Notary in Hialeah cop beating case takes plea. It’s not clear whether he’ll testify
A public notary entangled in with what prosecutors says was the abduction and beating of a homeless man by two Hialeah cops reached an agreement this week that will require him to take the stand against other defendants if called upon.
But the likelihood of Juan Prietocofino testifying against two of the three other defendants charged in the case is far from certain. There’s been no indication during pre-trial hearings and motions that former officer Rafael Otano was ever interacted with Prietocofino. And Miami-Dade Administrative Judge Andrea Wolfson has yet to decide if statements made by Prietocofino are admissible in former Officer Lorenzo Orfila’s case.
The officers, both fired from the Hialeah Police Department, have been charged with the kidnapping and battery of Juan Ortega Gutierrez, a vagrant who shop owners at a Hialeah strip mall found bothersome and who state prosecutors say was misled by police and driven to a wooded area several miles away by the former officers, who beat him and left him there.
What is more likely is Prietocofino, 52, testifying against private investigator Ali Amin Saleh, whose office he works in and who has been charged with paying the alleged victim to sign an affidavit that would have cleared the two officers of any wrongdoing. Prietocofino, who was facing a single count of fraudulently notarizing that affidavit, avoided possible jail by agreeing to five years probation.
Prietocofino’s attorney Avelino Gonzalez, through a legal assistant, refused to comment. Saleh’s attorney Stephen Lopez said he wasn’t concerned Prietocofino could harm his client’s defense.
“He [Prietocofino] and he alone committed notarial fraud and that’s why he pleaded guilty,” said Lopez.
Orfila Attorney Ben Kuehne deferred to Judge Wolfson’s eventual decision on whether she will allow information from Prietocofino into his client’s case. And Otano Attorney Michael Pizzi said there’s been no indication of any connection between his client and the notary.
“It doesn’t affect him because there’s been no allegation by anyone that was aware of or attempted to get statement’s from Gutierrez,” Pizzi said.
Judge Wolfson has decided to separate trials for the two officer and Saleh. Otano’s is set to begin Aug. 21. No date has been set for either Orfila or Saleh, who has been charged with witness tampering.
The kidnapping and battery cases revolve around the interaction between the two former officers and Gutierrez on the afternoon of Dec. 17, 2022. Prosecutors with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office say Orfila, 23 and Otano, 27, drove Gutierrez, handcuffed, to a wooded area several miles from where shopkeeper had complained about him being unruly.
There, the state says, the two officers beat Gutierrez and left him after telling him they were taking him to jail. He was discovered afterward walking down the road by an off-duty Hialeah officer. Gutierrez told the officer he was knocked unconscious and woke up with cuts and bruises. The former officers are facing possible life sentences.
Prosecutors say GPS in a patrol car shows Gutierrez was transported to an area 6.6 miles from where the officers found him at the strip mall. Gutierrez told the officer he was knocked unconscious and woke up with cuts and bruises. Saleh became involved a few weeks later when, prosecutors claim, he showed up at the same mall Gutierrez had been taken from by the officers and tried to convince him to accept $1,350 and sign an affidavit saying he was not battered and that the cops did no wrong.
This story was originally published August 9, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
