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SWORN STATEMENT OF EVELIO RODRIGUEZ APRIL 4, 2012 EVELIO RODRIGUEZ having been first duly sworn testifies as follows: MR. LOPEZ: Today is April 4th, it's I am Commander Lopez,

approximately 2:57 p.m.

an internal affairs investigator for the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department. Also

present is Detective Alicia Neal, also a member of the internal affairs unit. affidavit placed before you. THE WITNESS: I, Major Evelio Rodriguez, Please read the

being duly -- being first duly sworn hereby state that my name is Evelio Rodriguez. I work

at 6100 Northwest 2nd Avenue, Miami, Florida 33127. My date of birth is 10-28-1958. My

contact number is 786-402-3802.

I am making

the following statement to Commander Edwin Lopez and Detective Alicia Neal, who have identified themselves as internal affairs investigators for Miami-Dade Schools Police Department, State of Florida, in connection with case number IA number 12-001, 002, 003, 005 and 006. I am of sound mind and I am not

under the influence of drugs or alcohol at this

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time.

I understand that giving false

information in this statement is a violation of Florida Statutes 837.05, false reports to law enforcement authorities, punishable as a misdemeanor of the first degree, and 837.06, making false official statements punishable as a misdemeanor of the second degree. MR. LOPEZ: You have signed the affidavit. I am going to ask

I have signed as a witness. you a few questions.

Are you appearing here

today without any promises and without any threats or duress to provide information in an investigation being conducted by the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department? THE WITNESS: MR. LOPEZ: Yes. Are you aware that your

conversation with me is being recorded? THE WITNESS: MR. LOPEZ: Yes. Are you aware that your Are you

conversation with me -- I'm sorry.

aware that anything you say may or may not be used at a departmental hearing or in a court of law? THE WITNESS: Yes.

DIRECT EXAMINATION
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(By Mr. Lopez)

Major Rodriguez, did you

ever witness anyone in your staff discuss the T.M. case? A Q No. Did you ever witness anyone discuss the

case in terms of news or media or maybe the -- a form of gossip or just hearsay? A Yes, in fact I have discussed the case

myself, just as a newsworthy eye. Q A Who did you discuss the case with? I don't remember exactly. I believe it

was staff from the administrative division because there was a group of people. It was just casual

conversation, I don't remember who was there. Q Did any of that conversation involve the

police report? A Q No. Did you ever physically see the police

report involving T.M. case or any -- on any of the two cases about the one in October, 2011 and the one in February, 2012? A Q No. Did you ever see the police report or any

of those two police reports involving T.M. on a computer screen?

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A screen. Q

I don't remember seeing it on a computer

Did you ever instruct anyone to

investigate a case involving T.M.? A Q No. Did you discuss the T.M. case with anyone

outside the department, including other law enforcement agencies, personnel, or media representatives? A Q No. Did you ever speak with any representative

from Miami-Dade Police Department in reference to the T.M. case? A Q A Q A Q A Q No. Florida Department of Law Enforcement? No. Sanford Police Department? No. Any local media? No. Did you ever authorize anyone to follow up

on any case involving T.M.? A Q No. Are you aware of any of your detectives

following up or looking into the T.M. case in any

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form or capacity? A Q No. Were you aware that your staff had printed

and viewed the police report involving T.M.? A I'm aware now that the case was assigned Therefor, it would have

to one of our detectives.

been logical to view it and print it. Q case? Can you elaborate on the assigning of a How does that happen and how did the T.M.

case become assigned to one of your detectives? A I'm not sure exactly how this particular

case was assigned as I am not involved in that process at all. My understanding is this is the

case where the uniformed officer in the field is reviewed by the -- by the sergeant. by the lieutenant. It is reviewed

The operation lieutenant then

transmits the report to this unit -- to the general investigations unit and the commander here, Commander Fox, will then in turn assign it to the appropriate sergeant who then assigns it to a detective. Q assigned? How did you become aware that the case was You're not directly involved in that

process but obviously you were informed that the case was assigned. How did you become aware of
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that? A Well obviously, as the case began to get

more and more media attention it began to -- to be in everybody's mind, you know, and eventually while -- I think that the -- the -- not too long ago, detectives under my supervision received notices that they would be investigated by internal affairs and therefor I, you know, became more aware of the process. Q Who -- who was assigned the case to

investigate and by who? A It is my understanding that this case

appeared to detectives -- on Detective Hadley's dashboard, among many other cases for him to -- to investigate and it would have been assigned by his sergeant, Sergeant Tagle, William Tagle. Q A How did you find out about this? Just -- just asking just you know, general

questions, general comments to you know, just things that occurred about the fact that for example, another sergeant, Detective Hadley, did a supplemental investigation on the case. Q A On which case? On a case originating out of Krop Senior

having the do with T.M.

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Q A

When was the date? I don't know that. I don't know that

information.

I can tell you what I heard, okay, and

that Detective Hadley asked Sergeant Hodges if she could approve. I took a whole bunch of reports that

he had and I believe that that was one of the ones that he included. So, she approved a whole bunch of

reports for Detective Hadley. Q Okay, how did you become aware of the

statement you just made to me? A It's just a general conversation. A

general conversation, you know, that -Q A Hodges. Q A So Sergeant Hodges informed you -No, no. She doesn't inform me. Just With who? Office conversation. With Sergeant

conversation you know, that you overhear when you walk by, that maybe she's talking to somebody else. Q A all. So you overheard a conversation -Yes. I don't supervise that process at

It has nothing to do with me in that sense.

I'm not involved in the assignment of case but it's a small -- it's a physically small area so if I'm up there, you know, and I see, you know, and hear
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comments and I see the work taking place, you know, real time. Q When you heard about -- when you heard

Lourdes Hodges mention the signing of this case did you talk to her in further detail about it? A Q No. Did you ever witness any media

representatives physically here at GIU? A Q I did not. Did you ever hear with either office talk

or speaking with one of your detectives that a media representative was here at GIU? A Q A I did. When was that? I don't remember. It would have been

maybe a week or so ago, at least. Q less? A Q A Yes. Who did you speak to? I came back from a meeting and I was told So within maybe seven to 10 days, more or

that a local member of the media, a street reporter, had been here. Q A Who informed you? My commander.
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Q A Q A Channel 7. Q

Commander Fox? Commander Fox. And who was the media reporter? I believe the name was Rosh Lowe from

And when you were notified that the

reporter was here did you inquire as to his purpose for being here? A It was a general conversation. From the

best of my recollection he wanted to view some evidence. Q A denied. Q What else did you hear about where he Okay. And I'm told that he, of course, was

physically was within your -- within the station here? A I don't -- I didn't hear any -- I don't

know how far, you know -- he's been here before multiple times on other cases so I -- so I don't know how far he got. Q Do you ever speak to him -- to that

reporter on a regular basis? A Q I've never spoken to that reporter. Ever?

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A Q

Ever. Are you aware of a relationship -- working

relationship -- with -- between that reporter and any one of your detectives? A Q A Q No I am not. Or staff? No. Do you know if any of your detectives

speak with that reporter at all? A I have no idea if -- if they do it would

not be in my presence. Q Do you know if that reporter just showed

up here or was invited over here? A I don't know what the reason for the

reporter coming was. Q Are you aware that SOP pertaining to

records were -- states that police reports will only be released via the records unit to anyone, including law enforcement agencies? A I'm not sure what SOP's have been approved

and which ones haven't been approved, so I don't know if this particular one has been signed off. Q Hurley. A This one was signed in 2010 by Chief Are you -I'm aware. I'm very aware of the SOP's.
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Are you aware of your detectives sharing

police reports with other law enforcement agencies? A Q A No, I'm not. Have you ever witnessed -Now let me clarify my last question. We

have in the past, if you're asking a general question, yes. We have shared police reports with

law enforcement agencies in the past. Q In what fashion? Would it be e-mail, just

physical -A Fax, e-mail. We have received and we have We've given Miami-Dade and a That has been standard

sent police reports.

number of agencies locally. practice. Q

Okay, when was the last time that occurred

to your -- the best of your knowledge? A To the best of my recollection it was an

arrest warrant that was provided to us by the Miami-Dade Police Department sexual battery unit. They arrested one of our employees and they sent us a copy of the arrest form. Q -A last time.
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But as far as you sending or disseminating

I'm not aware -- I couldn't tell you the

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Q A

Could it have been this year? Again, at my level I would not know if --

if a detective is -- sends a copy of a report out. I would not know that. Q But you -- but it's -- you would say that

it's -- it's common practice for -A me. It would not alarm me. It would not alarm

If I knew that the sharing of information is

something that would not otherwise had caught my attention because this is done all the time. Q A Q Including the sharing of police reports? Including the sharing of police reports. Are you aware or have you witnessed any of

your investigators taking pictures of property and evidence pertaining to the T.M. case? A Q I have not witnessed it. Have you heard in speaking to anybody in

your staff about one of your investigators taking pictures of the property pertaining to the T.M. case? A I did. I heard, I don't remember exactly

from whom, but I heard from one of my staff members that a Miami-Dade detective wanted to take possession of some evidence and one of the detectives here said no and rather took a picture of
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the property for the detective, which I thought was a -- was a reasonable approach. Q A Right. Which detective was that?

I believe, if I recall correctly, it would

have been Detective Ucharro. Q And what is it exactly you heard? He took

a picture of the -A I don't really know details beyond, you

know, what I just told you. Q All you know is that he took the picture

and sent it to one of the detectives from Metro-Dade? A Q Yes. Do you know if he utilized a departmental

cameral or cellular? A picture. Q this? A Q who? A Again, I don't know exactly. It was No I did not. You became aware of this in speaking to And you became aware -- you didn't witness I don't know what he used to take the

conversations that I had.

It could have been a I didn't see

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number of my sergeants that told me.

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the, you know, the -- obviously I had no idea that things were going to evolve in the manner that they have so I -- I wasn't really paying attention, you know, at the time when I heard it. like a reasonable compromise. Seemed to me

We were not going to

relinquish the property but at the same tim,e, you know, they were working a case and it seemed to me like something reasonable. a picture. Q So to the best of your knowledge that Did you hear Good compromise, here's

picture was sent to Metro-Dade Police.

anything about it being sent to any media outlet? A Q A Q I did not. Is that a common practice? What is a common practice? To take pictures of evidence and sharing

of evidence in that fashion? A This is not a common case. This is not a

common case.

This is very uncommon and his -- you

know, it's apparent to me that Miami-Dade Police also gave it more attention, you know, recently, in later of the events that happened. So no, it's not

common at all, you know, but certainly pictures is a way that we capture property. You know, we take

pictures and we release it back with the owner or

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the schools, you know, whenever it's appropriate. Q any time? A Q Never. To the best of your knowledge who was -Do you assign cases for investigation at

and some of the questions might be repetitive -A Q It's fine. -- so just bear with me. Are you aware,

to the best of your knowledge, the T.M. case being assigned to any other investigator besides Detective Hadley like you mentioned? A Q No. How many detectives according to -- to the

best of your knowledge from the general investigations unit, quote "followed up" on the case or worked on the case or looked into reports or what not? A Well it's my understanding that it was

assigned to Detective Hadley. Q You mentioned -- you previously mentioned

that to the best of your knowledge it was assigned by Detective Hadley, by Commander Fox, correct? A Q A Well it would have been -I'm sorry, I'm sorry, by Sergeant Tagle. Correct.
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Q A Q

Via Commander Fox? Via Commander Fox. Commander Fox receives reports for further

investigation -A Q A The reports are referred to GIU. Okay that -- can you explain that process? Well I can explain it, you know, again, I know

I'm not really an expert in the RMS system.

that reports are generated in the field for the most part and there's an approval process that eventually finds -- the reports find their way here to this unit. Q A Okay. Okay, and then from there there's the

assignment and then the review process. Q Okay and as far as detectives working this

case, who from your staff do you know where involved with this case at all? A Q A Q A Well -Besides Detective Hadley? I would think -And Detective Uchoo? Well as far as detectives, no other

detective that I'm aware of. Q Supervisors?

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Supervisor it would have been Commander

Fox who assigned it to Sergeant Tagle, and then it is my understanding that Sergeant Hodges approved -approved Detective Hadley's sup. Q Is it ever common for a detective to

voluntarily follow up or investigate cases or work cases or dedicating time to cases that are not assigned to them by a supervisor and/or referred to GIU by road unit via the RMS or MCT system? A I would say it's not common but it's

possible depending on the circumstances. Q Can you elaborate on a case or give me a

scenario where that would be or that would occur? A Sure. You could have a case where

seemingly the responding officer or say an officer of a school had a certain amount of information and then the follow up investigation and then generate it. You know, some previously known information You Very

that then resulted in a more in-depth case. know, there are all kinds of possibilities. fluid process and all kinds of possibilities.

Sometimes we get a phone call, you know, for example I'll give you one example, yesterday we got a phone call on a sexual battery. One of the detectives was

called out, responded to the home, we learned that

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there had not been an initial report written so the detective wrote the initial report. fluid process. Q What is the time frame when an incident What is the general It's a very

occurs and a report is written?

time frame that an -- one of your investigators will look into a case? A What's a time -- what's the gap?

It's hard to say because there's a process A report may go

within the operations division.

back and forth for review purposes and we've had technical difficulties where cases have sat for quite a while. We call it here the crew term that For lack of a better term

we use is average base.

they actually sit for technical glitches and so forth. So it's hard to say, you know, to give you a On a normal situation without

specific time frame.

a glitch and with a report that doesn't require a lot of revisions, it shouldn't take that long. report is written -Q A Q A Q Estimate more or less? A few days. A few days. Not a few months? A

It should not be a few months. Did you ever physically see the property

that was impounded involving the T.M. cases?

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A Q

No.

No.

Did you ever see the pictures that were

taken by Detective Ochoa? A Q I did not. Did you ever speak to Detective Ochoa about

the pictures he took? A Q I did not. Did you ever hear him make any statements

about the pictures he took? A Q I did not. Did you ever speak to Detective Hadley

about the case? A I don't remember speaking anything of any

subsistent to Detective Hadley about the case. Q Did you ever speak to any other detective

or supervisor in your unit about the T.M. case and about the printing or reviewing of the reports? A No. Not of anything of substance. Again,

as I said previously I know that Detective Hadley went to Sergeant Hodges and Sergeant Hodges approved many of Sergeant Hadley's pending subs. those types of general conversations. Q And you found that information out by It was

speaking with who? A No it was something that I heard just

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walking around the office. Q A Who stated it? It might have been Sergeant Hodges. She

was asked by Detective Hadley if she could please approve a whole bunch of reports. Just for clarity,

we -- in this unit we basically triage the cases because of the -- you know with so few detectives and so many -- so many -- we handle -- today we handle 900, nearly 900 cases. the cases are triaged. So just for clarity,

In other words, we go to the

cases with high solvability first, okay, and so it's not uncommon to leave the ones where nobody got hurt, you know, the no identifiable victims, it's not uncommon to leave those. the solvability first. You know, we go for Then

Victims crimes, first.

as time allows, then we'll go back and pick up some of the other cases that are not as present. again, it's 900, almost 900 today. nearly 900 cases. So

As of today it's

So it's not unusual for

detectives to -- to go out and take care of departmental crimes first in a case with a victim where people might be hurt and then go back one day and sit down and get caught up with the other ones that have no solvability. And therefor have a stack

-- a police has a stack of reports that they'll just

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write subs for those reports.

And then in this

particular instance, since everybody could do it, they work close with each other is my understanding. Detective Hadley asked Sergeant Hodges to approve a whole bunch of reports which I think included the report in question here. Q A Which report? The report involving T.M. and the -- the

incident at Krop. Q There was two reports. Do you know what

the report dealt with? A With the -- with the property. With the

property that was found inside a book bag or something to that effect. Q A Q The jewelry? Exactly. The jewelry. So it wouldn't be common for

a detective to investigate a case that was not referred to them via the RMS MCT system by a road officer? A Q It would not be common, it's possible. It's possible only if the detectives speak

to -- to the officer or someone on the road and they go into the case on their own? A Or a victim or someone calls him directly.
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Or the chief many times have asked, can you send a detective somewhere. Because he's -- many times the

chief is a recipient directly from a school principal or an administrator and so it's not unusual to get a call from the chief to say, "I want a detective following up on that case". Q The case that we spoke about, the jewelry

case, the case involving the jewelry was an incident in October, 2011. February, 2012. The found property case was Talking about a four or five month,

approximately five month span. A I'm not sure what the found property case

you're talking about. Q A Q There was two cases involving the T.M. Okay. Involving T.M. There was an October case

involving the jewelry, and a criminal mischief, and then there's a February case involving found property. A Q A Q Okay. So those are the two cases. Okay. Is there anything that I may have failed

to ask you that you would like to add to this statement?

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A Q

No. Are there any other persons who are

witnesses to the alleged act? A Q No. Has everything you said been the truth to

the best of your knowledge? A Q p.m. Yes. This concludes the statement. Thank you. It is 3:25

(Sworn statement concluded at 3:25 p.m.)

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