Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Man admits to shooting 3 teens
Gun fired at officer links suspect to killings, police say
Police finally caught up with an 18-year-old from Boynton Beach they say is a killer who ended three lives in two weeks.
A shot fired into the darkness at an officer — as Lantana police responded to a call just before 2 a.m. Thursday about people trying to break into cars at the Yacht Club in nearby Hypoluxo — missed.
But investigators say the .380 caliber handgun Joel Rodriguez fired at police as they chased him on foot links him to the killings of teenagers on Nov. 30 in Wellington and Dec. 10 in West Palm Beach amid a burglary and robbery spree.
Rodriguez arrived at his first-appearance court hearing in handcuffs Friday morning, with scabs and bruises on his face and a chunk of his hair missing.
A judge ordered that he be jailed without bond on three counts of murder.
Rodriguez already had at least nine prior arrests on burglary- and theft-related charges, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said Rodriguez admitted to killing 17-year-old Dalton Dobkins – described as an aspiring Marine who loved fishing – while burglarizing Dobkins’ home in Wellington.
Rodriguez said he shot Dobkins twice after Dobkins startled him during the break-in on the 2300 block of Stonybrook Drive, according to the Sheriff ’s Office.
Investigators say Rodriguez also admitted to shooting Elijah Montas, 17, and Aaron Valle, 18, less than two weeks later while robbing them in the 6000 block of Sherwood Glen Way.
Montas and Valle had been friends since middle school, according to a family member.
The night of the shooting, they left Valle’s house saying they needed to run an errand and didn’t return.
The teens Rodriguez is accused of killing were not strangers to him, according to Denis Fiallos, who attended Friday’s court hearing and described himself as a friend of Rodriguez.
Fiallos said he was aware of misunderstandings and trouble between Rodriguez and his alleged victims but didn’t know the specifics. He was shocked, he said, to learn that Rodriguez was accused of murder.
“I didn’t think he had it in him,” said Fiallos, who told reporters he went to court Friday to show support for his friend of more than six years. “He used to come over to my house years before and just hang out and play basketball and just chill.”
Two other men arrested with Rodriguez Thursday also face charges in connection with the earlier shootings.
They include Augustine Rivera, 20, arrested on charges of first-degree murder and armed burglary in connection with Dobkins’ death. Rivera, who shares a Boynton Beach address with Rodriguez, didn’t attend his court hearing Friday.
Also arrested Thursday was Carlos Hernandez, 19, who faces a charge of firstdegree murder and robbery with a firearm in connection with the deaths of Montas and Valle.
A man at the address of a Boynton Beach house listed as the residence of Rivera and Rodriguez declined to comment on Friday.
Gigi Mulvey, 54, and her husband Bernie Mulvey, 58, who live nearby say they have known Rivera, Rodriguez and Hernandez since they were children.
Bernie Mulvey said the three would help with moving furniture.
The couple said they’ve seen authorities outside the house a few times after there had been a fight, but they didn’t believe the three would have done anything like what they’re accused of.
“I just can’t see that happening,” said Bernie Mulvey, who said he thinks the three are step brothers. “It’s kind of sad.”
Rodriguez’s first arrest for battery came in 2012 when he was 14 years old. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year in a juvenile facility, records show. He also has convictions for throwing a missile into an occupied vehicle, criminal mischief and larceny.
Rodriguez is currently on probation in at least one case.
On Jan. 4, he was sentenced in Palm Beach County circuit court to 151 days in jail to be followed by two years probation. He had pleaded guilty to theft and burglary charges.
Hernandez and Rivera both have pasts arrests for charges of theft.
Carlos Hernandez on Oct. 26 pleaded guilty to grand theft of a motor vehicle and burglary charges and was sentenced to six months in county jail with credit for 101 days. His stay in jail was to be followed by three years of probation, records show.
Augustine Rivera’s had an August 2015 arrest by Boynton Beach police for grand theft of a motor vehicle that resulted in a sentence of 38 days time served to be followed by two years probation, records show.
Last August, Rivera was arrested on seven charges ranging from driving with a suspended license to burglary, but all charges were dropped the next month, records show.