BY: ANDREW COLTON
Editor and Publisher
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — The possible coverup involving an allegedly rougue Department of Homeland Security Agent who police say opened fire on a motorist in the parking lot of Boca Raton’s Town Center Mall continues.
There is still no public record of Angel Eschevarria’s incarceration into the Palm Beach County Jail more than three days after his middle-of-the-night surrender.
Echevarria is charged by the Boca Raton Police Department with “aggravated assault with a firearm” and “shooting into an occupied vehicle” (read the complete affidavit of probable cause here) following a bizarre road rage incident in which Echevarria seemingly turned a small traffic infraction on Glades Road into a federal case. Angered that a motorist turned in front of him, Echevarria apparently flashed his badge and ordered the offending vehicle into the mall parking lot where he drew his weapon. Eschevarria opened fire when the motorist left the parking lot.
The driver likely feared the agent was a crazy person with a gun and a badge.
Boca Raton Police issued a warrant for his arrest. Echevarria, however, refused to deal with Boca police and turned himself into his colleagues at the US Marshal’s service.
And that’s where the potential coverup begins. Echevarria is an agent with the “Federal Protective Service” who was assigned to the US Marshal’s service at the time of the incident. He turned himself into his co-workers, fellow federal agents.
As we previously reported, when a federal agent books a prisoner into the Palm Beach County Jail, the computer system keeps the record private — believing that the prisoner is a federal prisoner and in the process of being transported to a federal facility.
But Agent Echevarria is a county prisoner — his arrest ordered by Boca Raton Police. By having his federal colleagues book him into jail, the system, however, “believes” he is a federal prisoner and is keeping public information private.
This is a direct violation of Florida Statute 119.
BocaNewsNow.com has been told by several law enforcement representatives that this action is unprecedented and presents the appearance — even if unintentionally — of a coverup involving the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office (PBSO) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
A Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Friday told BocaNewsNow.com that the Sheriff’s Office was aware of the issue and would be resolving it promptly, but as of 1:45pm Sunday, Angel Echevarria’s booking record is still not available for public view.
