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Date: 03-09-2023
Case Style:
United States of America v. Ruben Montanez-Mirabal
Case Number: 23-CR-20051
Judge: Jose E. Martinez
Court: United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (Miami-Dade County)
Plaintiff's Attorney: United States Attorney’s Office in Miami
Defendant's Attorney:
Description: Miami, Florida criminal defense lawyer represented Defendant charged with conspiring to commit bribery, conspiring to provide contraband in a federal prison, and providing contraband in a federal prison.
Around November 2021 through late August 2022, Ruben Montanez-Mirabal, age 33, who was a registered nurse working for the Federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) at the Federal Detention Center – Miami (“FDC-Miami”) in downtown Miami, solicited and obtained illegal payments from FDC-Miami inmates in exchange for bringing in and delivering to them prohibited objects, including controlled substances that had been soaked into sheets of paper. In exchange for violating his official duties by providing these drug-soaked papers and other prohibited items, Montanez-Mirabal accepted thousands of dollars in bribes from these inmates and their associates. Along with these payments, Montanez-Mirabal also solicited and received other things of value from inmates, including the free use of a Lamborghini and a Rolls-Royce.
Montanez-Mirabal would bring these prohibited items into FDC-Miami and then either deliver them directly to the inmates or hide them in places where the inmate paying him would be able to recover the contraband. Those inmates would then re-sell the pages to other inmates at a rate of $1,500 per page. As admitted at the change of plea, Montanez-Mirabal made a number of these deliveries for inmates, including one delivery where he was observed hiding thirty-seven drug-soaked pages underneath a shelving unit in a mop closet accessible to the inmate paying him. Investigators were able to recover these pages from the closet and laboratory testing revealed that the pages were laced with a synthetic cannabinoid-controlled substance and had the defendant’s fingerprints on them.
Montanez-Mirabal also admitted that during the charged conduct, he was aware that inmates were reselling the pages for $1,500 each, and that he delivered between 100 and 140 such pages to inmates inside FDC-Miami in exchange for the bribes he received.
United States District Judge Jose E. Martinez will sentence Montanez-Mirabal in Miami on May 16, at 11:30 a.m. Montanez-Mirabal faces up to 15 years in prison.
U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida, acting Special Agent in Charge Maged Behnam of the FBI Miami Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge James Boyersmith, Department of Justice Office of Inspector General, Miami Field Office, announced the guilty plea.
FBI Miami and DOJ-OIG Miami are investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Edward N. Stamm is prosecuting it.
18 U.S.C. § 371 CONSPIRACY TO ACCEPT BRIBES AND PROVIDE CONTRABAND IN PRISON
(1)
18 U.S.C. § 1791(a)(1) PROVIDING CONTRABAND IN PRISON
(2)
Outcome: 03/08/2023 25 PAPERLESS Minute Entry for proceedings held before Judge Jose E. Martinez: Change of Plea Hearing as to Ruben Montanez-Mirabal held on 3/8/2023. In Court, it was mentioned that the defendant would not be needing the assigned Spanish interpreter, so the interpreter was dismissed upon arrival and defendant's case information was updated accordingly in CM/ECF. Defendant sworn. Ruben Montanez-Mirabal pled GUILTY to Counts 1 and 2. Sentencing set for 5/16/2023 at 11:30 AM in Miami Division before Judge Jose E. Martinez. Total time in court: 29 minutes. Attorney Appearance(s): Edward N. Stamm, AUSA, Bijan Sebastian Parwaresch, Esq. Court Reporter: Dawn Savino, 305-523-5598 / Dawn_Savino@flsd.uscourts.gov. (adl) (Entered: 03/08/2023)
03/08/2023 26 FACTUAL PROFFER STATEMENT (Exh: 1) as to Ruben Montanez-Mirabal, Ruben Montanez-Mirabal. (adl) (Entered: 03/08/2023)
03/08/2023 27 PLEA AGREEMENT (Exh: 2) as to Ruben Montanez-Mirabal. (adl) (Entered: 03/08/2023)
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
Comments: