Update 2/4: Carter died in the hospital on Friday morning.
Jimmy Dac Ho lived a troubled life with a gun on his belt, first as a Lauderhill police officer and, until yesterday afternoon, as a member of the Florida Atlantic University police force. From 2002 to 2004, he worked for the Broward Sheriff's Office but was fired after being arrested on a disorderly conduct misdemeanor. As a Lauderhill officer in 1995, Ho was involved in a car crash that killed a 74-year-old man, while pursuing a car without using lights or sirens.
On Monday afternoon, Ho visited Sheri Carter, or "Stephanie," an in-call escort he had contacted through her listing on Backpage.com (which is owned by New Times' parent, Village Voice Media). During a dispute that he says was about money, he allegedly shot her through the abdomen and in the neck, paralyzing her from the waist down. The University Press, the Post, and the Sun-Sentinel have covered the incident.
This wasn't Ho's first run-in with the law through online classifieds -- back in 2009,
he visited a Bank of America branch in Boyton Beach attempting to cash a check for $3,200. The teller contacted the account owner, a man named Paul Pickle.
Pickle had no idea the check had been written and had never met Ho. It turned out that Ho had responded to an ad for a personal driver on Backpage and was sent the check to cash via FedEx, supposedly as a down payment for the car he would drive. The man behind the fraudulent post identified himself on the phone as "Morgan." According to an incident report, "None of the involved parties, Pickle, Bank of America, or Ho lost any money due to this incident."
Carter posted frequent ads for her escort services to Craigslist and then, after that site banned adult-services ads last September, on Backpage. Her ads advertise "a quiet, clean and discreet incall location" and provide multiple photos of her. Escort review websites indicate that she operated independently and answered her own phone. As "Stephanie," Carter listed her age as 26 rather than 29.
She met most of her customers at her condominium in the Marina Village development in Boynton Beach.
Ho resigned from his position with FAU police yesterday afternoon, indicating in his resignation letter that the move was for "personal" reasons. Below, see the probable-cause affidavit for the recent incident, including Ho's voluntary confession to police.
Ho PC
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