Woman hired ex-con to kill TSA agent using COVID loan, authorities say

Murder came after years-long feud, records show

MIAMI – Investigators say Jasmine Martinez hired an ex-con as a hitman to kill Transportation Security Administration agent Le’Shonte Jones, paying for the murder with federal funds.

That’s according to Martinez’s arrest form, which states that Martinez received a Paycheck Protection Program loan for $15,000 — money meant to help small business owners during the COVID-19 pandemic. Investigators tracked more than $10,000 in cash withdrawals in the days leading up to the murder.

Martinez faced a judge Tuesday on three charges, including first-degree murder with a deadly weapon.

She was ordered held with no bond.

Cell phone records show Martinez was communicating with Javon Carter, believed to be the shooter spotted in a surveillance photo, a connection made by her boyfriend Romiel Robinson.

Martinez, Carter and Robinson were all arrested earlier this month.

Hours after the killing, a video found on Carter’s phone shows him counting a large sum of U.S. currency and saying “just another day at the office.”

Jones, 24, was shot dead last May as she was picking up her toddler. Her little girl was grazed by gunfire but survived.

The shooter was in a gray Nissan outside of the Coral Bay Coves Apartments, where Jones lived in Miami-Dade’s Naranja neighborhood.

Jones’ grieving mother Darlene Dukes spoke to Local 10 News back in October.

“I’m so broken. I’m so torn. My life has changed forever,” Dukes said. “They took away a wonderful person beautiful person in and out.”

Investigators document a pattern of Martinez threatening Jones for years. In 2018, Martinez was accused of striking Jones with a closed fist to her face.

In a 2020 robbery case, police say Martinez’s former boyfriend stole her cell phone. In 2021, Martinez was accused of harassing Jones to keep her from testifying against him and was caught on jail call conversations telling her ex-boyfriend she is “ready to go kill” Jones and that she “has to die.”

Martinez is scheduled to be back in court next month for her arraignment.


About the Author:

Christina returned to Local 10 in 2019 as a reporter after covering Hurricane Dorian for the station. She is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist and previously earned an Emmy Award while at WPLG for her investigative consumer protection segment "Call Christina."