Arrest made in Feb. 16 Poinciana road rage shooting

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  • Anthony Falu, 20
    Anthony Falu, 20
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The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office has made an arrest in a road rage-inspired Poinciana shooting.

Anthony Falu, Jr., 20, was arrested and charged with second-degree attempted murder, aggravated assault, carrying a concealed firearm and discharging a firearm in public.

While the Sheriff’s Office reported Falu would be held on the murder and assault charges without bond, the county’s Corrections department showed Falu was not currently booked within the Osceola County Jail as of Tuesday afternoon, when the arrest was announced.

On the evening of Feb. 16, the department reported deputies responded to the area of Marigold Avenue and Cypress Branch Road, where a victim was shot twice. Detectives determined the altercation was an isolated road rage incident between a motorist and pedestrians.

After collecting evidence and interviewing several witnesses, detectives named Falu a suspect, and on Friday, detectives obtained an arrest warrant. A search warrant was executed at his residence, leading to evidence recovery, which linked Mr. Falu to the shooting, and he was placed under arrest.

The victim remained hospitalized in stable condition as of Tuesday.

 

11 from Osceola drug ring sentenced to federal prison

Submitted by Department of Justice Middle District

A pair of U.S. District judges have sentenced 11 members of an Osceola County-based drug trafficking organization to federal prison sentences ranging between 15 and 300 months for a conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute heroin.

Of the 11, one (Michael Agosto-Martinez, age 33, of Kissimmee) was also sentenced for possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. He was sentenced to a term of 11 years, 3 months.

These 11 individuals were charged in five separate indictments and beginning in August 2019 and culminating in an indictment charging seven members of the conspiracy in February 2020.

The sentences of the rest of those charged with conspiracy:

Roberto Nunez-Cebrero (42, Kissimmee), 25 years;

Yenitza Garcia-Cosme (27, St. Cloud), 7 years, 3 months;

Eric Velazquez-Cosme (36, Ohio), 2 years, 9 months;

Timothy Smith (50, Illinois), 7 years, 3 months;

Jorge Alberto Quijada-Moreno (31, Mexico), 9 years, 1 month;

Jose Robles-Roque (40, Orlando), 3 years, 10 months;

Antonio E. Moya (68, Illinois), 3 years, 5 months;

Luis Vazquez-Trujillo (33, Illinois), 10 years;

Jose Antonio Cruz-Garcia (43, Honduras), 1 year, 3 months;

Roberto Oduardo-Suarez (39, North Carolina), 10 years.

Beginning in November 2017, investigators learned about when shipments of heroin would be delivered from Mexico to Chicago and from Chicago to Osceola County by the organization, which the Drug Enforcement Administration, who investigated the case, said was led by Roberto Nunez-Cebrero.

In addition, law enforcement learned when money would be paid by conspirators in Chicago and oftentimes transported to Osceola County. Based on their investigation, law enforcement seized more than 10 kilograms of heroin while it was en route to Osceola County from either Chicago or directly from Mexico, by Moya, Vazquez-Trujillo, Cruz-Garcia, and Oduardo-Suarez. Once the heroin was in the Middle District of Florida, Garcia-Cosme, Agosto-Martinez, Velazquez-Cosme, Quijada-Moreno, and Robles-Roque distributed the heroin to others. Agosto-Martinez and Garcia-Cosme also traveled to Chicago to pick-up money and transport heroin back to the Middle District of Florida. Smith was a Chicago-based drug trafficker who received his heroin from this drug trafficking organization. In total, from January 2012 through August 2019, this DTO was responsible for more than 100 kilograms of heroin coming into the Middle District of Florida.