Ever since lawyer Scott Rothstein went missing last week, only to return to the country amid allegations of running a $400 million Ponzi scheme, some observers have wondered how this news might affect one of the story's subplots: the March 2008 murder of Melissa Britt Lewis, a young attorney who worked in Rothstein's firm.
In this article by Bob Norman, Rothstein told Norman that Debra Villegas, another employee, handled all of his accounting. Villegas's husband, Tony Villegas, was eventually charged with the murder of Lewis. The motive was supposedly revenge for Lewis's closeness with Debra. As the murder story unfolded last year, Bob Norman described the case as "mind-boggling" and reported how Debra Villegas had given seemingly conflicting statements to separate media outlets.
Villegas's first attorney, Michael Walsh, had suggested Tony Villegas was framed.
But yesterday the Juice spoke with Villegas's new attorney, Miami
lawyer Bruce Fleisher. "Whatever Mr. Rothstein did -- if he did it --
has nothing to do with the Villegas case," Fleisher said. "Whether his
estranged wife knows anything, I don't know." He noted that the
prosecutor who had first worked on the Villegas case, Howard
Scheinberg, went to work for Rosenfeldt Rothstein Adler, "but I don't
think you can come to any conclusion from that." He added that, "there
are other suspects in the case -- namely Melissa's ex-husband."
According
to the arrest warrant for Tony Villegas, police received "a copy of an
e-mail drafted by victim Lewis dated December 20, 2007, wherin she
requested assistance for her friend Debra Villegas (wife of Tony
Villegas) stating that 'How hard is it to do a will? My friend Debra is
going through a divorce. Her ex-husband is nuts. To be on the safe
side, she wants to be sure she designates who gets her children if he
hurts her and goes to jail. Seems extreme, but you have NO IDEA what
is going on and restraining orders are worthless.'" The affidavit does
not specify from what account the e-mail was sent, to whom it was sent,
or how detectives obtained it.
Police noted that Tony Villegas
was a train conductor, and that cell phone pings from the victim's phone
in the hours after her death matched up with Tony Villegas's train
route. The affidavit also cites witnesses who claim to have seen
Villegas washing pepper spray off his hands the evening the murder was
committed. Villegas remains in jail awaiting trial; Fleisher believes
it will be at least a year before the case is tried. He says Villegas
is "holding his own" in there.
