LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – Many are wondering when suspended Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez will get out from behind bars. He remains in Lake County jail more than a week after his arrest on June 6.
Rajan Joshi, a criminal defense attorney from Joshi Law Firm, expressed his surprise at the charges against Lopez.
“I’ve had multiple cases involving the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office,” Joshi said. “I’ve hired people from his office to come work at my office. I’ve known him, you know, not I’m not friends with him, but I’ve known him, you know, at a social level at different networking events and stuff. Yeah, I find the charges against him to be very surprising.”
[See News 6 reporting on Marcos Lopez arrest in gambling case]
The charges against former Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez include racketeering and conspiracy to commit racketeering, all in relation to a multimillion-dollar illegal gambling operation.
Joshi noted that Lopez must come up with a million-dollar bond and prove that every penny of it was made legally, which is a highly detailed process.
“It involves complex money laundering and racketeering,” Joshi said. “So, what the judge is going to require is that they have got to show that all the proceeds used for the bond come from legitimate sources. They’ve got to show pay stubs. They’ve got to show, you know, maybe some type of legitimate credit cards. If they’ve sold any property, they’ve got to show the receipts of it.”
[Watch News 6 coverage of Marcos Lopes being issued $1M bond]
When News 6 asked if Lopez is a flight risk, Joshi responded, “I honestly don’t think Sheriff Lopez is a flight risk. You know, I’ve had cases with Sheriff Lopez, I know him. You know, at a social level. I think that he’s going to stick and fight this case and, you know, defend himself vigorously. I don’t believe he’s a flight risk.”
[Newly released documents reveal more details about case against former Sheriff Marcos Lopez]
However, the high-profile nature of the case adds another layer of complexity.
“The fact that he’s high profile puts a huge scrutiny on the case,” Joshi stated. “You know, it does. It puts the scrutiny on the prosecution. It puts the scrutiny on the judge. And every move that’s going to be made is going to be highly scrutinized. So, it works in his disadvantage to be such a high-profile case, because if his bond is too low, then people are going to say, well, he got out because of his position. So, it works against him. And also, you know, when these cases do come out with a high-profile case, there is a lot of political pressure that happens on this, which is unfortunate because he deserves due process like everyone else. Anyone arrested, whether high profile or a regular person on the street, deserves the same protection under the law.”