Deandre Baker loses NFL job after Florida robbery arrest, as videos emerge of cash payoffs
Deandre Baker, the NFL football player accused of robbing four men at a Miramar house party, lost his job Tuesday as police released surveillance video purporting to show the cash used to pay off the witnesses in the case.
The cornerback, who was cut by the New York Giants on Tuesday, is awaiting trial in Broward County for the alleged robbery that happened at a Miramar house party on May 13.
Baker was initially arrested along with Seattle Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar. The Broward State Attorney’s Office later dropped the case against Dunbar, but pressed robbery charges against Baker.
Miramar police also revealed that two days after the supposed robbery, a Miami high school football coach and another man paid $55,000 in cash to the four men who claimed to have been robbed, in exchange for sworn affidavits changing their stories. The payoffs were done, according to police, at the downtown Miami law office of Dunbar’s then-attorney, Michael Grieco.
No one has been charged with witness tampering or any other felonies associated with the supposed payoffs.
The videos released on Tuesday show the coach, Dominic Johnson, in an elevator with another unidentified man wearing a black backpack. The video depicts the unknown man showing the bag, and a wad of cash, to Johnson.
Another clip shows the two men with another man exchanging cash in a hallway outside the elevator. A third clip shows them leaving. None of the clips released on Tuesday show Grieco — who has now been listed as a witness in the case against Baker, according to a court filing.
According to the police report, the victims told detectives that they met with Johnson and the other man inside a conference room inside Grieco’s office.
The lawyer, who is also an elected state representative, stepped out of the room during the transaction. “Whatever you guys have going on ... you know, that’s between you guys. I’m just here for the affidavit,” according to the police report. One man, however, said Grieco briefly stepped back inside the room when the money was being dumped out.
An investigator and a notary from Grieco’s office were also on hand that day. The police report obtained by the Miami Herald also show investigators found direct messages on Instagram between Baker and Johnson, who tried to get the New York Giants player to come to the law office in Miami.
With no prosecutor’s office willing to take the witness tampering portion of the probe, the release of the video signifies that that Miramar police considers the case closed.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office, while prosecuting the robbery charge against Baker, said the supposed payoffs “happened in Miami-Dade County, not in Broward County’s jurisdiction.”
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, however, said “Miami-Dade County was not the appropriate venue for such an investigation.” The office of the Statewide Prosecutor also declined.
A Miramar police report said the Florida Department of Law Enforcement determined Grieco’s conduct was not criminal, although he is facing a Florida Bar inquiry. Johnson, 35, a security monitor at Carol City High who has coached football at Carol City and Southridge High, remains a schools employee.
He’d known Dunbar and Baker since they were youths. A Miami-Dade schools spokeswoman said Johnson has, for now, been removed from his coaching duties.
Baker, the 30th overall pick in the 2019 draft, started 15 games for the New York Giants last season, finishing with 61 tackles.
His defense attorney, Bradford Cohen, declined to comment on Tuesday. He has criticized the supposed victims in the case as men with long criminal histories who were trying to extort money from the football player.
In a court filing on Tuesday, Cohen claimed that one of the victims, Roy Lee Lowery, is using an alias and that he also goes by the name “Pimpin’ Sam” or “Yosemite Sam.”
“The ‘Pimpin Sam’ alias alludes to his relationship with the other alleged victims in the case, who have previously been charged and arrested for human trafficking-related crimes in the past,” Cohen wrote. “The latter ‘Yosemite Sam’ alias is clearly an invocation of the cartoon character known primarily for his dual wielding revolvers and proclivity for violence.”
Baker’s lawyers are asking that Lowery’s social security number be given to them, to be able to verify his true identity.
