Marcos Lopez and Robin Severance-Lopez are the only two conspirators in the racketeering case who where arrested and have not taken a plea deal.
Suspended Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez and/or his legal team are expected to be in a Lake County court a number of times over the next few years regarding his felony racketeering case, as state and federal officials accuse him of helping facilitate an illegal gambling ring that had a location in Osceola.
But, just like a vehicle, it has many moving parts to it.
For instance, his trial, should he stick with his not guilty plea on charges of racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketing, is scheduled to begin Nov. 10, with a Nov. 6 pre-trial status hearing. Defense attorney Mary Ibrahim has filed a motion to have the trial moved from Lake to Osceola County.
The state has countered with a motion to strike that request. The court will hear that motion on Thursday, Oct. 23, along with a motion to dismiss the charges, which is mostly procedural and is generally denied in these circumstances.
A motion to remove one of the co-conspirators from the trial—Sharon Fedrick, who investigators say managed the gambling clubs in Osceola and Lake counties—may also be heard next week.
A private plea negotiation conference among lawyers and Fifth Circuit Judge Brian Welke, one that has been scheduled and postponed a number of times, is on the docket for Tuesday, Nov. 4. A felony sentencing hearing, which has also been reset a few times, would coincide with that conference and is also tentatively on the docket for Nov. 10.
Three of Lopez’s four coconspirators, charged under the same court case, have changed their pleas to guilty, or in the case of Sheldon Wetherholt, no contest. Carol Cote, who investigators say “kept the books” for the operation, pled guilty to the racketeering charges on Oct. 6. Her deal calls for a jail sentence of up to a year (her sentencing is also tentatively set for Nov. 10) and her testimony in proceedings against any others who go to trial.
Fe d r i ck 36- 60 and Wetherholt, who investigators said arranged the leases and utility accounts for the gambling locations, pled on Monday. While their plea agreements do not stipulate if they would testify in court or their sentencing dates, guidelines show Wetherholt would be sentenced to between 90 days and one year in jail, and Fedrick from 36 to 60 months.
“The answer will always be ‘no comment’,” a member of Wetherholt’s legal team said on the exit from court Monday.
So that leaves Lopez, and his estranged wife Robin Severance-Lopez, who investigators said also profited from the funds Marcos Lopez received from the gambling operation. She is on the same schedule as the former Sheriff.
