Ex-undercover Palm Beach County deputy takes plea deal
Joaquin Fonseca-Ortiz earned recognition as the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office “Investigator of the Year” for his efforts in bringing down the leader of a criminal street gang four years ago.
But Fonseca-Ortiz last year found himself in serious trouble with his bosses, accused of falsely arresting a man he claimed was a crack cocaine dealer.
The 25-year agency veteran pleaded not guilty to official misconduct and other charges as his case was headed for a trial later this month.
Fonseca-Ortiz, 49, appeared before Circuit Judge John Kastrenakes on June 25 to take a plea deal, resulting in four firstdegree misdemeanor charges. The former undercover narcotics deputy has been on unpaid leave since his arrest, and is set to surrender Aug. 25 to begin serving a one-year sentence in the Palm Beach County Jail.
According to an arrest report, Fonseca- Ortiz falsely reported that while working undercover he made two successful drug buys at a home near Riviera Beach on Feb. 7 and Feb. 8, 2014.
Those sales were used to justify a search warrant for the home and the arrest of the alleged dealer, according to the report.
But investigators later reviewed security video footage from the house, in the 100 block of Avenue O, which did not show any undercover drug deals by Fonseca-Ortiz, according to the report.
“Therefore, the crack cocaine that was entered into evidence was not purchased from this house,” according to the report.
The charges were dropped against the suspect.
Fonseca-Ortiz had been facing five counts of official misconduct, along with charges of possession of cocaine and giving false information to a law enforcement officer during an investigation.
He agreed to plead guilty to four misdemeanor counts of criminal use of a public record or public records information, said prosecutor Marci Rex.
In turn, the State Attorney’s Office dropped one remaining official misconduct felony charge, along with the cocaine charge and the false information charge.
Judge Kastrenakes will sentence Fonseca-Ortiz when he surrenders to 12 months in jail on each misdemeanor count, with the terms to run at the same time, as long as there are no new arrests or violations before the defendant turns himself in.
If Fonseca-Ortiz fails to follow the rules of the agreement, the jail terms could wind up being consecutive. The first six months of Fonseca-Ortiz’s sentence could be served in the jail’s work-release program, with Fonseca-Ortiz eligible for house arrest for the balance of the jail sentence, Rex said.
Defense attorney Scott Richardson, who negotiated his client’s deal with the prosecutor, declined to comment Wednesday.
For nearly a year after his May 20, 2014 arrest, Fonseca-Ortiz’s identity was shielded in official Palm Beach County court records.
He was listed as “Name Unavailable — the clerk’s office had said it was following a state law preventing the release of “any information revealing undercover personnel of any criminal justice agency.”
On April 15, Judge Kastrenakes ordered the clerk to discontinue the use of the term “Name Unavailable” to and to identify Fonseca- Ortiz in the record like everyone else charged with crimes.