Judge orders George Pino not to contact Lucy Fernandez’s family following text he sent
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The investigation into 2022 boat crash that killed a high school student
On Sept. 4, 2022, a boat operated by real estate broker George Pino crashed in Biscayne Bay, killing 17-year-old Lucy Fernandez.
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George Pino, the Doral real estate broker charged with the death of a 17-year-old girl in a boat crash two years ago, sent the teen’s parents a text message last week that prompted prosecutors to get a court order for him not to contact the family again for the duration of the case.
Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez Wednesday granted that order, stating Pino can no longer contact the family in person, electronically, through social media or through a third party until after the trial.
“We’re going to start fresh. As fresh as we can from this point moving forward,” Tinkler Mendez said.
The text appealed to both families’ Catholic faith, but prosecutors said it could be construed as an attempt to intimidate and tamper with the parents who are witnesses in the state’s case against Pino.
While Tinkler Mendez granted the order, she stressed that she did not believe Pino sent the text “with some sort of intentional malfeasance.”
Pino is facing a vessel homicide charge in the death of Luciana “Lucy” Fernandez, who died after Pino crashed his 29-foot Robalo center console boat into a fixed channel marker in Biscayne Bay over the 2022 Labor Day weekend. Eleven other girls were on the boat that day — to celebrate the Pinos’ daughter’s 18th birthday — including Katerina Puig, now 19, who has been left with a lifetime of disabilities due to the crash.
READ MORE: How investigators, prosecutors bungled probe into boat crash that killed teen girl
The Fernandez and Puig families had pushed from the beginning for Pino to be charged with a felony because they said he lied to investigators about the cause of the crash and because there was evidence of heavy drinking found on his boat — he had also told a police officer he had consumed beer that day. Pino has maintained that the 61 empty bottles and cans of alcohol found on his boat the next day was due to his boat being the repository of the trash from several boats tied together at Elliott Key in Biscayne Bay.
Evolution of a case
Prosecutors, basing their decision on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s police investigation, originally charged Pino with three counts of misdemeanor careless boating in August 2023 — a charge that carries a maximum sentence of 60 days in county jail.
It was only after a series of Herald articles about witnesses who saw the immediate aftermath of the crash, but who were never followed up with by investigators, did the State Attorney’s Office reopen its investigation. Those witnesses were tracked down by Fernandez family attorney Joel Denaro, not FWC investigators.
READ MORE: Pino pleads not guilty to vessel homicide charge in boat crash that kills Lourdes girl
After those stories, another witness — a Miami-Dade firefighter who pulled Pino from the water that night — came forward and told prosecutors Pino showed signs of impairment. The State Attorney’s Office then dropped the misdemeanor counts and upped its charge to felony vessel homicide.
Pino now faces 15 years in state prison if he’s convicted on the new charge.
The text
Last Tuesday, Pino, 54, sent a text to Andres and Melissa Fernandez, the parents of Lucy, telling them that after reading the Gospel from that week, he “asked for God’s guidance and His strength to write you.”
“I think about and pray for you, your family, and Lucy every single day. I continually ask God to bless your family. Also, I pray and ask Jesus to grace and fill us with His love, healing, peace and compassion.”
After reading the text, Assistant Miami-Dade County State Attorney Laura Adams filed a motion seeking the order for Pino to never contact Andres and Melissa while the case, which is scheduled to go to trial in July, is pending.
READ MORE: New witness leads to felony homicide charge 2 years after boat crash killed Lourdes girl
“Unwanted messages such as this, although written under the claim that the defendant is seeking the grace of God, serve to exacerbate the pain that the Fernandez family has experienced,” Adams wrote in the prosecutor’s Feb. 25 motion.
Adams said Pino has sent the Fernandezes several messages since the death of their daughter, and the couple has never responded.
“Nevertheless, he has continued to contact them, even sending a text message today knowing that trial in this matter is set to occur in a few months,” Adams wrote. “There is no reason for the defendant to contact Mr. and Mrs. Fernandez to say that he is seeking ‘God’s guidance and His strength to write to you;’ that he prays for them and for Lucy; that he prays to Jesus ‘to grace and fill us with His love, healing, peace and compassion’ or other such communications.”
Adams also criticized Pino’s defense attorney, Howard Srebnick for telling his client that he “saw no problem” with him sending the text, according to the motion.
“This hardly negates the reason for the court to issue a stay-away/no-contact order; if anything, it adds to the reason why the defendant should not have any contact with Mr. and Mrs. Fernandez, if he has done so with the apparent ‘blessing’ of his criminal defense attorney,” Adams wrote.
‘He is overcome with sadness’
At Wednesday’s hearing, Srebnick told Tinkler Mendez that Pino has sent the Fernandezes one message a year for the past four calendar years and the family has never told him to stop.
Srebnick said that Pino “showed me in advance what kind of sympathy he wanted to send, and I didn’t see anything wrong with Mr. Pino, who is a life-long friend of the Fernandezes, letting them know he prays every single day for them, he is overcome with sadness over what happened, and has been so often.”
Srebnick added that Pino will comply with the order.
“However, understanding now, if the family would rather not hear from Mr. Pino, as tragic as that is, over the situation, he will of course respect that,” Srebnick said.
‘Radio silence’: Deadly boat crash witnesses say they weren’t interviewed by investigators
Adams told Tinkler Mendez that the text was not benign in light of a series of social media posts from Pino’s family months after the crash showing them enjoying themselves on several vacations while the Fernandezes were just beginning the mourning process.
“They have a right not be be harmed, not to be influenced, not to feel harassed,” Adams said.
Following the hearing, Srebnick issued a statement to the Herald that Pino “is a man of faith who based on the tenets of his Catholic creed reached out to the Fernandez family, whom he has known for over 27 years and are members of the same parish, to express his desire for healing and his continuous commitment to ask for God’s grace upon them.”
Srebnick ended the statement to criticize Adams for seeking the no-contact order.
“The State Attorney’s response to an act of faith expression and grace towards the Fernandez family was wholly unnecessary and inflammatory,” Srebnick wrote.
Miami Herald staff reporter Charles Rabin contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 5, 2025 at 1:29 PM.
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