IS PBSO PLAYING FAVORITES WITH INCARCERATED DHS AGENT?

There is a major update to this story. Click here.
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — Is the Palm Beach County Jail playing favorites with newly incarcerated federal agent Angel Echevarria?
That’s the question being asked by many this evening — including other law enforcement professionals — following the Department of Homeland Security agent’s arrest on charges that he opened fire in the parking lot of Boca Raton’s Town Center Mall following a road rage incident.
He’s officially been charged by the Boca Raton Police Department with “Aggravated Assault With A Firearm” and “Shooting Into An Occupied Vehicle.”
While the Palm Beach County Clerk’s Office has made his now growing court file available as part of its public document database, the Palm Beach County Jail — inexplicably — is hiding Echevarria from view. There is no record of his arrest in the PBSO database nearly 24 hours after his incarceration and no indication that he remains in the Palm Beach County Jail.
Arrest records are traditionally made public within an hour of arrest.
BocaNewsNow.com has learned that Echevarria turned himself in to the jail in the early hours of Thursday morning to avoid media attention. We have also learned that he remains in jail — no bond has been set in his case.
Echevarria — part of the Department of Homeland Security — is an agent with the “Federal Protection Service (FPS)” and was assigned to the U.S. Marshal’s Service at the time of his arrest.
Florida Statute does permit law enforcement officers to prevent their home addresses from being part of the public record. However, PBSO’s complete blockage of Echevarria’s booking report and mugshot may violate Florida’s Sunshine Law.
A PBSO spokesperson did not return a telephone call seeking information Thursday afternoon.
Read our original report — complete with the documents that led to Echevarria’s arrest — here.