TAMPA, Fla. — The murder suspect who ran away hours before a hearing in December that could have taken away his bail also has to pay $12.5 million for a wrongful death judgment related to a nursing home he owned.
Last July, Enrique Toledo, 54, was arrested for reportedly killing his wife Heather in front of their oldest child while their other two children were in another room in their Freeland Drive home.
Heather Toledo, who was 37 years old, was killed by a gunshot about five months after she and her husband were sued by Maritza Jackson’s daughter. Jackson died of an illness in 2021, not long after she left the Brandon care home in Toledo, which is no longer open.
Will Sarubbi, a lawyer in Boca Raton, sued the Toledos and A Place to Grow, LLC, but Heather Toledo asked for the case against her to be dropped.
Sarubbi said, “We specifically said that Mr. Toledo had way too few people working at the assisted living facility.” “He didn’t hire nearly enough people. Instead, he took the money and resources that were meant for Ms. Jackson from the building.
Stephen and Michelle Green, Heather Toledo’s brother and sister-in-law, are in charge of the couple’s children right now.
They didn’t agree with the choice to let Toledo go free on bail of $150,000 and an automatic tracking device. Toledo is said to have cut off the ankle tag about 14 hours before the meeting to cancel his bail because he broke a rule that said he couldn’t talk to his kids.
8 On Your Side looked at the first-degree murder data for Hillsborough County since the beginning of 2020. In 10 of the 126 cases, bail was set at $150,000 or less. Seventy-one of the 126 suspects were held without bail, which is almost 60%.
The Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Chief of Staff, Gary Weisman, said that the prosecution wanted a bigger bond.
Michelle Green said that she thinks the legal ruling will make it easier to find the person who is accused of killing her son.
“It was also another life. “I hope it makes the search stronger,” Green said. “I hope that finding him guilty of something else will make the search more intense.”
Sarubbi said that his client’s family also hopes that Toledo will be caught because of the two cases he is involved in.
Sarubbi said, “My heart goes out to the Toledo family and everyone else who is affected.” “The Jackson family would be very happy if everything was done to hold Mr. Toledo responsible, whether in civil court or criminal court.”
Sarubbi said that his team is doing a thorough study of Toledo’s assets, but he also said that the case was not about money for Jackson’s daughter.
Sarubbi said, “She didn’t come to us to make money.” “The only reason she called me and looked for my firm, Senior Justice, was to make sure that this wouldn’t happen to anyone else.”
Green said that her family has a hard time every day that Toledo is free.
“We have no idea where he is,” said Green. “We don’t know if he’s five miles away, fifty thousand miles away, or on the other side of the ocean.”
