MIAMI – Miami-Dade Police Department narcotics detectives found drug dealers operating steps away from Coral Way K-8 Bilingual Center. They were in a multi-family home in a quiet Coral Way neighborhood west of Miami's Brickell.
The detectives reported it was all happening with a 10-year-old boy living in the home. The boy's father, Mike Rodriguez, 29, and his father's partner, Christy Lopez, 22, were arrested Wednesday. Rodriguez reportedly told detectives a judge had granted him custody of his son.
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While searching the home, the officers reported finding a fully loaded Glock handgun hiding behind a poster of Marilyn Monroe, a backpack with marijuana in the laundry room and a backpack with cocaine behind the fireplace.
In the master bedroom's closet, officers reported finding more marijuana inside Tupperware, bundles of cash grouped with rubber bands and a Ziploc bag with several .40 caliber rounds. In the structure behind the home, officers said they found what was left of a hydroponics marijuana grow lab.
Rodriguez told detectives the home at 1501 SW 19th St. belonged to his mother, according to the arrest form. Miami-Dade County property records show Otto C. Munoz owns the home, as part of a five-bedroom, three-bathroom home divided into two units with a front and back entrance.
Records show it wasn't the first time Rodriguez's son was in an environment authorities considered unsafe. The Florida Department of Children and Families was involved.
Court records show Rodriguez's paternity case in family court was filed after the boy's mother, Jessica Alfonseca, was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm in a 2016 domestic violence case involving another man.
Rodriguez and Lopez were being held without bond Thursday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. They were each facing charges of cocaine trafficking, marijuana and cocaine possession with the purpose of trafficking, displaying a firearm while committing a felony, money laundering with unlawful proceeds and child abuse with no great bodily harm.