Image via Alex Vega/YouTube
When a body shop is raided by the FBI that’s enough to make people stop and wonder. Usually the federal law enforcement agency is going after bigger fish, but in this case the raid in Doral, Florida was attached to a famous murder-for-hire plot designed to eliminate Alex Vega, a car designer based in Miami who’s done work for a number of celebrities.
Ride in the back of a ladder truck as it responds to a house fire.
The attempted murder was carried out back in 2019, with Vega surviving his gunshot wounds after being ambushed in the driveway of his house. The shooter and getaway driver were both caught and convicted of the crime, but federal investigators have still been hunting for the person who hired them.
That’s what brought them to the body shop in Doral on the morning of August 16. Agents arrested the owner, Rolando Ramirez, reports the Miami Herald. The move has raised some eyebrows, but Ramirez’s attorney has stated his client is innocent.
Vega owns the Auto Firm, a business in Kendall which has done automotive customizations for a number of clients, including celebrities like Marc Anthony.
The two other men tried and convicted in the unsuccessful murder plot never revealed who hired them to do the job. Since it’s an ongoing investigation, it’s not clear what evidence the FBI might have which would tie Ramirez to those men or the crime.
Ramirez is facing a long list of charges: solicitation to commit a crime of violence, stalking, conspiracy to use and carry a firearm during a crime of violence, discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, murder for hire conspiracy, murder for hire and obstruction of justice. If convicted, he could face a life sentence.
He’s currently being held without bond. His arraignment and detention hearing is scheduled for August 23.
Image via Alex Vega/YouTube
