MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Nearly two years after the incident, police arrested a 19-year-old Miami Gardens woman Tuesday after they said she apparently set a man up for an ambush robbery behind a motel near Miami International Airport.
According to a Miami-Dade Police Department arrest warrant, on Aug. 21, 2021, Imalay Lopez, who had turned 18 three days prior, met the man on an unspecified “social media application” and the two arranged a meetup at the Motel 6 at 7330 NW 36th St.
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Police said the man arrived and picked up Lopez, who was joined by then-19-year-old Kasandra Soutullo. They said the three then drove behind the motel and got out of the vehicle, spending “some time” near the bank of an adjacent canal.
The report doesn’t make clear why the man came to meet up with the two young women or what they did or planned to do near the canal.
What it does say, however, is that the man got thirsty at one point and went back to his car to grab a beverage and was quickly blindsided by two men. Police said Jevon Jackson, then 20, and Je’Darius L’Shawn McFatten, then 18, began punching and kicking him, knocking him to the grass, and demanding he give them his phone, wallet and car keys.
Police said one of them yelled “we have a gun” multiple times. They said the victim got up and began stumbling towards the parking lot as the two followed him, assaulted him and then took his wallet from his pants.
The warrant states the man’s phone fell out of his pants during the ongoing struggle and he fell once more, this time to the pavement, causing him to become disoriented.
Police said he yelled for help and heard a woman then yell “let’s go, just get his phone.”
They said Lopez, Soutullo, Jackson and McFatten then took off. All four had been staying at the motel, police said.
Lopez was arrested on an armed robbery charge Tuesday and was being held without bond in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Court records show Soutullo and Jackson had been arrested on Sept. 16, 2021, though it’s not clear if it was connected to this case.
Soutullo pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault, earning her probation, while Jackson pleaded guilty to robbery, earning him a trip to boot camp and four years of probation.
A search for McFatten in Miami-Dade court and jail records turned up nothing Wednesday.