Police take custody of guns, drugs, money — and wife of man killed in Miami-Dade raid
The wife of the man who was killed by a county officer during a federal raid has been arrested, Miami-Dade police announced Friday.
Nancy Ricardo, 51, was arrested Thursday night on a slew of charges, including tampering with physical evidence, resisting an officer without violence and drug trafficking, according to police.
Miami-Dade police on Friday also identified the man killed during Thursday’s raid as Hector Miguel Portuondo, 53, and said that investigators found guns, including a black-and-pink rifle, ammunition, narcotics and more than $55,000 during Thursday’s search.
County police said they were helping U.S. Marshals and Homeland Security with an “ongoing” investigation at the home in the 12700 block of Southwest 19th Street. Law enforcement sources on Thursday told the Miami Herald it was a narcotics investigation.
During the search, Miami-Dade police said they uncuffed Portuondo after he complained about chest pains. While paramedics attended to him, he reached under the couch for a gun, police said. Shots were fired and Portuondo was killed, police said.
The name of the officer who shot him has not been released. Police said the officer has worked in the department for 12 years.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting, as is standard whenever officers are involved.
According to her arrest affidavit, while officers searched the home, a Homeland Security Investigations agent saw Ricardo with Portuondo’s cellphone trying to delete information from the device.
She agreed to speak to police without an attorney, according to the report, and said that she was aware Portuondo was in the illegal drug business, and said she owned several of the guns found in the home. Cops wrote in the report that she told them the weapons were for “protection given Portuondo’s involvement in the sales and distribution of narcotics.”
In total, police said in their report they found more than 128 grams of crystal methamphetamine and almost 8 pounds of marijuana.
As of Friday afternoon, Ricardo was being held in Miami-County jail on bond totaling $126,000. She is being represented by a public defender, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.
This story was originally published April 1, 2022 at 3:59 PM.
