Jonathan Bleiweiss is the Broward Sheriff's deputy who in August was arrested on charges he extorted sexual favors out of illegal immigrants. But when the 29-year-old wasn't on duty, he could often be found in gay chatrooms on AOL. Or at least, that's where man named Juan claims to have crossed his path.
Juan, who's 25 and who asked that we not print his last name, says that Bleiweiss was known in chat as "johnnythescarf."
We talked about what we both wanted in a relationship, what qualities we wanted in a person. Then it got to the sexual questions, which he seemed to talk about a lot, often mentioning how he loved Latino guys (I am half Puerto Rican and half Mexican) and how he wanted to do things with me.
Bleiweiss was openly gay in his law enforcement career, which made him a frequent liaison to that community in Oakland Park. But according to the state's case, Bleiweiss preyed upon illegal immigrants, asking them to show identification. If they didn't have it, say investigators, Bleiweiss would offer to let them walk in exchange for sex acts. He's accused of fondling one such immigrant in April. Another victim claims he was pulled over by Bleiweiss, who ordered the man into the back seat, then performed oral sex on him.
I asked Juan whether he knew what Bleiweiss did for a living:
Oh yes, he told me he was a cop, I asked him questions about his job. He really didn't say much about it. He just said he keeps the criminals off the streets and what not. Of course, this led to him talking about him handcuffing me and F'ing my Mexican A*S, which really bothered me, and he always asked me for pictures, every day all day.Juan recalls Bleiweiss being moody and lonely:
He constantly talked about [how] he was depressed because he was single and that he always thought about killing himself because no one would want to talk to him or hang out with him. Also, he was real pushy when it came to me calling him or texting him. He would constantly text me or call me even when I told him that I was busy or couldn't talk, and he would get really, really angry.By the time Bleiweiss visited southeastern Pennsylvania, Juan was reluctant to meet in person. Says Juan:
He came to Philly for vacation, and he wanted to meet up with me. In a way, I wanted to, but I knew it wouldn't be a good idea. I really don't like to meet people off the net like that, so I made an excuse, and when he left Philly, I received a message on AOL saying that he was disappointed and that if I was ever in FL to give him a call. After that, we never spoke again because he never logged on.That was in June of last year. Currently, Broward County Circuit Court records show nine separate felony cases pending against Bleiweiss.
