May 10, 2008 11:28 pm US/Eastern
Setting The Record Straight After Aventura Arrest
Lorraine Bodek Said Her Son Is Partially Deaf
Palm Beach County Crime Stoppers 1-800-458-TIPS
AVENTURA (CBS4) ―
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"My son is a good person," explained Lorraine Bodek. "I think they handled it improperly. I think my son was in his rights when he didn't want to speak with them."
CBS
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New Sketch Of Boca Mall Murder Suspect
A South Florida man is home Saturday night after an ordeal that would shake anyone to their core. That ordeal began at the Aventura Mall and ended in jail. He was questioned for hours about the Boca Town Center Mall and then finally cleared. Saturday, he and his mother spoke out to set the record straight.
"It's very upsetting," said 27-year-old Robert Bodek after he bonded out of jail around 8 p.m. He's upset that police charged him with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest without violence on Friday.
Aventura police said a shopper at the mall spotted a person who looked like the man in surveillance video released on Thursday, showing a suspicious man who resembled the police-supplied sketch of the Boca Town Center murder suspect.
The shopper immediately called mall security, who in turn, called police. After five hours of questioning, investigators determined he is not in any way connected to the Boca Mall murder that left Nancy Bochicchio and her daughter Joey dead.
A similar attack occurred at the Boca mall in August. In that case, the woman and her child were not hurt but the woman was able to give police a description of the suspect. It's that police sketch which has been distributed all over South Florida. The sketch depicts a man with his hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing dark sunglasses. His face was covered with a floppy hat. He was about five feet, six inches tall.
The killer remains on the loose.
"I'm absolutely devastated that this has happened," said his mother, Lorraine Bodek. She said police overreacted. "I think they handled it improperly. I think my son was in his rights when he didn't want to speak with them."
Police arrested her son after he allegedly became belligerent and unruly when they tried to question him.
After the arrest, Aventura Police Capt. Skip Washa met with reporters and said, "We met with the individual, and took him outside. We wanted ID. He started to get belligerent. Officers tried to calm him down, and he continued to yell and scream, and he was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest without violence. He had sunglasses and a hat that matched what was in the composite drawing from Boca authorities."
Lorraine said her son is partially deaf and lacks social skills.
"My son has no problems, he's a college students, he's a good person, he has no bad habits, he's intellectual, he reads book, he doesn't socialize a lot do to his not being able to hear," said Lorraine.
She said her son is a good man and she hopes his name is cleared.
Bodek faces two misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest without violence and disorderly conduct.
Lorraine hopes the state's attorney's office will drop the charges. CBS4' Shomari Stone spoke to the state attorney spokesperson and said the office will review the case and then decide whether to file formal charges.
The Boca Raton Police Department and Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office created a task force to work on the Boca Town Center murder case in January. If you have any information for investigators please call Palm Beach County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-458-TIPS.
The city has offered a $350,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction of the killer.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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