Miami Herald

Feds arrest man who cops say was driving in North Bay Village hit-and-run that killed a mom and her 2 girls

- BY MICHELLE MARCHANTE AND OMAR RODRÍGUEZ ORTIZ mmarchante@miamiheral­d.com orodriguez­ortiz@miamiheral­d.com Miami Herald Staff Writer David J. Neal contribute­d to this report. Michelle Marchante: 305-376-2708, @TweetMiche­lleM

man police suspect was the driver in a fiery hit-and-run crash that killed a mother and her two daughters in the Miami area last month has been taken into custody by federal agents in North Carolina, according to authoritie­s.

Julius Bernstein was arrested Tuesday afternoon by the U.S. Marshals Service on open warrants not related to the June 27 hitand-run on the 79th Street Causeway in North Bay Village, Deputy U.S. Marshal Roberto Gonzalez, a spokesman for the agency, told the Miami Herald on Wednesday.The 24-yearold Bernstein was arrested at about 4 p.m. in Charlotte, N.C., Gonzalez added.

Investigat­ors suspect Bernstein, who hasn’t had a driver’s license since 2016, was the speeding driver involved in the crash that killed Cynthia Orsatelliz and her two daughters, Maria, 12, and Sophia, 15, Lt. Luis J. Sierra, a spokesman for Miami-Dade police, said Tuesday in an email.

The North Bay Village Police Department is grateful for its law enforcemen­t partners’ “relentless efforts” with this case, Chief Carlos Noriega said TuesThe day in a statement.

“The entire NBV community can now begin to heal as we continue to grieve with the victims’ family and hope that justice is served to the individual responsibl­e for this horrific tragedy,” Noriega added.

Florida Department of Correction­s records list Bernstein as an “absconder,” which means he was on the run.

Records show Bernstein is serving a three-year probation after conviction­s on three counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcemen­t officer; three counts of fleeing law enforcemen­t with no regard for safety of people or property; three counts of tampering with an electronic monitoring device; three counts of resisting an officer with violence; and three counts of resisting an officer without violence

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