Two defendants were sentenced for the torture and murder of an Ocala man in Levy County in August 2019.
According to an Eighth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office press release sent Friday, Judge William Davis handed out sentences on Nov. 5 to two of the four defendants for the murder of Jafet Padin Rodriguez, 33, of Ocala:
- Omar Alexis Rodriguez Ortiz, 43, received a life sentence for first-degree premeditated murder and 30 consecutive years for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Â
- Christian Cardano Cirilo, 32, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for second-degree murder followed by 10 years of probation. Â
Jesse Torres, 36, and Kesia Moraima Mundo-Munoz, 39, previously entered pleas to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder several months ago. Torres was sentenced to 20 years in prison and Mundo-Munoz received 15 years in prison.
The sentencing stemmed from an Aug. 11, 2019 incident where the Levy County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) responded to a rural farming area in Morriston regarding a body discovered on the roadside. An LSCO detective had previously received a BOLO (Be On the Lookout) from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office after they located Rodriguez’s vehicle engulfed in flames.
LCSO Cpl. Michael McNeil and the Eighth Circuit medical examiner identified the victim as Rodriguez.
McNeil and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agents Yolandra Carbia and Barry Kays headed the investigation that led to the arrests of Ortiz, Cardona and Torres in July 2020 and Mundo-Munoz in September 2020.
According to a story that appeared in Mainstreet on July 22, 2020, Detectives learned through multiple interviews a prevailing theory of why Rodriguez was murdered. Detectives were able to track the movements of Rodriguez from a local nightclub in Ocala to a private residence in Ocala on the night he was killed. Detectives learned that the victim was attacked over a misunderstanding related to text messages related to a love triangle. During the course of their investigation detectives learned that the victim did not send the text messages and was not involved in the love triangle.
The investigation revealed that the defendants lured Rodriquez to the Marion County home of Mundo-Munoz where he was beaten before being placed inside his own vehicle and driven to Morriston and shot to death. The Defendants then torched and abandoned Rodriguez’s vehicle near a secluded apartment complex in Marion County.
Based on these investigative leads, Detectives were able to identify the home where the victim was attacked, which ultimately led to the identification of three men who violently attacked and killed Rodriguez.