ORLANDO, Fla. – Four months after Osceola County Sheriff Lopez posted a crime scene photo on Instagram that allegedly showed the body of 13-year-old Madeline Soto, the state attorney is raising questions about inconsistent statements made by the sheriff during an investigation into the confidential image.
State Attorney Andrew Bain has threatened to place the sheriff on his agency’s so-called “Brady List” which alerts criminal defendants to information about witnesses whose credibility may be called into question.
Soto’s decomposing body was found in a wooded area near St. Cloud on March 1, four days after she failed to show up at school and was reported missing.
The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office previously acknowledged that an “investigative photo” had been “accidentally” posted on Lopez’s Instagram account hours after the teen’s body was located.
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In a July 8 letter obtained by News 6, Bain points out that Lopez told Kissimmee’s police chief that the photo was published by mistake, and also made a public apology.
However, Bain says his office is having difficulty squaring that with remarks Lopez made in a radio interview where he claimed the picture didn’t actually show the body.
According to the letter, Lopez told WDBO: “As to the photo, there was an apology issued but it wasn’t actually the body, it was an area of interest where there was a body found. No one ever came out directly and said it was the victim.”
Then, five days later, Bain says Lopez conducted a sworn interview with a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigator, where Lopez told the investigator that he had had the pictures sent to his phone so he could “compare the clothing on the body to what the victim was last seen wearing.”
“There is therefore evidence you knew there was a body that might be the victim on March 1, 2024, and certainly knew the body was the deceased victim by the time of your interview on April 1, 2024,” Bain wrote.
Bain said his office was now required to formally notify Lopez, under the Brady Identification System of the “‘existence of information [including] . . . all sustained findings in personnel records for untruthfulness’ and ‘any other information the SAO9 learns and believes affects the credibility and/or truthfulness of a recurring state witness.’”
If it’s determined that Lopez was being “untruthful” about the picture that became public, he would be added to the state attorney’s office’s Brady list. That means prosecutors would have to let defendants know about anything in a witness’ background that might affect the credibility of their testimony.
“You are likely aware that you qualify not only as a recurring witness but also a witness in the underlying case given your entrance into a crime scene,” Bain wrote.
Bain said even though he was asking the sheriff’s office to investigate, Lopez could turn the investigation over to FDLE, since he is the subject. Once the investigation is done, the state attorney’s office will decide whether Lopez will be added to the Brady list.
Lopez was also cited for violating Florida’s public record laws for the photo disclosure, which carries a fine of up to $500.
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