The head of the state agency that investigated the boat crash that killed a teenage girl texted the Miami-Dade State Attorney several times about the case as they were considering what charges to file against the boat operator, even though he said he was minimally involved in the investigation, according to text messages obtained by the Miami Herald.
Rodney Barreto, chair of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle exchanged at least nine texts — mostly in the months after the September 2022 crash — according to the heavily redacted records.
The Herald obtained the texts when it requested all discovery materials provided to the defense team of George Pino, 54, who has been charged with felony vessel homicide after slamming his 29-foot Robalo into a concrete marker in Biscayne Bay, leading to the death of17-year-old Luciana ‘Lucy’ Fernandez. The State Attorney’s Office told the Herald Wednesday night that the messages had been accidentally provided to the Heraldand were not actually part of discovery but part of another records request.
Texting months after the crash
In the first message, dated March 14, 2023 — six months after the crash — Fernandez Rundle texted Barreto, “May I call you today reference the boat accident?”…