A judge Tuesday reduced the prison sentence of the admitted getaway driver in one of the most high-profile murder cases in recent Keys history.
Monroe County Circuit Judge Luis Garcia lopped two years off Adrian Demblans’ 10-year state prison sentence because Demblans not only cooperated with prosecutors in their murder case against Jeremy Macauley for the 2015 killing of Tara Rosado and Carlos Ortiz, but he also helped convict Macauley for cocaine trafficking in a separate case earlier this year.
Demblans, 36, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact of a capital felony on April 8, 2017. Garcia sentenced him on April 10. As part of his plea deal, Demblans agreed to testify in open court how he drove Macauley to and from Rosado’s Cuba Road home in Tavernier the night of Oct. 15, 2015, where Macauley shot and killed her and Ortiz, her live-in boyfriend. Rosado’s three young children were home, but physically unharmed.
Demblans was facing 30 years for his role in the crime, in which he also admitted to throwing the .45 caliber handgun Macauley used to murder the couple into a Key Largo canal.
A jury convicted Macauley, 35, of first-degree murder in November 2017, and Garcia sentenced him to life a month later.
Family members of both Rosado and Ortiz were in the Plantation Key courtroom for Tuesday’s hearing but declined to comment. They told prosecutors they did not support Demblans receiving a reduced sentence.
The root of the crime was more than a dozen kilos of cocaine Macauley found offshore and brought back to the mainland the summer before the murders while he worked as a charter boat mate in Islamorada. Macauley, who had a drug-dealing past, employed several friends, including Demblans and Ortiz, to help him package the haul into smaller doses and sell it locally.
Ortiz began acting erratically in the days leading up to the murder. He sent Macauley and his charter boat captain boss, Rick Rodriguez, who was never charged with any crime related to the cocaine or the murders, a flurry of text messages demanding money in exchange for not telling the cops about the drugs.
His last text message was about an hour before he and Rosado were killed. Rosado was 26, and Ortiz, 30, when they died.
While Demblans had to testify against Macauley in the murder case as part of the plea deal, he voluntarily helped State Attorney’s Office prosecutors in their separate case against Macauley for conspiracy to traffic cocaine while armed and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Macauley agreed to plead guilty to those charges in September and was sentenced to 15 years.
Prosecutors Brian Fernandes, Reid Scott and Aleathea McRoberts said Macauley would not have been compelled to confess to those charges without the cooperation of Demblans and another witness, Enos Mitchell, who testified he helped sell the cocaine for a short period after it was found.
Garcia said he agreed to reduce Demblans’ sentence because his cooperation in the drug case “was essential” in getting Macauley to confess, and his testimony “saved the state time and money.”
Garcia declined a request from Demblans’ attorney, Frank Quintero, to reduce his client’s sentence to less than three years because allegations were raised during the discovery portion of the trial that were not made known to Demblans before he agreed to roll over on Macauley.
For example, Macauley’s attorney, Ed O’Donnell Sr., argued the cocaine was not brought in on Rodriguez’s vessel, but on Demblans’ fishing boat, the Reel G. After hearing that claim, Demblans gave Quintero insurance claim forms showing the Reel G was inoperable and stuck at the dock at the time the drugs were found.
O’Donnell also claimed Macauley wasn’t the trigger man, and that Demblans killed Rosado and Ortiz with his twin brother, Kristian Demblans, who was recently freed from prison on heroin and cocaine dealing charges.
“Because of the events that occurred after the plea agreement was signed and after the quid pro quo, my client deserves a reduced sentence,” Quintero told Garcia.
This story was originally published December 18, 2018 6:28 PM.