Man convicted in Opa-Locka drug murders, kidnapping erroneously freed from jail: MDSO
A man convicted in Miami federal court last year for his part in a kidnapping conspiracy that ended with two people murdered and one severely injured by an execution-style gunshot to the head five years ago was erroneously freed from jail over the weekend, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office said.
The sheriff’s office, which does not run the Miami-Dade County jail system, said Monday the agency was informed that 60-year-old James Edward Danies, also known as “45,” was wrongly released.
“Sometime this weekend MDSO was informed that he should NOT have been released from jail, and we are now assisting the U.S. Marshals and the FBI in locating him,” the sheriff’s office said in an email to the Herald.
The Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department, which operates the jails, said in a statement that Daniels was released from the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Saturday “due to a procedural error.”
In December 2024, a jury convicted Daniels, along with Patrick Eugene Rudolph, 70, on conspiracy to commit kidnapping, kidnapping resulting in death and kidnapping. Judge Roy K. Altman sentenced Daniels to life in prison in August, according to court records.
It was not immediately clear why Daniels was in county jail and not a federal facility. The statement from the county’s Corrections Department said a “full internal affairs investigation is underway to review the circumstances surrounding this incident and any potential failures to follow departmental policy.”
“MDCR is committed to ensuring that those responsible for failing to follow policy are held accountable to the fullest extent possible,” the statement reads. “Due to the ongoing nature of this investigation, no further details are available at this time.”
Daniels, Rudolph and 57-year-old Herbert Barr are accused of kidnapping Osmar Oliva, Julio Verdecia and Juan Gonzalez from Oliva’s Opa-Locka truck yard on Dec. 5, 2020. They intended on stealing drugs, jewelry and cash from the men, according to federal prosecutors,
After driving the trio around in a rented U-Haul van and torturing them, they shot the men in the head and dropped them off at an abandoned house in on Rutland Street in Opa-Locka. Oliva, 50, and Gozalez, 26, were killed, but Verdecia “miraculously survived,” prosecutors said in a press release announcing Daniels and Rudoph’s convictions.
Barr pleaded guilty to kidnapping in November 2024, and cooperated in the government’s case against Daniels and Rudolph.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the sheriff’s office and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The sheriff’s office asks anyone with information on Daniels’ whereabouts to call Homicide Detective C. Santos at (305) 471-2400. People can also submit an anonymous tip to Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 or online at crimestoppers305.com.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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This story was originally published September 29, 2025 at 5:04 PM.
