Robin Severance Lopez, the ex-wife of former Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez, walked out of the Lake County Jail Monday after bonding out following her June 23 arrest on charges of conspiracy to commit racketeering. She had nothing to say upon leaving the jail.
Severance Lopez had prove to a judge, much like Marcos Lopez after his own June 5 racketeering arrest that led to Gov. Ron DeSantis removing him as Sheriff, that the funds used to post her $400,000 bonds did not come from "ill-gotten gains". After a hearing Thursday detailing where her surety bond came from, she finally left the jail Monday after spending two weeks there; she was arrested at her Harmony home three days before Marcos posted his $1 million bond on June 26.
They are now both out of jail planning their defenses; a stipulation of each of their bonds is that they have no contact with each other. Severance Lopez's attorney Michelle Yard, along with others close to the family, say the two had already been living in separate residences. The couple, who married in 2007 and have a 15-year-old son, filed for divorce in 2023 in Brevard County.
Lake County court records show Marcos Lopez is now scheduled for a plea negotiation conference marked "private" on Tuesday, Aug. 12, and a felony sentencing on Monday, Aug. 18.
An investigation led by the Department of Homeland Security and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement began in 2023 and reportedly uncovered Marcos Lopez's ties to a gambling operation, with slot-machine type games and a lottery, running from 2019 — prior to he 2020 election as Sheriff — through August 2024. The restaurant and hookah bar on U.S. Highway 192 just west of Medieval Times billed itself as the “Eclipse Social Club”. Investigators say he was involved in the organization that operating in Osceola and Lake counties and generated over $20 million in illegal profits; they claim he received between $600,000 and $700,000 from the operation, used as campaign contributions and personal payments. A 250-page FDLE affidavit detailing his role, and what informants saw investigating the club, remains sealed while the last of four other co-conspirators, Ying "Kate" Zhang, remains on the run.
Prosecutors say Severance Lopez, who has pled not guilty to her charges, helped move money from others involved in the illegal club to Lopez.
