Florida Keys man who fled felony trial caught in Mexico, sheriff’s office says

Crime admin October 7, 2026 0 Comments

Florida Keys man who fled felony trial caught in Mexico, sheriff’s office says

A man who skipped town the morning a Florida Keys jury was deliberating whether to convict him of a slew of felony charges, including attempted murder, carjacking and beating a deputy, was caught in Mexico by U.S. Marshals, law enforcement officials told the Miami Herald.

Armando Lopez, 53, was expected at the Plantation Key courthouse Friday morning as the six-person jury deliberated charges related to a Dec. 21, 2024, domestic violence incident that snowballed into battering a sheriff’s office sergeant, stealing that deputy’s patrol car and then carjacking a woman’s SUV.

But, he never showed up. He was staying with his father, who told Monroe County State Attorney’s Office prosecutors he didn’t know where his son went. Sheriff Rick Ramsay said Monday that the father later told detectives that Lopez was angry that prosecutors didn’t offer him any plea deals, so his son planned to leave the country rather than face conviction.

Without Lopez present, the jury took less than an hour to convict him on a list of charges, including attempted murder, aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, domestic battery, grand theft auto, fleeing and eluding police and burglary. He faces life in prison.

Lopez was free on a $460,000 bond during the trial, which began four days earlier. The state’s evidence was strong, and included body camera footage of Lopez attacking the deputy and trying to grab his service weapon before taking off in the patrol car, Chief Assistant State Attorney Joseph Mansfield said.

The sergeant was responding to Lopez’s Palm Drive home in Key Largo, where he was beating a woman with whom he had an on-and-off-again relationship, according to the sheriff’s office.

After taking the patrol car, Lopez abandoned it in exchange for a Kia SUV he forced a woman out of, according to his arrest report. He lost control of the Kia after he crashed into the back of a Volkswagen about two miles down U.S. 1 at mile marker 104 during a pursuit with deputies and Florida Highway Patrol troopers.

After not showing up Friday, Judge James Morgan issued a no-bond warrant for Lopez’s arrest. But, it turned out he was long gone.

Lopez rented a car and left the Keys, Ramsay told the Herald. A license plate reader flagged the car in Texas, and another license plate reader pinged the car crossing the Mexican border in Laredo, Ramsay said.

The sheriff’s office then called the Marshals Service, which located and arrested Lopez Monday, Ramsay said. As of Monday, he was being held by Mexican authorities awaiting extradition to the U.S.

“He’ll be taken back to Monroe County to face justice,” Ramsay said.