A Florida woman used money from a pandemic relief loan to hire a hitman to murder a rival who had dated her ex-boyfriend, police said.
Jasmine Martinez allegedly used the federal Paycheck Protection Program to pay a gunman who fatally shot Le’Shonte Jones and wounded her 3-year-old son in a broad daylight attack outside her Miami apartment on May 3, 2021, NBC 6 reported.
Martinez had withdrawn more than $10,000 in the days before the shooting, after she netted $15,000 from the federal government she applied for to help her single-employee beauty salon, according to an arrest warrant cited by the Miami Herald.
Police also arrested alleged middle man Romiel Robinson and hitman, Javon Carter, in relation to the murder of Jones, a Transportation Security Administration worker. Carter had allegedly filmed a video of himself counting cash just hours after Jones was shot multiple times, according to arrest warrants.
“Just another day at the office,” Carter said on the video, according to the Herald.
Attorneys for Martinez and Robinson said their clients had no part in plotting the killing.
The TSA worker had allegedly been targeted by Martinez after several run-ins that culminated with the victim testifying in a case against Martinez’s boyfriend, reports said.
Martinez was arrested in 2016 after hitting Jones, who was dating Martinez’s ex – but that case was dropped, the Herald said.
After Martinez was arrested in 2018 for allegedly beating up Jones again, Jones was attacked in the courthouse parking lot by two men, including Martinez’s new boyfriend Kelly Nelson, according to NBC.
Jones was going to testify against Nelson but reported being harassed and offered a payout to keep her mouth shut, according to the accusations against her. Robinson, who was reportedly Martinez’s latest boyfriend, served as a middle man and put his girlfriend in touch with the alleged hitman, NBC said.
In April, Jones testified that she’d been attacked by Nelson and intimidated by Martinez.