One woman had an odd idea for her COVID relief money. She used the funds she was able to get through the federal Paycheck Protection Program to find and hire a hitman to hunt and kill an agent of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in Miami.
It was stated by police officials that Jasmine Martinez, aged 33, issued a payment to Javon Carter, 29, to hunt down and carry out a hit last year that targeted Le’Shonte Jones, aged 24, who was employed as an agent by the TSA in the Miami International Airport. Martinez’s boyfriend, 35-year-old Romiel Robinson, was taken into custody for allegedly being the go-between and brokering the deal for Martinez and Carter.
As a result, Jones was fatally shot just outside of her apartment located in Homestead, Florida, in front of her 3-year-old daughter. The young girl was also injured in the assault, which took place in broad daylight, reported NBC 6. The news source went on to state that both the daughter and the mother were approached by a from inside a dark, four-door Nissan, who then proceeded to exit the vehicle and shoot Jones before fleeing.
The outlet has since gotten its hands on the recently unsealed arrest warrants for the event which detailed the murder-for-hire scheme.
“Bank statements were obtained which show a series of withdrawals of over $10,000 in cash and/or payments which occurs over the following days leading up to the homicide,” stated the warrant, according to NBC 6.
Martinez allegedly utilized the funds she got from a $15,000 pandemic-related loan as a means to finance the killing. Martinez was able to get the loan by falsely claiming that she required it to allow the continued operation of her single-employee beauty salon, reported The Miami Herald.
The warrant also went on to state that a video clip found on Carter’s phone displayed him counting out a massive amount of cash on the exact day of the shooting, then bragging that it’s “Just another day at the office.”
Martinez is standing accused of ordering the hit due to the fact that Jones had agreed to testify against Martinez and a group of others. The Herald issued a report that stated that the investigation into the death of jones “focused on Jones’ role as a prosecution witness,” as she “had been the victim in an ongoing robbery case that involved Martinez.” The Herald went on to note that Martinez had “a long series of run-ins with Jones”:
She’d first been arrested on a battery charge in April 2016, accused of striking Jones, who was dating Martinez’s ex-boyfriend. The case wound up dropped.
Martinez was arrested again in 2018, for again beating up Jones. After a court hearing for the case in February 2020, according to police reports, Jones was attacked in the parking lot of Miami’s criminal courthouse by Martinez’s boyfriend, Kelly Nelson.
Nelson was jailed for armed robbery. He is awaiting trial, even though the chief witness has been murdered. Martinez was not charged in that case.
It is currently alleged by police officials that while waiting for Nelson’s case, Martinez “orchestrated a campaign to threaten and intimidate Jones, and then eventually murder the young mother when she continued to cooperate with prosecutors.”
The entire murder-for-hire plot was discussed in phone calls while in jail, a few of which were recorded and have since been entered in as evidence.