Enter the FBI: Surveillance, wiretaps and phone records dominate Day 4 of Adelson trial
Prosecutors in the Charlie Adelson murder trial took jurors on a deep dive into wire-tapped phone calls and a secretly recorded conversation at the Dolce Vita restaurant in Miami — explosive evidence they say directly implicates him in the 2014 murder of Dan Markel.
On Tuesday, the fourth day of testimony, the state called several current and former FBI agents to the stand who played key roles in the investigation of Adelson, who’s charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy and solicitation in Markel’s death.
The agents described their surveillance of Adelson and others along with an undercover operation conducted on April 19, 2016, known as “the bump” that was designed to get suspects talking nearly two years after the murder. The agents testified that the suspects did start gabbing — with much of it captured on wire.
During “the bump,” an undercover FBI agent posing as a Latin Kings gang member approached Adelson’s mom, Donna Adelson, outside her Miami condo and hinted that he wanted to be paid blackmail. He handed her an article about Markel’s murder with $5,000 written on it and a phone number to call.
For the first time in the trial, jurors also heard for themselves the blockbuster recording from Dolce Vita, where Charlie Adelson and Magbanua met the day after “the bump” and talked about what it might be and how to handle it. Adelson wondered aloud during the meeting whether the man who approached his mom was really a blackmailer or police.
“How do you get people to talk?” he posits at one point. “You throw a smoke grenade, and then you get all the cockroaches to run out.”
Charlie Adelson, a wealthy South Florida periodontist, suggested possibly paying the blackmailer off and telling him not to come back or they’d go to the cops. He also suggested possibly getting rid of him altogether.
“So help me God, if they f--- with my family, it’s going to be like f------ Nazi s---, because it will be dealt with,” Adelson said. “Do you know what I’m saying? I mean, Katie, I don’t care what I spend.”
Markel, a 41-year-old law professor at Florida State University, was killed July 18, 2014, after parking his car in the garage of his Trescott Drive home. Two men, Sigfredo Garcia, Magbanua’s common law husband, and Luis Rivera, his friend and Latin Kings gang leader, were hired to carry out the shooting.
The murder happened after a bitter divorce between Markel and Adelson’s sister, Wendi Adelson, and amid ongoing custody battles over their two sons. Prosecutors allege that Wendi and Charlie Adelson and their parents, Donna and Harvey Adelson, were so desperate for her to leave Tallahassee and return home to Miami that the defendant had her ex-husband killed.
Donna Adelson tells Charlie Adelson about blackmail involving 'probably the two of us'
The now-retired FBI agent who posed as the blackmailer testified that Donna Adelson “was startled” after he went up to her outside her home. He dropped Magbanua’s name — so the Adelsons would know he wasn’t a random opportunist.
Under questioning by Assistant State Attorney Georgia Cappleman, the agent said he recorded “the bump” with his own hidden cam and that nearby FBI agents also shot footage of it. Both videos were played side-by-side for jurors to watch.
With veteran FBI Special Agent Pat Sanford on the stand, the state played recordings of phone calls that happened immediately after “the bump.” They began with a call from Donna Adelson to Charlie Adelson to tell him what happened.
Donna Adelson, speaking with relative calm, said she got “some paperwork” hand-delivered to her and that they needed to talk in person.
“Does it involve me or other people?” Charlie Adelson asked.
“Well, probably both of us,” she said. “Probably the two of us. So you probably have a general idea what I’m talking about.”
She told her son that the “paperwork” wasn’t anonymous but that she didn’t “want to discuss it over the phone. She said he he could come meet with her tomorrow, “that would be wonderful.”
Charlie Adelson called her back a few minutes later, saying, “Listen, whatever it is, whatever someone sent you, I wouldn’t worry too much about anything.” His mom said “OK” but added he should bring cash when they meet.
“Is someone blackmailing you?” he asked.
“Well, that is always a good possibility,” she replied.
“Is it like a whack job writing a letter to you, or is this government related?” he continued.
“No, I don’t know if it’s government-related,” she said, adding that the man had asked for $5,000.
The two agreed to talk about it in person the next day, perhaps during a “walk on the beach.
“Obviously don’t talk about things in the apartment or any place,” Adelson told his mom.
Charlie Adelson meets with mom, ex-girlfriend the day after 'the bump'
Surprised by Donna Adelson’s news, Charlie Adelson said it was “crazy” that someone handed her a letter like that. He asked whether she had been threatened and said if she had been, she should go to the police.
“There’s mention of going to the police,” Cappleman said during direct examination of Sanford. “Did anybody go to the police?”
“No,” the agent said.
Soon after those calls, Charlie Adelson rang Magbanua to tell her about the man who shook his mom down for $5,000. He said he didn’t know what the money was for and asked to meet with her the next day.
The day after “the bump,” Donna and Charlie Adelson met at a restaurant near her condo, but agents couldn’t get close enough to hear what they talked about or record them.
Later that day, Charlie Adelson and Magbanua met at Dolce Vita, a sandwich and pizza shop that was crowded and noisy. Two undercover FBI agents, each with secret recording devices, followed them in.
Keith McElveen, a private forensic engineer called by the state to testify, said audio from the busy restaurant was “frankly a mess,” with sounds from coffee grinders, blenders, people ordering and the agents moving around.
However, he used computer software to enhance the audio beyond what investigators had been able achieve previously. That version of the recording led to Charlie Adelson’s arrest last year.
On the enhanced recording, Adelson tells Magbanua that “if they had any evidence” the two would already be at the airport.
On cross-examination by Dan Rashbaum, Charlie Adelson’s Miami lawyer, McElveen said he didn’t know whether the conversation began before the agents started recording. He also asked whether he could hear any “new words” on the enhanced tape.
“I would say yes to my ears,” McElveen said.
Tim Jansen's take: Bombshell Dulce Vita recording a boom or bust moment for the defense
Tim Jansen, partner in Jansen & Davis, P.A., is a prominent criminal defense attorney in Tallahassee and former assistant U.S. attorney who worked major white collar crime cases as senior fraud prosecutor. He has represented numerous high-profile clients for years and is offering daily analysis on the Charlie Adelson trial to readers of the Tallahassee Democrat.
"In order to admit evidence in a trial it must be both relevant and authenticated. Relevant evidence means evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is a consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence. Authentication can be achieved by testimony, business records or other legal means. These are the basic principles of admitting evidence in court. Of course, there are many evidentiary rules that must also be followed to admit certain evidence.
In the State V. Adelson the state introduced phone calls, call logs, text messages and geographical cell tower tracking information. In modern society, it's impossible to be truly off the grid.
Cell phones, computers, social media and cell towers leave a valuable footprint that law enforcement can utilize to solve many crimes. The Adelson case encompasses all these evidentiary collection techniques. The state called TPD Sgt. Chris Corbitt to elicit very damaging evidence against the defendant.
Sgt. Corbitt is recognized as one of the leading national experts in the field of phone data and geographical cell phone tracking. He was able to identify frequency of calls, timing of calls and the location of the parties at the time of such calls.
Such evidence demonstrated a pattern of calls between co-conspirators, Charlie Adelson, Donna Adelson, Katie Magbanua and Sigfredo Garcia during crucial time periods, before during and after the murder. More importantly, it provided the co-conspirators' actions and locations after the FBI "bump" which led to very damaging evidence against Charlie Adelson, Donna Adelson and Katie Magbanua.
Rashbaum attempted to cross Sgt. Corbitt with little success. Sgt. Corbitt is an experienced and professional witness and has testified in many cases and was able to not take the bait when offered by Rashbaum. The difficulty in such cross examination is the data is like math.
The numbers and dates are literally the numbers and the dates. He did admit that he only can say when and where a person was when they made a call. Sgt. Corbitt was unable to testify as to the conversation. He also said the location could only track to the cell tower, and not the exact specific location.
As such, Sgt. Corbitt testified that Wendi Adelson could have been near the police barriers at Trescott Drive, the location of the murder at or near the time of the murder. Rashbaum did get the witness to admit that the state's documents didn't include dates that nothing occurred. On a good note, Rashbaum was able to get concessions from Sgt. Corbitt that impeached the testimony of Katie Magbanua. Otherwise, Sgt. Corbit was not a witness that Rashbaum needed to tangle with on this subject.
After two years from the date of the of the murder, the FBI obtained a Title 3 wire to record all calls between Charlie Adelson and Katie Magbanua. Such encompassing and intrusive wire taps are usually limited for 30 days in duration. As such, the FBI and law enforcement need to get action quickly. So, enter the favorite FBI technique called "the bump." It has also been identified as "tickling the wire".
The purpose is to get the conspirators talking. The FBI specifically targeted Donna Adelson. With the use of specially trained FBI undercover agents the bump was successful. An FBI agent approached Donna Adelson and delivered a demand note for money to keep quiet about what happened up north. This set forth important actions by the conspirators.
The "bump" successfully set a chain of calls and meeting between the identified co-conspirators. Donna called Charlie ( multiple times) and Charlie called Katie Magbanua all because of the "bump." During the calls, Donna and Charlie acted in very suspicious behavior and comments like not wanting to talk in the home and arranged a meeting on the beach to discuss the situation.
More problematic for Charlie and Donna is when Charlie asks his mom who does the extortion concern and she responds: "probably the two of us." Based on the contents of the note to Donna, this comment implicates both Donna and Charlie into the murder of Professor Markel.
Afterwards, Charlie frantically contacts his ex-girlfriend, Katie Magbanua to discuss the FBI note. They eventually meet at the Dolce Vita restaurant where the FBI had agents and recording equipment in place.
During this meeting, Charlie makes numerous admissions and comments that suggest his guilt into the murder. He also, tried to convince Katie to pay the extortionist and tell him it's a one-time charity payment. At no time did Donna, Charlie or Katie contact the police regarding the extortion. The evidence as submitted presents a strong circumstantial evidence case against Donna, Charlie and Katie.
Katie in her testimony confirmed the events and conversations as introduced by the state. It appears the state is near the end of its case.
The defense in their opening statement claimed the Dolce Vita tape and its conversations were taken out of context. Rashbaum claimed he would provide context that is contrary to the state's version of the conversations. He all but promised that his client would testify.
There does not appear to be another witness for the defense who could offer context or otherwise an alternative explanation of the recordings.
More troubling, Rashbaum offered a novel defense of a "Double Extortion" plot for which he has yet prove on cross examination. His next chance will be to cross examine FBI lead agent Pat Sanford tomorrow. Will it be boom or bust?
MORNING TESTIMONY
TPD investigator testifies about web of phone calls, texts and emails in the Dan Markel murder
Sgt. Chris Corbitt, supervisor of the Tallahassee Police Department's Technical Operations Unit, testified for several hours Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning about thousands of pages of call detail records from at least four different phone companies that investigators pored over to solve the crime.
The records showed not only when communications were happening and between whom but also the approximate location of the parties involved. Under direct examination by Assistant State Attorney Sarah Kathryn Dugan, Corbitt Charlie Adelson was Magbanua's second-most frequent contact.
He also said that with one exception, there were no communications between Garcia and Rivera and Charlie Adelson and his family. The state considers Wendi, Donna and Harvey Adelson co-conspirators in the murder, though they deny involvement and have never been charged.
The phone logs showed that on key dates, calls between Charlie Adelson and Magbanua were often followed by calls between the defendant and his family.
“So looking at situations where one of these conspirators hangs up with one and immediately calls the other — that can be something that stands out to investigators?” Dugan asked.
“Yes,” Corbitt replied.
Corbitt testified that on July 15, when Luis Rivera rented the Toyota Prius in Miami that he and Garcia used to come to Tallahassee, Charlie Adelson called his parents’ residence three times on calls that lasted a combined 44-plus minutes. The same day, there were five communications between Charlie Adelson and Magbanua and 32 communications or attempted communications between her and Garcia.
Corbitt said that Garcia and Rivera’s cellphones appeared to have left the Miami area the next day, with the pair arriving in Tallahassee very early July 17.
The morning of the murder, Wendi Adelson was at her house on Aqua Ridge Way waiting for a Best Buy repairman to look at her broken TV screen. She and her mom texted about the appointment, with Donna Harvey saying Best Buy had just called, was on its way out and that she asked them to confirm with her daughter.
Not long after, Wendi Adelson texted Charlie Adelson, saying, “This is so sweet.” She deleted the text by the time police interviewed her later that day.
Wendi Adelson called her brother around that time, talking to him for 18 minutes. Charlie Adelson also made outgoing calls around 10 a.m. to Donna Adelson and Magbanua, who spoke with him at least a couple of times.
On cross-examination Tuesday, Rashbaum asked Corbitt whether it was unusual for someone to be in contact with their boyfriend or girlfriend or others in their lives. He questioned whether the call logs could lead to “false positives” and assumptions by investigators on the pattern of communication.
“The patterns are what they are,” Corbitt said.
Rashbaum, a former federal prosecutor, also asked whether Corbitt could tell whether there was a picture attached to Wendi Adelson’s text saying, “This is so sweet.”
"Do you know what it was?” Rashbaum asked.
“It was a text,” Corbitt replied.
“And that ominous text, that was also deleted?” Rashbaum asked.
Dugan asked Corbitt about the defense’s theory – that Magbanua and the killers were extorting Charlie Adelson and that he had nothing to do with the murder. Rashbaum gave that explanation for the first time during openings statements last week.
Earlier on Monday, Magbanua testified that it was Charlie Adelson’s idea to kill Markel and that he first broached the subject with her after a party on Halloween night 2013. She said he asked her then, “Do you know anybody that can harm someone?”
“In all the messages … are there any where they discuss Charlie Adelson being blackmailed or extorted by violent people wanting to hurt his family?” Dugan asked.
“None that I found,” Corbitt said.
Dugan asked Corbitt about a text from Wendi Adelson to Markel on July 6, less than two weeks before the murder and about a month after an aborted trip by Garcia and Rivera to kill Markel.
Corbitt read the text aloud: “Are you in Tallahassee July 14th through the 18th? I just wanted to know if I can have the kiddos on the 16th. Thanks.”
“What is significant about those dates?” Dugan asked.
“Those would encompass the second trip to Tallahassee where Mr. Markel was murdered,” Corbitt said.
Financial investigator tells jurors about new cars, motorcycles bought by killers
On Monday afternoon, Mary Hull, a financial investigator now with the Florida Attorney General’s Office, texted about bank records involving the Adelson family, their Tamarac dental practice, the Adelson Institute, and Magbanua, Garcia and Rivera.
Hull testified that shortly after the murder, Rivera bought a 2003 Suzuki motorcycle and a 1996 Toyota Camry, and Sigfredo Garcia bought a 1997 Honda Racer and a 1984 Chevrolet Monte Carlo. She said Magbanua got a 2001 Lexus sedan from Harvey Adelson, with the title showing she paid $1,700 for it. But she could find no sign of that in Magbanua or the Adelsons' bank records.
Starting just a day shy of two months after the murder, Hull said that the Adelson Institute began paying Magbanua every two weeks until May 2016. There were 44 checks, with all but one netting out to $407. The payments totaled nearly $18,000.
Hull said that in 2014, the year of the murder, Magbanua saw three times as much cash deposited into her account than the year before and twice as much as the following year. Investigators could find no evidence that she actually worked at the institute and former employees testified Monday that she wasn’t employed there.
“Which month of that year (2014) was the most cash deposited into her account?” Dugan asked.
“It was August of 2014,” she said.
“And how much cash was deposited to her account that month?” Dugan asked.
“I believe it was $13,200,” Hull replied.
“And that was the month following the murder of Dan Markel?” Dugan continued.
“It was,” Hull said.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
Chronicling the case:
Pre-trial: What we learned from jury selection
Walkthrough of witnesses: Those making the case for, against Charlie Adelson
Case primer: Everything to know about the murder-for-hire case
Day 1 opening statements: Defense says ex-girlfriend was murder 'mastermind'
Day 1 testimony: Wendi Adelson says she was surprised to learn Charlie knew Dan Markel's murderer all along
Day 2: Charlie Adelson murder trial sees twists, turns as his sister and a hit man testify
Day 3: Magbanua flips: Web of lies and phone records dominate Day 3 of Charlie Adelson trial
Day 4: Enter the FBI: Surveillance, wiretaps and phone records dominate Day 4 of Adelson trial
GAVEL-TO-GAVEL COVERAGE:
The Tallahassee Democrat will livestream each day of the trial of Charlie Adelson from the courthouse in Tallahassee. Watch on Tallahassee.com and the Tallahassee Democrat's Facebook and YouTube pages. For best viewing experience: Download the Tallahassee Democrat app to watch and receive text alerts on when to watch – from opening arguments to the verdict.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Dan Markel murder: Web of phone calls, texts, emails take center stage in Adelson trial
