Incident is the latest in pattern of political harassment
Coral Gables Police have confirmed that Commissioner Ariel Fernandez was being followed Tuesday, while taking his son to school, by a private investigator who was a city police officer until 2014. A statement from the chief said that police don’t know why the PI was following the commissioner — nor who hired him.
Fernandez, who will have a press conference Wednesday to discuss this and other similarly creepy incidents, said it is definitely politically motivated.
“I have no doubt it’s political. I don’t have any enemies outside of politics,” Fernandez told Political Cortadito Tuesday.
He wouldn’t specifically name Mayor Vince Lago, who he has been at odds with since his election two years ago, as the suspect PI’s client. But he did remind Ladra that Lago has repeatedly said he was going to “destroy” him.
Read related: Three Coral Gables commissioners say they have been stalked, threatened
Fernandez thought there was something strange about the dark truck on his street Tuesday morning as he pulled out of his house to take his son to school. It was driving exceedingly slow. Cut-through traffic on the block usually goes by faster, he thought. Moments later, he saw the same truck again at an intersection. His stop. The driver waved him on, twice, then turned behind him and seemed to follow him a few blocks. Fernandez said he tried to get behind the truck to get a license plate, but was unable to.
After he dropped his son off, Fernandez said he approached an officer directing traffic at the school to let him know that he thought he was being followed. Around the same time, the vehicle drove by the school and possibly recorded the interaction between Fernandez and the police officer.
“Another dad said, ‘Hey, that guy is taking photos of you,'” Fernandez said.
According to a statement from Chief Ed Hudak, which was released Tuesday afternoon, one of the officers then followed the truck.
“As one of the officers followed the suspect vehicle, the individual pulled off the roadway and flagged down the Coral Gables officer,” reads Hudak’s statement. “The person was identified as a licensed private investigator who was in fact surveilling and following Commissioner Fernandez. The person identified was retired Coral Gables Police Sergeant Alan Matas, who was working as a licensed private investigator for the company he owns. The individual who hired the Private Investigations Company was not disclosed to the responding officer.
“The private investigator was legally conducting surveillance. Therefore, no further action was taken by the officers at the scene,” the statement ended. “The Police Department is continuing to investigate this incident to ascertain if it is related to other incidents that have occurred in the past.”
Incidents in the past include the slashing of tires on both Commissioner Melissa Castro‘s vehicle, which was vandalized again last week, and the vehicle driven by the wife of Commissioner Kirk Menendez. There were also photographs of Commissoner Fernandez taken at the Belen Jesuit School Tombola last month and posted online with disparaging captions and comments.
They were posted by the same trolls who constantly take AI liberties with photographs of the three commissioners dubbed KFC (Kirk, Fernandez and Castro) by the Lago loyalists. These anonymous trolls — and there’s a new one every week — make derogatory and body-shaming remarks, accuse commissioners of drug use, sexual misconduct and pedophile. Some of the posts on Castro could be considered sexual harassment.
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago attacks colleagues, manager in citywide email
And Lago, who is the common denominator follower of these trolls’ tiny accounts, knows about them because Ladra — who is also laughably targeted by these online stalkers — has texted him about it and sent him screenshots of some of the most inappropriate posts (I also contacted the Gables Police). The mayor has never had the courtesy to answer.
Fernandez wrote about these comments last month in an op-ed that appeared in Community Newspapers (before it shortly disappeared and then appeared again) called “The politics of intimidation have no place in Coral Gables.” In it, Fernandez accuses Lago of working tirelessly to try to “destroy” him with what he calls a campaign of harassment.
“Political committees usually spring into action during election season. But Mayor Lago’s Coral Gables First PC has functioned as a permanent smear machine,” Fernandez wrote. “Since my election, it has spent over $600,000—not on city improvements, not on community outreach, but on relentless attacks.
“Mailers, text messages, social media ads, and paid canvassers—their sole purpose? To divide our community and tear down those who dare to challenge the Mayor. Worse, Lago has amplified these attacks from his official city accounts, using taxpayer-funded resources to spread hate.
“No social media post goes unnoticed by the Mayor’s network of anonymous trolls. They attack us for our weight, our appearances, and even our families. Commissioner Castro has endured repeated vile sexual harassment. Commissioner Menendez has been falsely and outrageously accused of being a pedophile.
“When we refused to be intimidated, the harassment escalated.
“It wasn’t enough to attack us. Now, they were coming after those closest to us. My wife, my son, my sister-in-law—even my grandfather, who passed away this summer—have all been targeted online. And in a chilling pattern, some of these anonymous accounts are followed by Mayor Lago himself….
“Sometimes, the threats are explicit. A message reading, “See you soon, face to face.” A photo of my car at City Hall posted online with the clear implication: We know where you are.
We’ve turned over all documentation to the State Attorney’s office, but Florida’s laws are still woefully inadequate when it comes to protecting elected officials and their families.”
He reminds us that last year, police had to escort Fernandez and the other two commissioners who are targets of these attacks to a meeting at City Hall after a credible threat.
“This is not the Coral Gables we all love. It is not the Coral Gables my colleagues and I swore an oath to serve,” Fernandez wrote in his op-ed. “Disagreements will always exist. But dissent should never lead to destruction. And leadership should never be weaponized to sow division and fear.
Fernandez told Political Cortadito Tuesday that he wanted to let people know that the intimidation was ongoing.
Read related: Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago: All the wrong people in all the wrong places
“The problem is nobody hears about it, so it’s like it doesn’t exist,” Fernandez said. “Residents have a right to know what their elected officials are going through.”
Meanwhile, the PI, Alan Matas, was a Gables cop and supervisor for more than 26 years, his LinkedIn profile says. He also served on the city’s employee retirement board. Records with the Florida Division of Corporations shows he owns A Matas & Associates LLC and has an address on Key Largo.
Matas was a sergeant in 2006 when he was suspended for 10 days and demoted to patrol for his role in overtime abuse and the illegal narcotics burn — small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and pills — at the Redland property of another Gables officer. The cases uncovered holes in policies that led the department to disband the special investigations unit, taking out half of its personnel at least temporarily until new procedures can be put in place.
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