Police detain 2 AB collectors in mayors race

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Miami-Dade Police have detained and questioned two women in connection with the county mayoral race — caught with a dozen or so absentee ballots in their possession.

Ladra is still getting details, which are very slow coming out of the Miami-Dade Public Corruption unit. But according to several sources, the two women were questioned after they were seen going into and out of buildings in Hialeah, trolling for absentee ballots.

Apparently public corruption detectives have been investigating the possible AB fraud rampant in that city, after all. Word is, they may have been trailing these women for days. You go, guys! Call me if you need any pointers.

The information was reported on the radio, I was told by a fellow journalist, and is being followed by reporters as you read this, dear reader, as if these women were working for the campaign to re-elect Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez. Even one of the detectives that Ladra spoke to said “they said they were with Gimenez.”

Well, remember, the PBA did endorse Commission Chairman Joe Martinez in the race.

And, then, Ladra got the names leaked out to her and, lo and behold, one of them is Daisy Cabrera, who has always worked for Absentee Ballot Queen Sasha Tirador, the campaign manager for Martinez. Cabrera collected ballots for former Mayor Julio “Yolo” Robaina for his failed bid against Gimenez and for Hialeah Mayor Carlos “Castro” Hernandez. She also tried to collect for Hialeah council candidates Frank Lago and Cindy Miel, but her price was too high, they told Ladra back in October.

Here’s a link to an old blog post with a photo of Cabrera bringing early voters — were some of them in diapers? — to the JFK Library in Hialeah last October and November. (Sorry, Ladra is technically challenged and can’t find the

photo to upload here.)

I am still trying to find out who Matilde Martinez, the other woman who was questioned, is.

Tom Martinelli, the communications director for the Gimenez campaign — who was with the mayor at a debate as the news of the police stop spread — said that the incumbent had nothing to do with these women.

“We don’t know who these people are. We don’t hire these people,” Martinelli told me. “The mayor gave strict orders from Day 1 that we don’t hire those kind of people. We don’t work that way.”

Sources told Ladra that the women were stopped about 1:30 or 2 p.m. and had 12 ballots on them. They were questioned and released — say what? — but not before they were told that they may get a call from the State Attorney’s Office on Wednesday. A source in the SAO said the women could be arrested as early as tomorrow.

Miami-Dade State Attorney Kathy Fernandez-Rundle — in a heated campaign of her own and I can’t help but wonder what she does for her ABs — issued a very unspecific statement late Wednesday that only confirmed there was an incident and an investigation, but did not provide details.

 “All of Miami-Dade County’s voters should be very careful with their absentee ballots.  It is now a misdemeanor crime to pick up or return ‘…no more than two (2) absentee ballots other than his or her own per election’ as designated in the ordinance,” Fernandez-Rundle said. “The ordinance contains very specific language on how absentee ballots are now to be handled.

“Since this investigation is still developing, we cannot provide any additional information at this time.”

Someone close to one of the mayoral campaigns said that the women told the cops they were working for State Reps. Jose Oliva and Eddy “Here Comes Hialeah” Gonzalez and a bunch of judicial candidates — all of Tirador’s opponents, it seems.

But, um, don’t you think they were told to say that. Just like they tell people their name is “Juan” or “Gloria” no matter what their real name is. Sasha has them well trained. The detectives must be on to them, right?

Sasha never answers when Ladra calls. She only talks to Col. Matias “Tres Kilo” Farias, who charges $3,000 per candidate if they want him to talk nice about them, and Enrique Flor, who will be in the doghouse with her soon because he is a legitimate journalist — and a hell of a good one, too. Oliva did not answer when I called this evening.

But while he said neither woman worked for him, Gonzalez left open a possibility they were helping him on their own.

“They’re friends and they’ve always helped with my campaigns,” Gonzalez told Ladra shortly after 7 p.m. “But as far as I know, they are not working for me. We are not paying them. When it comes to AB operations, I always stay away from that kind of thing. We do phone banking.

“Daisy has always been a friend. She’s not being paid by my campaign. I don’t know if she’s working for someone else. She’s always around political campaigns,” Gonzalez said, adding that he’s never paid her, though he might have helped her or her family out with a Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey now and then.

I know how we can tell. Remember there were ballots? Just open the ballots and let’s see the names that were marked and everyone will know who these boleteras were working for.

God, I hope the cops kept the ballots when they let these women go. Yep, they let them go. Why on Earth didn’t they charge them with the third degree misdemeanor that it is in this county to carry more than two ballots at any one time? Miami-Dade Commissioner Rebeca Sosa added teeth to that law — which had no penalty attached to it before last year — so that it is now punishable by up to 60 days in jail or a $1,000 fine.

That could have had a tiny, chilling effect on the rest of the AB soldiers — at least for a few days anyway.

But the cops let the women go. Why? And how long do we have to wait before they are charged and before we know who they were picking up ballots for? This is the closest we have gotten to a smoking gun since Ladra started investigating and barking about absentee ballots last year. The State Attorney’s Office knows who Sasha is. Ladra has had multiple chats with them about her. They know who Cabrera is, too.

At least they know now. I told them. And they seemed grateful for the information.

Ladra has put in a call and an email to see if one of the supervising officers at the Miami-Dade Police public corruption unit can tell me what happened — and why they let these women go. I offered to let them pick my brain for what I know about these people and Tirador’s AB machinery. I already gave them information they didn’t have and helped redirect their investigation.

But they have to tell me just one thing: Where are those 12 ballots?

Okay, two things: Whose names were marked?