playgrounds in Florida City and Marathon.
The majority of the defendants made their first appearances before Magistrate Judge Panayotta D. Augustin-Birch on Sept. 6. They were released on bonds of $100,000 or $200,000 with requirements to wear GPS monitors and submit to random urine testing.
Boat driver arrested for fatally striking spearfisherman
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conversation officers arrested a 72-year-old Placida, Florida resident for allegedly striking and killing a spearfisherman off Bahia Honda State Park over the Fourth of July weekend. According to the arrest warrant, Palmer Reid Long Jr.’s 32-foot Contender was the only vessel traveling at high speed through the area where 56-year-old Israel Boza was killed.
In July, a screenshot taken from GoPro footage recorded by Boza’s fellow snorkeler in the water and posted to social media quickly identified Long’s vessel at his residence in Key Colony Beach. Other stills from the same footage show Long’s vessel passing through the area where Boza was swimming and within roughly 30 feet of the camera operator in the water, FWC investigator Glen Wray wrote in the warrant. A pre-trial conference is set for Feb. 2, 2025 before Judge James Morgan in Marathon.
Preston Brewer attorneys argue self defense in Garrett Hughes shooting
Defense attorneys for Preston Brewer argued at a Dec. 10 hearing that Brewer was acting in self defense when he fatally shot Garrett Hughes, 21, in the parking lot of a Key West bar on Feb. 13, 2023.
Judge Mark Jones heard statements from defense attorney Jerome Ballarotto and prosecutor Joe Mansfield, as well as testimony from two eyewitnesses — Carson Hughes, Garrett’s brother, and his friend, Blake Arencibia — who were with Hughes the night of the shooting.
Jones did not rule on the Stand Your Ground defense, indicating that the decision — which will determine whether the case is dismissed or goes to trial — will come next month.
Other notable stories
- Deputy hit by alleged drunk driver
- Marathon Capitol rioter sentenced
- Arrest made in cold case
- Woman jailed for allegedly killing puppy
- Daniel Weisberger trial delayed
- Charges filed in human smuggling case
- Man flees, jumps off Seven Mile Bridge
