Miami-Dade prosecutors released a video showing alleged hitman Javon Carter counting stacks of cash suspected to be the payment he received for carrying out the fatal shooting of Le’Shonte Jones in May 2021, NBC Miami reports.
“Another day in the office,” Carter, 29, said in the video found in his phone as he counts several stacks of $100 bills in a car. Jasmine Martinez, 33, is accused of fraudulently obtaining $15,000 through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan in April. Investigators noticed that Martinez withdrew more than $10,000, which was believed to be used to carry out the murder-for-hire plot.
“Bank statements were obtained which show a series of withdrawals of over $10,000 in cash and/or payments which occurs over the following days leading up to the homicide,” the warrant read.
Martinez was arrested and charged with battery in 2018 for allegedly beating up Jones, whom she knew. After Jones testified in court against Martinez two years later, she was robbed at gunpoint in a parking lot by two men. One of her attackers was Martinez’s ex-boyfriend Kelly Nelson.
After Jones agreed to testify against Nelson, who is currently behind bars on an armed robbery charge, Martinez expressed a desire to get revenge on Jones. In a Feb. 2021 phone conversation with an incarcerated Nelson, Martinez said “that she is ‘ready to go kill this hoe’ and that (Jones) has to ‘die.’”
Her boyfriend Romiel Robinson allegedly helped orchestrate a meeting between Martinez and Carter under the belief that she was dealing with “a life or death situation.” In March, Jones was allegedly harassed and bribed into not testifying against Keyanu Queen, the other individual involved in her robbery.
Less than two weeks after receiving her PPP loan, cell phone records appear to show Carter was in Jones’ apartment complex on April 30 and May 1. Two days later, Jones was shot and killed with her 3-year-old daughter, who was also injured at the scene, by her side.
Carter is facing charges of first-degree murder, first-degree murder with a deadly weapon, conspiring to commit first-degree murder, two counts of tampering with a witness, and two counts of weapons possession by a felon. He has requested a trial by jury, and has been held without bail.
Martinez is facing similar charges to Carter, and is also being held without bail. Following his arrest, it was revealed that Robinson is involved in nine cases, including Jones’ death. Their next hearing is scheduled for April 8.
