Attorney General Praises Inspectors for Parton Murder Investigation

L to R:  Miami Division Postal Inspectors Juan Vargas, Delfin Alvarez, and Otto Fernandez.

On September 10, Attorney General Eric Holder presented a superior performance award to Miami Division Postal Inspectors Delfin Alvarez, Otto Fernandez, and Juan Vargas in a Washington DC ceremony.

Our Inspectors were part of a litigative team recognized for the successful identification, arrest and prosecution of Pikerson Mentor who murdered Miami Letter Carrier Bruce Parton on his route on December 6, 2010.  Mentor shot and killed Parton, and then fled from the scene in Parton’s postal truck. Two accomplices followed in a getaway car. The conspirators took Parton’s arrow key and, during the next six months, used that key to facilitate a massive identity theft and tax fraud scheme.

After collecting, reviewing, and organizing thousands of pages of phone, debit card, and tax records over a span of two years, the team successfully identified the defendants involved in the murder and identity theft.

Following a two-week trial involving approximately 40 witnesses, Mentor was convicted on all 14 counts of the indictment and sentenced to life in prison. His accomplices, Wilfred Georges and Saubnet Politesse, were sentenced to 15 years and 21 years in prison, respectively. Four other members of the identity theft ring received prison sentences of up to three years.