Cops: NFL players’ stickup victims recant after payoffs in state lawmaker’s office
The armed robbery case against two NFL players took an outlandish turn when police filed a warrant saying their victims had been paid off to change their stories — in the office of Beach lawmaker Michael Grieco.
The case against two NFL football players accused of armed robbery in Miramar took a twist after it was revealed that detectives believe four victims recanted after being paid a total of $55,000 in cash — at the office of a South Florida defense lawyer and state lawmaker.
That attorney: Michael Grieco, who represents accused Seattle Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar. Grieco, a Democrat, won a seat in the state House in 2018. He is also a former Miami Beach city commissioner, having resigned in 2017 after pleading no contest to a criminal charge over a campaign-finance violation.
The allegation about the payoff was revealed Friday night by the New York Daily News, which obtained a search warrant filed in Broward Circuit Court. The Miami Herald, on Saturday, obtained Miramar police reports that detail the same allegations — and reveal that, as of last month anyway, Grieco was under criminal investiga
tion.
“Grieco’s office was the background that facilitated a cash transaction that later obstructed the integrity of an investigation,” said one of the police reports, which added that evidence is still being collected and “the final charging decision will rest with the Broward County State Attorney.”
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which is assisting in the probe, did not believe Grieco’s actions “rise to the level of criminal behavior,” according to the reports.
Tania Rues, a spokeswoman for Miramar police, said she could not comment on whether the department is still investigating Grieco. The Miami Herald did not obtain the reports from police.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office is still deciding whether to press armed robbery charges against Dunbar and New York Giants cornerback Deandre Baker. A spokesperson declined to comment on Saturday.
Dunbar and Baker were arrested after Miramar police said they stole jewelry and money from people, at gunpoint, at a house party on May 13. Police said Dunbar was seen helping Baker, although victims conflicted on whether he was armed.
The two South Florida natives were arrested on armed robbery and aggravated assault charges. The Broward State Attorney’s Office declined to comment on Saturday.
The search warrant obtained by the New York Daily News, and the police documents, said that a Miami man named Dominic “Coach” Johnson, who has known both NFL players since their youth, helped arrange the payoffs at Grieco’s office. In exchange, the four victims signed sworn affidavits alleging that Dunbar had nothing to do with the robbery.
The police documents alleged that closed-circuit TV footage shows Johnson and another unidentified person joined the four supposed victims at the lawyer’s Miami office two days after the incident.
Johnson and the unknown person are seen in the elevator going up to Grieco’s office on the afternoon of May 15. The unknown person opens a “black bag” and “removes money,” the newspaper reported, quoting the warrant. The person also “shows the open bag to Johnson and you can see a large quantity of money. Johnson then takes the bag,” the warrant alleged.
According to a police report obtained by the Miami Herald, one of the victims told detectives that he was given $5,000 inside Grieco’s office.
“The lawyer said, you know, I’m not supposed to be in any of this type of situation ... so whatever you guys have going on ... you know, that’s between you guys. I’m just here for the affidavit,” said the victim, an exchange echoed by other victims.
“He said that he was going to step out because he couldn’t take any part in it,” another victim said, according to a transcript of the interview included in the police report.
A Miramar detectives asked him: “Was it your impression that he knew what was about to happen, he knew that there was going to be a payoff ...?”
The victim replied: “Yeah, that’s why he stepped out.”
One of the victims — who had a watch stolen during the robbery — said Grieco walked out of the office but soon walked back in “to see what was going on.”
“He walked in and the money was like being just dumped out,” the victim said, adding: “Coach asked him to leave the room.”
The victim told police that Dunbar’s little brother was the one who actually handed over the cash to Johnson.
After everyone had left the meeting, the documents said, a Miramar detective said he got a call from Grieco saying the accusers had changed their testimony.
“This detective noted that Grieco was very giddy about the recanting and wanted the warrant quashed. Grieco then emailed me the sworn documents,” Miramar Detective Mark Moretti wrote in a report. “It should be noted all 5 documents were exactly the same.”
That same afternoon, the Herald and other media outlets reported Grieco’s claim. In a statement Friday night, Grieco did not deny that a meeting had taken place in his office or that money had changed hands.
“Law enforcement, both local and federal, was advised from day 1 and beyond that the alleged ‘victims’ in this case were actively extorting both Baker and Dunbar,” said Grieco, who represents a district that covers Miami Beach, North Bay Village, Little Havana and parts of downtown Miami. “These men fabricated a robbery story after waiting an hour to call police and then immediately began contacting the players demanding money. My office obtained accurate and truthful affidavits consistent with the independent witness and my client’s account.”
He called the accusers “seasoned career criminals” and added that Dunbar, his client, had passed a polygraph confirming that the NFL player “did not participate or witness any robbery.” Grieco also said the Daily News had not contacted him for comment before publishing its story.
He was automatically re-elected to another term in the state House last month after no opponent filed to run against him.
Bradford Cohen, an attorney for Baker, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did Johnson, the man said to have paid off the victims.
According to the court and police documents, one victim later told police he got $30,000 in Grieco’s office, while a second admitted he received $20,000 there. A third said he received $5,000 and gave half to the fourth victim.
The victims also reported that they’d received threats — one, according to a police report, said Johnson told him about a $100,000 bounty “on our head.”
The developments in the case were already rippling across South Florida legal and political circles.
In a statement, Florida House Speaker Jose Oliva said he would “follow the case closely.”
“News reports are extremely concerning, and the House takes these allegations very seriously. All members are expected to act in accordance with the ethics rules and set an example for their fellow citizens. I expect Representative Grieco to cooperate with law-enforcement and do what is in the best interest of his constituents,” said Oliva, a Republican. “Should Representative Grieco be convicted or plead guilty, further action is available to me in my capacity as Speaker. Representative Grieco is entitled, as all Americans are under our Constitution, to the presumption of innocence.”
State Rep. Joseph Geller, chairman of the MiamiDade County Legislative Delegation, defended Grieco Saturday after learning of the allegations against him.
“Mike Grieco is a valued member of our delegation. He does a great job in Tallahassee. I think the fact that in a very turbulent Miami-Dade political world he was reelected unopposed says something about the way he’s viewed politically,” said Geller, a Democrat from Aventura. “I tend to be skeptical about wild accusations against defense lawyers as a general rule. They have a habit of making people in authority uncomfortable.”
Grieco has not been accused of a crime over the alleged payoffs.
The state representative has courted controversy throughout his career, from his stint in the mid-2000s as an assistant state attorney — which ended after he was caught using his assault-charge prosecution of now-deceased NFL player Sean Taylor to advertise his side-gig moonlighting as “DJ Esquire” at South Beach nightclubs — to the criminal charge he faced over a campaign-finance scandal that forced him to resign as a Miami Beach commissioner three years ago.
Even before this latest brush with notoriety, Grieco was battling a formal complaint from the Florida Bar and charges of “lying to the public” from the Miami-Dade ethics commission over the fundraising fiasco.
Despite overwhelming evidence that Grieco was secretly raising funds for a political action committee — including donors who said he asked them for money and state paperwork he filled out in his own hand — he denied his involvement to Miami Herald reporters who broke the story in 2017.
“It is absolutely untrue,” Grieco said at the time. “You can look right into my soul.”
State anti-corruption prosecutors later alleged that a crime had taken place.
They said that a Norwegian real estate investor — who as a foreign national was banned from contributing to U.S. elections — had donated $25,000 to the PAC through a straw donor. Grieco was accused of orchestrating the plot. But State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle allowed her former prosecutor to plead no contest to a charge of knowingly accepting a campaign contribution made in the name of another person, a first-degree misdemeanor. Grieco resigned from the Beach commission, swearing it would not be his last act in politics.
He was right. Days after his six-month probation expired — which barred him from running for public office — Grieco filed his bid for state representative.
Voters looked beyond his past. They compared the commissioner, who once took a break from his morning jog to help cops chase down a homeless man suspected of dealing drugs, to an “Energizer Bunny” who always answered constituent calls. He won a three-way primary with 41 percent of the vote, and then coasted to victory in the general election in the Democraticleaning district.
During his primary victory party, Grieco stepped outside to collect himself and reflect on his comeback.
Sitting on the ground outside a South Beach tavern sipping a Blue
Moon, Grieco said his supporters knew what they were voting for.
“They care about hard work,” he said. “And they care about the retail delivery of government.”