Miami, FL

Man jailed for impersonating Miami Springs pizzeria, delivering disgusting pies, police say

Published

2 years ago

August 19, 2024

Man jailed for impersonating Miami Springs pizzeria, delivering disgusting pies, police say

MIAMI SPRINGS, Fla. – A 55-year-old man is facing a felony charge in South Florida for a bizarre impersonation scheme that left pizza customers getting a raw deal, authorities said.

Police said he ran “an elaborate scheme to defraud tourists staying in the hotels of Miami Springs” by pretending to be a well-known local pizza parlor.

According to police, customers who thought they were ordering pies from Roman’s Pizzeria, located at 391 N. Royal Poinciana Blvd., were instead getting subpar slices from Jose Marti-Alvarez.

Marti-Alvarez “distributed fake pizza flyers to hotel rooms” along Northwest 36th Street, near Miami International Airport, advertising “Roman Pizzeria,” misleading visitors, according to Miami Springs police.

Jesus Roman, the proprietor of the real Roman’s Pizzeria, who’s been cooking up pies for four decades, said Marti-Alvarez’s pizzas were “bad, uncooked, sometimes they (were sent) in a box with a piece of raw dough.”

“They just give it to them and by (the) time they realize it they’re gone anyway,” Roman said.

Police said the fraud had been “ongoing for several years” and has caused “significant hardships” for the real Roman’s, “including complaints to the Better Business Bureau, negative reviews and upset customers.“

“So sometimes they show up upset here to the store claiming ‘Where’s the food?” Roman said. “We have to explain to them that it’s not us.”

After Roman went to police, officers arrested Marti-Alvarez on a charge of organized scheme to defraud and booked him into jail early Monday morning.

“At least if you’re going to do something, do it right,” Roman said.

Marti-Alvarez is also facing an aggravated battery charge “after fleeing from hotel staff in his vehicle and hitting a staff member” with the vehicle, police said.

In court Monday afternoon, Miami-Dade Judge Mindy Glazer ordered Marti-Alvarez to stay away from the Days Inn at 4767 NW 36th St., where the victim works.

In open court, a lawyer, seeking to have the aggravated battery charge dismissed, read from an arrest report that states that he told officers that he “left the area fast and didn’t think he had hit her with the car because he understood he wasn’t supposed to be passing out the pizza flyers at the hotel.”

Nevertheless, Glazer found probable cause to charge Marti-Alvarez with aggravated battery, giving him a $5,000 bond.

His bond for the organized scheme to defraud charge was listed in jail records as “to be set.”

Marti-Alvarez was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of Monday evening, online records show.

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Related Topics:crime Featured Miami Springs Miami-Dade County

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Miami, FL

No. 22 Kentucky Outlasts Miami University in Wild Affair

Published

1 day ago

April 1, 2026

Press Room

No. 22 Kentucky Outlasts Miami University in Wild Affair

Kentucky drew 11 walks, took seven hit by pitch and found a way to do just enough to outlast a Miami University team with a strong offense, registering a 14-11 victory in front of 3,733 fans enjoying the 80 degree weather at Kentucky Proud Park.

Kentucky now is 22-6 overall and 5-4 in the Southeastern Conference.

Four different players drove in multiple runs, five had multiple hits and five drew a hit by pitch as the No. 22 Wildcats figured out a way to claim their 22^nd victory of the season. The Cats erased deficits of 3-1 and 10-7 along the way with three more innings of at least three runs scored, including a six-run fourth inning.

Hudson Brown, Carson Hansen and Will Marcy each drove in three runs, Ethan Hindle reached base in five plate appearances without logging a single official at bat, Jayce Tharnish swiped his 19^th base and Luke Lawrence extended his reached base streak to 33 games.

On the flip side, the UK pitching staff did not have its best outing but Nile Adcock was sensational in pitching the final 2.2 innings. He escaped a bases loaded situation in the seventh inning but striking out a pair of hitters on six total pitches after entering the game and earned his second win.

NOTES

Kentucky is 22-6 on the season, 5-4 in SEC play.
- UK is 140-68 since the beginning of 2023.
UK Coach Nick Mingione is in his 10th season at the helm and now owns a 315-198 career record.
- Mingione is the second-winningest coach in school history.
- Mingione is 186-54 in non-conference games.
  - He is 165-25 vs. non-Power Four opponents.
- UK is 126-49 in the month of March under Coach Mingione.
- Mingione now is 8-0 vs. Miami.
- Mingione is 21-5 vs. teams from the state of Ohio.
The Cats drew 10+ walks for the third time in the past five games.
UK was hit by seven pitches.
The Cats scored three runs or more three times.
- They now have scored at least three runs in an inning 32 times this season.
IF Luke Lawrence has reached safely in 33 consecutive games.
OF Jayce Tharnish went 2-for-4 with 3 R, RBI, BB, HBP, SB.
- Tharnish now is 19-of-20 on the season in stolen bases.
  - That ties for the 6^th most in the Mingione Era in a season.
- IF Ethan Hindle had five plate appearances without an official at bat.
  - Hindle went 0-for-0 with three walks, two HBP, three runs, an RBI and a steal.
- IF Hudson Brown went 2-for-3 with a run, 3 RBI, 2B, HBP, BB, SF.
  - He has 12 multi-hit games this season.
- OF Will Marcy went 1-for-4 with 3 RBI, 2B and BB.
  - It was his second extra base hit in two injury-riddled years with the Cats.
  - It’s a career high in RBI.
- OF Carson Hansen had a two-run HR and RBI single.
- RHP Nile Adcock got the win.
  - He allowed one run in 2.2 innings.
  - He entered in the seventh inning with the bases loaded and struck out two batters on six pitches to end the threat.

ON DECK

UK hosts Missouri this weekend beginning Friday night at 6:30 p.m. ET. The game is on SECN+ and the contest can be heard on UK Sports Network.

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Miami, FL

Trump shares renderings of his presidential library — a massive skyscraper in Miami

Published

2 days ago

March 31, 2026

Press Room

Trump shares renderings of his presidential library — a massive skyscraper in Miami

President Donald Trump on Monday teased the plans for his presidential library in Miami.

Trump posted a video on Truth Social that shows a tall, glass building with a large needle on top. The building has his last name in gold lettering across its facade, an American flag hanging down the middle and a presidential plane displayed on the first floor. (A Boeing 747 given to Trump by the Qatari government is set to be displayed in his presidential library once he leaves office.)

The size of the proposed building dwarfs the nearby Freedom Tower, a downtown Miami landmark that carries special significance to Cuban immigrants in Florida — a key demographic that helped Trump win historically blue Miami-Dade County in 2024.

The video also shows replicas from Trump’s time in the White House, including the Oval Office, the West Colonnade featuring his so-called presidential walk of fame and his anticipated ballroom.

The presidential library will be designed by the Miami-based architecture and engineering firm Bermello Ajamil.

The site of the library — a prime piece of Miami real estate that borders the city’s waterfront — is a nearly 3-acre property valued at more than $67 million. The parcel became the source of a legal battle last fall after a federal judge paused the transfer of the land from a local college to the state. The judge ultimately threw out the case in December and allowed the transfer to continue.

The proposed site is not far from Trump National Doral, a resort owned by Trump’s family business.

In his Truth Social post sharing the video, Trump also included a link where people can donate to the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation Inc.

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Miami, FL

Could Miami Dolphins trade up in first round of 2026 NFL Draft?

Published

3 days ago

March 30, 2026

Press Room

Could Miami Dolphins trade up in first round of 2026 NFL Draft?

Jon-Eric Sullivan — new Miami Dolphins general manager — has been busy acquiring a war chest of draft picks for the 2026 NFL Draft. The team currently has 11 picks in April’s selection process — including two first rounders and four third round picks.

While the team has plenty of holes in their roster that desperately need to be filled, could Sullivan’s stockpiling of picks have been conducted with the idea that the Dolphins want to move up in the first round of the draft in order to land an elite prospect?

Yesterday, Washington Commanders beat writer, Josh Taylor, dropped an interesting social media post where he said that he’s heard from two separate sources that the Dolphins and Commanders are in talks about a trade that would see Washington trade back from pick #7 in the first round in order for Miami to move up from pick #11.

Again, with Miami needing to upgrade at so many positions, it’s hard to guess which player the team might be targeting, but safety Caleb Downs, offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa, linebacker Sonny Styles, defensive linemen Rueben Bain and David Bailey are just some of the names that the Dolphins could be interested in.

Of course, as Taylor states, these whispers could remain just that — whispers.

With the Dolphins in full-on rebuilding mode, the team needs to bring in as many young, talented players as possible. Trading away draft picks instead of adding more would not help them to accomplish that goal. However, with the 2026 NFL Draft kicking off in less than a month, we won’t have to wait long to discover what Sullivan’s ultimate plan for his first draft as Dolphins general manager ultimately ends up being.

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