- 8 months ago
On Tuesday, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier and State Attorney Bill Gladson held a press conference to announce the conviction of an illegal immigrant in Tavares.
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00:00There's several reasons why I thought it was important to hold this press conference this morning.
00:06First, I want to update everybody on a significant trial that we had last week in Lake County.
00:13Next, I want to just point out, if this wasn't already clear, Lake County has zero tolerance for human trafficking.
00:21And the prosecutors in this circuit and the police officers at Eustis PD and the sheriff's office
00:28will do anything and everything they can to protect victims of human trafficking.
00:33And I want to point out, too, that human trafficking, and everybody kind of has an idea of what that means in your mind,
00:39we often think of something extremely complicated and very complex.
00:43But in Florida, the legislature has made it extremely tough on those that traffic in children,
00:53and that's what we're going to talk about today.
00:56A particular case where that happened.
00:59Finally, I want to empower victims to know that in this state, we take their safety seriously.
01:07There are all kinds of services, whether it's housing placement, relocation services,
01:14victim advocacy services for victims of human trafficking.
01:19And it's not just if you're a child.
01:21It's adults as well.
01:26I finally want to remind everybody, and I hope everybody's listening.
01:32If you are here unlawfully in the United States, there are worse things than just getting deported.
01:41If you commit a serious crime, you are going to go to prison first.
01:46You're not going to find yourself just deported on a plane back to some other country.
01:53In this case, there will be no deportation, because the case I'm going to talk to you about today, the defendant was sentenced to life in prison.
02:01With me here today are several familiar faces, some of whom will have an opportunity to address some of the topics and answer questions as we go forward this morning.
02:12From my office, we have Assistant State Attorney Eddie Moffitt, who's standing over here.
02:18He was the lead prosecutor who tried this case.
02:21With us also up front is Assistant State Attorney Katie Cosden, who was second chair, and they're the ones who had this trial, which the verdict came within an hour.
02:30I think it's a testament to the evidence and the cooperation that they had with the Eustis Police Department and all the law enforcement agencies here.
02:39Also to my left, I have Chief Craig Capri and Detective Wayne Perry from the Eustis Police Department.
02:46They're the ones who are going to know the most about the specifics of the case.
02:51Under the chief's leadership, Eustis PD did an excellent job, and I just want to thank Detective Perry for the work that he did on this case.
02:57There are other City of Eustis officials here. Thank you for coming. We do appreciate it.
03:02It means a lot to everybody to know that your police department is supported.
03:07To my right, I have Attorney General James Uthmeyer, who is the chair of the Statewide Council on Human Trafficking, a council upon which I proudly sit,
03:16and a tireless advocate for protecting victims of human trafficking and seeking to prosecute human traffickers.
03:24Also to my right, Major Todd English from the Lake County Sheriff's Office, whose agency assisted, thank you, Major English,
03:31assisted in gathering evidence so the state could put on this case.
03:37I'll tell you a little bit about it.
03:38In July of 2024, Eustis PD responded to a 911 hang-up.
03:42And if you're a law enforcement officer and you get a 911 hang-up, you truly don't know what you're going into.
03:48You have to have all of your senses on alert because you don't know what it's going to be.
03:53So they're canvassing the area, Eustis officers, and they encounter a woman who seems distraught.
03:59And they approach her and talk to her, and they realize that something's happened.
04:04And she starts to give a statement about how she was just in an apartment, and someone in that apartment had a gun, had raped her, threatened her.
04:18So Eustis PD locates the apartment, the officers take her somewhere, get a statement,
04:27and they try to make contact with the person that we're going to talk about today, whose name is Jose Gomez.
04:34So they locate Jose Gomez in the apartment.
04:37He's holed up.
04:38He won't come out.
04:39They can't get him to come out for a while, but they work pretty hard, and eventually they do get him out.
04:44And they arrest him for one count of sexual battery, one count of false imprisonment, and resisting without violence.
04:52At the time, the victim, and this is a theme that often happens with children who are the victims of sex trafficking, misrepresented her age.
05:02And at the time, she indicated that she was, in fact, an adult.
05:08Later, upon further investigation, we would learn that she was much younger.
05:12So after she provides a statement, they interview the defendant, who also gives a statement.
05:20Then we get a search warrant to extract the phone of this individual.
05:26And I'll tell you, there are going to be other cases that are spinoffs from this particular investigation,
05:32and that's because of the work that the law enforcement agencies did on the case.
05:35So they do some extractions, and they realize first that the text messages between the defendant and the victim confirmed her story.
05:46They also confirm with DNA, which is extremely critical in every case that we can get it.
05:54They looked at some of those searches and realized the defendant had been searching for things like, young girls, sex for first time.
06:05Little teenage girls having sex for first time.
06:07These are constant searches that were done.
06:10Thirteen-year-old, first time.
06:13I won't say it.
06:14Teenagers, same thing.
06:16So there's lots of text messages that indicate that this wasn't an accident.
06:21This was a deliberate criminal who was seeking to prey on children.
06:29And when you look at the Florida statutes and you look at human trafficking and you look at the way the legislature has spelled it out,
06:35the primary purpose is to protect children who are being trafficked.
06:39Another thing that I think everybody should understand, don't think of human trafficking as extremely organized.
06:48It can be a smaller criminal scheme.
06:54If you're a buyer or if you're a seller, if you just think you're going to connect with a pimp, and in this case, and it's awful,
07:05but he basically bought a girl for an hour to do whatever he wanted with, we're going to treat you as if you're the person who organized it.
07:14And that's why this guy got a life sentence.
07:16The legislatures made it clear.
07:18If you're trafficking a child for sex, it's a mandatory life sentence.
07:25After, I think I said it earlier, after identifying her actual age,
07:30we changed the charges from sexual battery to lewd and lascivious battery upon a child and human trafficking because of her age.
07:41What that has done, this conviction, aside from give evidence to law enforcement to look for other types of crimes and other spinoffs,
07:49it has given him the distinction, Mr. Gomez, of being the 121st person that we've sent to prison for life in this circuit since I took office.
08:03He also adds to the distinction of the Fifth Circuit being or leading the state in prison admissions in 2025.
08:11And if you think about that, think about it in terms of our size.
08:15We're not the largest circuit.
08:17We're not the smallest circuit.
08:18But because of our cooperation with our law enforcement agencies, because of the hard work and the excellent work that they do,
08:25they put together good cases.
08:27Add to that the prosecutors in my office who work extremely hard every single day to ensure public safety,
08:35and you've got a recipe for success.
08:37So here to talk a little bit more about this case with me is Chief Capri from the USIS Police Department,
08:43and from there I will turn it over to General Uthmeyer.
08:48Thanks, Bill.
08:49Good morning.
08:50What else can I say?
08:51This was a horrific event involving a juvenile.
08:55This sexual predator, Mr. Gomez is a sexual predator.
08:57Let's make no mistake about that.
09:01This victim was very young, and those who have daughters out there would understand that.
09:08Be involved in your kids' lives.
09:10Watch what's going on.
09:11Watch their social media accounts.
09:13Unfortunately, this is happening all over, and we've got to put a stop to it.
09:16And in this circuit, I can tell you right now, this case was solved because of one thing, teamwork.
09:24Working together between the sheriff's office, the state attorney's office, everybody here works very well together.
09:31We're constantly talking daily, not just when things are bad, but when things are good.
09:34We communicate with each other so we can know when we have incidents like this, everybody works together, no egos involved, and we just want justice for these victims.
09:43And this, like I said, this case, my detectives, I'm proud of my agency.
09:47I'm proud of working with the sheriff's office, the state attorney's office.
09:50It's just, I can't describe in words what this means for our community.
09:55We've got to protect the most vulnerable, our children out here.
09:59This technology keeps getting better and better.
10:02Law enforcement always is a step or two behind to try to keep up with it.
10:05So we have to continually work hard to take every case seriously.
10:09You know, we went here on a 911 call, not expecting what we ended up coming out with, you know, a sexual battery case involved, a little lascivious involving a juvenile, and then spinning off into other cases, and so on and so on.
10:22But we prevented probably other victims by doing a great job.
10:26So I can't echo again the great work that was done here.
10:29So I'm very proud to be a part of this law enforcement community here in Lake County.
10:33Citizens of Lake County, you have a top-notch law enforcement team here with all the agencies working together.
10:38This time I'll turn it over to the general, say a few words.
10:46An illegal alien raped and trafficked a child, a little girl.
10:55An illegal alien raped and trafficked a little girl.
11:01Just appreciate this.
11:03We're seeing these stories everywhere now.
11:05Today it's Florida.
11:06Yesterday, Massachusetts.
11:09Tons of examples across the country.
11:12Everybody back behind the cameras, understand it.
11:15An illegal alien raped and trafficked a little girl.
11:22These aren't just stories.
11:23These are tragedies.
11:26These are horrific, grotesque events that keep happening.
11:31And they're happening because of the open border policies that were in existence.
11:37This monster should not have been in this country.
11:41He should not have been here.
11:43This crime should not have occurred.
11:47This victim should not have had to go through this terrible tragedy.
11:52Now, we're detaining and deporting across the state, but as the state attorney said, this guy's not going anywhere.
11:59He's going to stay right here.
12:01We're going to know where he is.
12:02He will be behind bars for the rest of his life.
12:05And that prison cell will be far too nice a place for this individual.
12:09But it's time that everybody work together to combat illegal immigration and shut down the border for once and for all.
12:18This is not a left or right issue.
12:20This is not a Republican Democrat issue.
12:23This is rule of law.
12:25It is protecting our kids from these tragic situations.
12:30How many people have to be victimized like this before everyone will get together and realize that if we are going to be a sovereign country,
12:39if we are going to protect our families and our kids, we must have rule of law.
12:45We must have a secure border, and we must ensure that people are here legally.
12:50I want to thank the state attorney and law enforcement for rising to the occasion again and stepping in to identify this tragic story
12:59and to put this guy away for a long time.
13:02As Attorney General, it is an honor to work with and support you guys every single day.
13:08I've got your back.
13:10Whatever you guys need, we're here.
13:12We've got to keep Florida the safest state in the country to raise a family.
13:16It begins with these guys right here.
13:20But, again, an illegal alien raped and trafficked a child.
13:28When you're thinking today, when you're praying today, think about this victim.
13:35How many more people have to go through this?
13:41Thank you, General.
13:43All right.
13:43This time I'm going to open up for questions, if anybody has any.
13:46I'd like to know if the defendant in this case had a criminal history.
13:49So, as far as we know, this was his first arrest.
13:56What was his visa for?
13:58How long did it have been expired?
14:00My understanding of the visa is it had expired four years ago, and it was a visa that allowed, it's a temporary work status, like a migrant seasonal visa.
14:11So, yes?
14:14There's more of it not to try to find this man before he committed this crime.
14:18Well, of course, and as the general said, I mean, this is one of those, it's a very easy but-for test.
14:25But for him not being here illegally, this victim would not be a victim again.
14:28But I think it's much more complex, and it's hard to, there's so many moving parts when it comes to illegal aliens and human smuggling and human trafficking that, yes, of course, some, you know, more things could have been done.
14:44But if you're off the radar and no one's looking, which is, I think, what happened, you know, you're kind of free to do what you want.
14:51And that's the kind of situation we have to stop.
14:53You indicated there might be more victims of this man.
14:56Do you know how many might be out there?
14:57I have an idea, but I prefer to not share it.
15:03I think the chief and I talked earlier about not giving too many details about what might come.
15:08But it was a fruitful investigation.
15:11Still active, too.
15:12Still active.
15:12We're still active.
15:13Yes, sir.
15:14Can I say something, State Attorney?
15:14Absolutely.
15:15To the question before, should more have been done to get this guy?
15:17Yes, absolutely.
15:19We had a federal government that was arguing preemption, saying this is not the prerogative of states.
15:25This is the federal government's job, and we're just going to abdicate all responsibility and do nothing.
15:30That's not happening anymore.
15:31We are detaining.
15:32We're deporting.
15:33We're delivering for the American people now.
15:34We've got a federal government that's deputizing all of our state law enforcement.
15:39We're doing raids up and down the state.
15:40And the reality is you don't know which of these people is going to be that monster.
15:45You don't know.
15:46It's not just a little old lady on her way to church.
15:49That's what the left wants you to think.
15:51They want you to think this is about love and humanity.
15:55Today, this is not about love and humanity.
15:57This is a barbaric, horrific event.
16:00This can be described by nothing other than evil.
16:03This is evil.
16:04And that's why we, as law enforcement, we, as a country, we have a duty to work together to enforce rule of law.
16:10And that means detain and deport.
16:12Attorney General, just while you're up there, a couple of weeks ago, a bunch of sheriffs had a meeting and talked about in this immigration push, in this push to get people out, immigrants are being concentrated at some certain jails throughout the state.
16:27And those jails are now worried about their capacity.
16:29So I'm wondering if those concerns have been brought to your attention, if you're working with the governor, if you're working with ICE, what is it?
16:36Yeah, thanks for the question.
16:37Yeah, look, we're going to have capacity concerns.
16:40Jails are filling up.
16:41We're also dealing with some regulations that require that certain people be housed in different areas.
16:47We're working with the federal government to address these things.
16:50We're looking at additional space, additional places for incarceration.
16:55We're working on a plan that we'll be presenting to the immigration board at the state level very soon.
16:59And we'll have some additional announcements.
17:01But for now, we can accommodate the people that we're detaining.
17:04We do need to find more bed space, and that will be coming in short order.
17:08What happened in the previous administration?
17:10What's changed now that allows you guys to – that would have made a difference in this case?
17:16So you brought up more – it should have been done previously, but it seems like it wasn't on the radar or a local law.
17:23There have been dozens of cases over the recent past years under the Biden and Obama administrations
17:28where illegal immigrants commit these heinous crimes.
17:32They commit sexual assault, they commit murder, they commit these crimes on the elderly, on kids.
17:38And in many of these cases, when you look at the criminal record, these defendants were in and out of the criminal justice system.
17:47They would be handed over to the feds and let right back out the back door onto the streets,
17:51and they would reoffend again and again.
17:53That is not happening anymore.
17:55We didn't need new laws on the book, the Trump administration.
17:58They didn't need Congress to pass a new law.
17:59They just started enforcing law that is already on the books.
18:03So we're working hand-in-hand with Homeland Security and ICE.
18:07Florida's been leading the way.
18:08We've got more of these 287G certifications, which is a federal statutory authority
18:14that allows our state law enforcement to assist the federal government.
18:18And we are – we're busting as many guys as we can.
18:20We'll keep working hard.
18:21We'll take advantage of every minute while we have a cooperative federal government that wants to enforce the law.
18:26Attorney General, last year or two years ago, might not quite be on the human trafficking level,
18:32but there was a major investigation here in Lake County involving a big cockfighting raid
18:36that involved a number of illegal immigrants.
18:39The state, to our understanding, took that case over, and so far, as far as we can tell,
18:44nothing has happened with that case.
18:46Is that something that's been on your radar?
18:48Do you have any updates on that?
18:49I will have to look into the case.
18:51I'm here month three on the job, and, you know, illegal immigration, human trafficking
18:55have certainly been top priorities, but I don't like the idea of cockfighting in the state.
19:00I don't – especially with egg prices today, I don't think we need to be supporting that type of activity.
19:05So we'll – I'll look into it, and we'll crack down.
19:08And if illegal immigrants are breaking the law, again, we will get them.
19:11We will find them.
19:12People like this guy we're talking about today, we will search every inch of this state to find you,
19:19and we will ensure that you go away for the rest of your life.
19:22And if we've got authority under state law to seek the death penalty, we will do so.
19:26You mentioned that they're not going to be talking much about the spin-off cases.
19:30Yes, ma'am.
19:30But I was wondering about if you have your eye on who might have addressed this law initially,
19:37and how would you find out the investigation?
19:41Well, it's an active investigation.
19:43Like I said, I can't comment on some other things moving forward,
19:46but sometimes you've got to – these crimes sometimes are just not out there.
19:50You have to actually find them on – we got lucky on this one, to be honest.
19:53We got really lucky.
19:54She called 911.
19:54We were able to find her and talk to her.
19:57But, you know, it was luck initially, but then it was hard work to put it together.
20:02It was very complex.
20:03These cases are simple, but you've got to make sure you have that investigated so it's airtight.
20:09I mean, like you said, it went to trial, and the jury deliberated for less than an hour
20:13and came back with a conviction.
20:14So zero tolerance for this type of activity.
20:17This is a sexual predator.
20:19And sexual offenders and sexual predators in your neighborhoods,
20:23we need to find these people and remove them and monitor them
20:27and make their life miserable and protect our kids.
20:30It's real simple.
20:31When you keep it simple like that, protect our kids from these barbaric, savage animals,
20:37and that's what they are.
20:38I can't hear.
20:43I'm sorry.
20:44A market?
20:44Yeah, a news release that came out yesterday mentioned that someone said she was a girl.
20:50Yes.
20:51He committed to the side of the market.
20:52Yeah, it was a market, like a store that has, like, food.
20:56Yeah, food market.
20:58And a laundromat there, yeah.
20:59It doesn't matter where the location is.
21:01It could be anywhere.
21:02These things could happen anywhere, anywhere in our country.
21:05And we need to be able to, as law enforcement,
21:08take every allegation serious until you can prove it's not.
21:12So you've got to follow through on all this stuff.
21:14And we do that.
21:16Whatever it costs, whatever it takes, we're going to protect our children.
21:18I can tell you that right now.
21:20That I can guarantee you.
21:22Did you say you got lucky?
21:23What direction do you think is going to volunteer had you not got lucky?
21:27You know, somebody calls 911.
21:29What if we just didn't run into her?
21:30What if we went to the call and we couldn't find anybody?
21:33So our guys just don't drive by at 30 miles an hour and say,
21:36oh, nothing here.
21:36We get out of the car.
21:37We investigate.
21:38It goes back to the individual officer dedicated to his community to make sure,
21:43I'm going to see this through and make sure that I clear this call
21:46and was able to do some searching and found her and was able to take,
21:50are you okay?
21:50Yes.
21:51And ask the right questions and determine what, you know, do good police work.
21:56To initially start the case, then you bring the team in, detectives,
21:59other agencies, state attorney's office.
22:01Because everybody, when we have a case like this, gets together immediately
22:04and we start working it together.
22:07And that's something that doesn't happen in a lot of jurisdictions around the country
22:10or around the state.
22:11I can tell you here, everybody works like one team.
22:14There's no egos.
22:15Nobody cares who gets the credit.
22:17We want to get justice for our victims.
22:18We want to make sure people are safe in our communities.
22:21Lake County is probably by far one of the safest communities in the country.
22:24I can tell you right now, I see it every day.
22:27I've been in some rough places in this country.
22:29This is paradise here.
22:31It really is.
22:31And these citizens are blessed to have dedicated law enforcement officials
22:35and officers that just want to do nothing but protect our communities
22:38and make sure we're safe here.
22:41Any other questions?
22:42Yeah.
22:43We don't know what brought him here.
22:51He's probably been here roughly, probably a couple of years.
22:53As you can see, a lot of the people have been coming across the border for years,
22:57the last eight years.
22:58And how do you determine them?
23:00You just, we're not in the, you know, we don't stop people and ask them their status.
23:05We come across a case and we're going to investigate it.
23:07But I think it was for work, to be honest with you.
23:15I don't know if anything was off the phone, but I think his visa was for working,
23:18migrant work, I believe.
23:19Don't quote me on that, but I think that's what he was here for, for work.
23:23But, you know, these criminals, these predators, you know,
23:26a lot of these countries are just dumping them out.
23:27You know, the United States is not a dumping ground for all these third world countries
23:31and they're criminals.
23:32So we've got to stop that.
23:33And, you know, people here working hard, doing the right thing, do it legally,
23:37no problem.
23:38You can't have criminals coming in this country.
23:40That's insane.
23:41That's the definition of insanity.
23:42When you have, you know, sexual predators, murderers,
23:45you put the news on every day, you hear around the country what's going on.
23:48People get murdered and killed, you know.
23:51And it's not just, you know, it's other countries.
23:53It's China.
23:53It's all these other countries that are coming here.
23:55Countries that hate us.
23:56The Middle East countries that, some of these radical countries out there,
23:59they hate us.
23:59They want to kill us and they're coming in here.
24:00So we've got to do everything we can to stop that.
24:03And we will.
24:03And, you know, it starts with front-line law enforcement,
24:06the men and women on the streets that are dealing with this.
24:09They're going to be the first ones to catch it.
24:11And then we bring the rest of the people in.
24:13But we've got great support here.
24:14We've got a great state attorney.
24:16Attorney General's been great.
24:18The governor's been great.
24:19I mean, Florida is a great state to live in because, you know what,
24:23stuff gets done and it gets done quickly when it comes to fighting crime.
24:26I do.
24:47We're, I mean, we're detaining and deporting immigrants in the thousands right now.
24:52Florida's leading the way.
24:53We've got some other states that have adopted our kind of blueprint for how we're operating
24:57in a coordinated fashion.
24:59You know, we've got the best county sheriffs up and down the state.
25:02They know what they're doing.
25:04We're here to just help them where we can, fill in the gaps.
25:07But our state law enforcement, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, our troopers,
25:10everybody works together here because we've got one goal.
25:13And our goal is put bad guys away.
25:16Doesn't sound too hard.
25:17What the chief said is right.
25:18What the other side is pushing is insanity.
25:22Thankfully, we've got a federal government now that's trying to bring some sanity back
25:25and we're going to enforce the law.
25:27And I hate to end this, but I've got to run before some weather delays of flight.
25:30So maybe one more if you want to.
25:31I think it was just a teeny kind of one for the same time.
25:34Yep.
25:35All right.
25:35Go ahead.
25:35Is there a fine question?
25:36You've read some sort of incentives for their defense?
25:40Well, it was a search history.
25:47The texts were between the victim and the defendant.
25:50And to follow up on that other question, I can tell you firsthand how I've seen the administration's
25:56use of the law properly now versus, you know, before under the previous administration.
26:02I'll tell you how.
26:03We have the turnpike and I have I-75 running through my circuit.
26:07For the last three and a half, maybe four years, our office has worked with the Florida
26:12Highway Patrol and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement trying to interdict human
26:16smuggling.
26:18And very successfully interdicted, I want to say, we had probably 15 or 16 people that
26:24were driving individuals in, you know, buses and vans, illegals, coming all the way into
26:31Florida, through the panhandle, through I-10, down I-75.
26:34And we were picking up in Hernando County and in Sumter County.
26:37Once they would get arrested and we would charge them, there were times where we had criminal
26:43cases pending and the federal government knew we wanted to go forward.
26:48And they would snatch them out of the jail and make them unavailable and ship them off to
26:52places where we no longer had jurisdiction over them.
26:55So that's a huge difference because, as he said, the law has always been there.
26:59But now, with cooperation, we can, you know, we can kind of solve some of this.
27:05I think we're going to wrap it up.
27:07Thank you all for coming.
27:08Appreciate it.
27:09And great questions.
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