SANFORD, Fla. – The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office said the investigation into a carjacking and missing woman case last week led to a person of interest, a drug arrest, and a search for at least one other person.
Sheriff Dennis Lemma said Monicsabel Romero-Soto was arrested on accusations of accepting delivery of three kilos of cocaine through the U.S. Postal Service and is facing federal charges. She was arrested in Osceola County.
The sheriff’s office is also looking for Romero-Soto’s boyfriend, Giovany Joel Crespo Hernandez for charges related to fentanyl possession.
None of the charges are related directly to the carjacking of 31-year-old Katherine Altagracia Guerrero De Aguasvivas, last week near Winter Springs. However, Lemma said detectives learned about the two through a forensic examination of a cell phone. Detectives believe the last person Aguasvivas may have spoken to was Crespo.
That was based on an independent investigation that the sheriff’s office said Aguasvivas’ brother was undertaking. Lemma said the brother didn’t recognize Crespo, but he called him, took a screenshot of him, and gave that to detectives. The brother also told detectives that Crespo told him that Aguasvivas had been in town to deliver “money and other things to a friend.”
Detectives executed a search warrant at the Casselberry home where Hernandez and Romero-Soto lived and found the fentanyl, as well as cannabis, drug paraphernalia and guns. They are still looking for Crespo.
Federal investigators have also arrested a third person on an unrelated weapons charge who the sheriff’s office said is a person of interest in the carjacking.
Jordanish Torres-Garcia, also known as Jordan, is facing federal gun charges for an unrelated case. He was arrested in Orange County Friday. Lemma said detectives were able to link Torres-Garcia as the person who bought the green Acura that had been used in the carjacking.
“We’re listing him as a person of interest, as strong as you can get as a person of interest,” Lemma said.
The sheriff’s office said on Thursday, April 11, Aguasvivas was stopped at a traffic light at the intersection of East Lake Drive and Tuskawilla Road in her Dodge Durango when a masked gunman carrying a 10mm automatic handgun got out of a green Acura and entered her SUV, apparently forcing her to drive off at gunpoint.
Less than two hours later, a vehicle similar to the Durango was found ablaze in Osceola County after witnesses reported hearing gunshots at a construction site near Boggy Creek Road, the sheriff said, adding that the vehicle was damaged so badly that it could not be identified.
A body believed to be Aguasvivas was found in the vehicle, officials said. As of Thursday morning, the body had not been positively identified.
Detectives say there was a second person in the Acura at the time of the carjacking and they are still trying to figure out who that person is.
Detectives are waiting for some phone records to come in and will update the case as they get more information. Meanwhile, if you have any information about the case you are asked to call Crimeline at 1-800-423-8477.
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: