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The FBI and Florida police searched a Miami-area auto repair shop on Friday as part of their investigation into the attempted murder of a prominent car designer in 2019, local media reported.
On Friday, FBI agents and Doral police were spotted outside the Doral Collision Center as they continue to investigate the attempted murder of Alex Vega, a celebrity auto designer who customized luxury cars for Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt, singer Marc Anthony and rapper Rick Ross.
The Independent has contacted the FBI and Doral police for comment.
The operation ended with the arrest of the owner of the body shop, Rolando “Roly” Martinez, who denied any wrongdoing.
“Roly has known about this investigation for over two years,” said his lawyerThe Miami Herald“We have informed the government that he is innocent and that he will vigorously fight these charges.”
Two other people were arrested in connection with the plot, in which a masked man approached Vega as he drove into the garage of his Kendall, Florida, home and shot him multiple times at close range before fleeing.
According to police, two men, Jaime Serrano and Julian Jimenez, flew from New York to Miami, rented a car and stalked Vega before the attempted murder.
Serrano was later found guilty of stalking, conspiracy to use a firearm and possession of a weapon, and Jimenez pleaded guilty to the same charges before trial.
Prosecutors have not yet charged anyone with financing the murder-for-hire plot, but CBS News Miami reported that the defendant could appear in federal court in Miami as early as Friday afternoon.
After the 2019 incident, Vega, who runs the Kendall-based auto company, said he did not know why he was targeted.
“I never expected something like this to happen to me,” he said. “I have no enemies and I never expected anything.”
The Doral Collision Center is adjacent to Exclusive Motoring Worldwide, a company in which Vega was formerly a partner until a dispute arose in 2019 that resulted in the auto designer losing his stake in the company, NBC Miami reports.
