SATURDAY MORNING UPDATE — Robin Severance-Lopez faced a Lake County judge Saturday morning on a new third-degree felony charge of making fraudulent or false statements on a bail application.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has not released any details on the new charge.
At the appearance, Severance-Lopez attorney Michelle Yard asked that the estranged wife suspended Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez be released on a $2,500 bond. The state prosecution asked it be set at $50,000 after making a motion to revoke the original $400,000 bond she was released on after her original June 23 arrest on a charge of conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Lake County Court Judge Jason Nimeth called Severance-Lopez "untrustworthy", revoked the original bond, ordered her held without bond, and set a next scheduled court appearance for Nov. 17, although she made appear again before then. She has previously scheduled dates of Nov. 4 and 10 for private plea negotiation and sentencing hearings on the previous charge; those have been already set and postponed multiple times.
She arrived in Lake County late Friday morning after being re-arrested Thursday afternoon at her Harmony home. She spent Thursday night in the Osceola County Jail, and was taken to Lake a couple hours before a scheduled appearance in front of an Osceola judge Friday at 1 p.m.
The Lopezes were both charged in June on racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering charges. State and Homeland Security investigators said Marcos Lopez was involved in running, and using his Sheriff's position to provide protection, for the operation of several clubs in Lake and Osceola counties, including one on West U.S. Highway 192 just west of Bass Road/Old Vineland Road that contained illegal gambling machines. According to a 255-page affidavit, Homeland Security Investigations accuses him of profiting from the operation, to the tune of $600,000-$700,000 in payments and campaign contributions.
Severance-Lopez was arrested in connection with the operation, as investigators said she moved those "ill-gotten funds" across different bank accounts. When she bailed out on a $400,000 bond in July, one of the conditions was that the funds could not come from those "ill-gotten gains".
