One of the misdemeanor charges filed against an Osceola County School Board member, in connection with allegations from July that he served an 18-year-old alcohol and made unwanted advances toward her, has been dropped.
While Julius Melendez, the district 2 Board member, is still charged with battery, prosecutors Monday chose not to pursue a charge of providing alcohol to someone under the age of 21. This was after Melendez’s defense team filed a motion to dismiss the charge, noting per the state statute, prosecutors are required to establish that selling, giving or serving the alcohol “must occur on a licensed premise.”
Susana’s, a downtown café that Melendez previously co-owned and managed, and where the 18-year-old woman who made the claims worked back in June when the allegations surfaced, does not have a license to serve or sell liquor. The beverages were, per reports and statements from the family who owns the establishment, kept in a personal back-room refrigerator that isn’t accessible to staff. Melendez’s home is also not a licensed premise to serve alcoholic beverages.
The woman filed a report with the School District, alleging Melendez offered to give her a ride from the home of an abusive stepfather to his house to stay the night. They stopped at Susana’s so she could check her schedule, and Melendez grabbed the drinks from the back fridge; she reportedly consumed some there and at Melendez’s home, where she said she Melendez touched her thigh tattoo and, despite her telling him not to, kissed her, and made her feel so uncomfortable that she left overnight.
As for the battery charge, Melendez defense attorney Migdalia Perez has filed a motion to suppress statements that Osceola County School Board Attorney Frank Kruppenbacher made to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office about the case. Judge Gabrielle Sanders-Morency is scheduled to hear the motion to suppress on Dec. 20.
On Sept. 28, a Sheriff’s detective conducted an interview and obtained a written statement from Kruppenbacher disclosing what Melendez’s defense is calling confidential communications.
The defense claims the statements stem from legal advice Melendez sought from Kruppenbacher as the School Board attorney are bound by court rules of attorney-client privilege and, “Protected and therefore inadmissible in trial … and whether retained or not, Melendez was his client for all intent and purpose in invoking the privilege.”
The complaint against Melendez was first filed on July 1 with the Osceola County School Board, who passed it on to the Sheriff’s Office, even though the incident occurred in the Kissimmee Police Department’s jurisdiction. Melendez states, in the motion, he first communicated with Kruppenbacher when the complaint came to the School Board before it was passed on to the Sheriff’s Office, and his intent was to learn how to proceed as a School Board member.
In a second communication, Kruppenbacher admitted he advised Melendez to seek out a criminal defense attorney but advised him to “cooperate with law enforcement,” the motion states, noting that, at all times, Melendez believed his discussions were confidential communications.
Reached for comment Friday, Melendez said Kruppenbacher did not disclose, during a conversation on the matter at the Nov. 14 School Board meeting, that he was a witness in the case.
“You’d think the School Board attorney would reveal that before rendering advice to the School Board,” Melendez said.
Also reached for comment, Kruppenbacher said he could not comment on his involvement as to what’s in the motion, noting, “You’ll have to be at the hearing.”
