Florida woman accused of using PPP money to hire hitman

A Florida woman has been arrested for allegedly using funds from the Paycheck Protection Program to hire a hitman.

Miami authorities say Jasmin Martinez, 33, used part of a $15,000 loan from the COVID-19 small business relief program to pay the man who shot and killed Le’Shonte Jones, a 24-year-old Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent who worked at Miami International Airport, as she walked to her apartment holding her 3-year-old daughter on May 3, 2021.

The Miami Herald reported a history of alleged altercations between Martinez and Jones. Police took special interest in Jones’s death because she was a prosecution witness in an ongoing robbery case that involved Martinez.

Romiel Robinson, who is believed to be in a romantic relationship with Martinez, was also arrested. Both have been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Miami-Dade police announced last week it had arrested Javon Carter, an ex-convict they believe was the hitman. In the arrest warrant, authorities said they found a video on Carter’s phone of him counting a large sum of cash and saying, “just another day in the office.”

Martinez’s arrest warrant said she withdrew more than $10,000 from her bank account days before Jones was killed. She received the PPP loan for a claimed single-employee nail salon business.

Carter has been charged with attempted murder for Jones’s daughter, who was grazed by bullets in the attack, in addition to first-degree murder.

A lawyer for Martinez denied she had any involvement in the incident.