OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – In one of his last acts as Orange-Osceola state attorney, Andrew Bain added Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez to the Brady List, a system that notifies defendants if a potential witness’ truthfulness is in question.
News 6 obtained the letter Bain sent to Lopez on Dec. 30, notifying him that he was added to the Brady Identification System, also known as the Brady List. That letter is posted at the end of this story.
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Bain notified Lopez in July 2024 that he may have to add him to the list because of conflicting statements Lopez made about a crime scene photo showing the body of missing 13-year-old Madeline Soto that had been posted to social media.
In a July 8 letter, Bain pointed out that Lopez told Kissimmee’s police chief that the photo was published by mistake, and also made a public apology.
However, Bain says Lopez told radio station WDBO, “As to the photo, there was an apology issued but it wasn’t actually the body, it was an area of interest where there was a body found. No one ever came out directly and said it was the victim.”
Then, five days later, Bain says Lopez conducted a sworn interview with a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigator in which Lopez told the investigator that he had had the pictures sent to his phone so he could “compare the clothing on the body to what the victim was last seen wearing.”
In the Dec. 30 letter, Bain told Lopez that even though a sheriff’s office internal memorandum exonerated the sheriff, the conclusions in the memo “do not hold up to objective scrutiny,” and questioned why a formal investigation was not conducted.
“Adopting the reading the Memo does in this case suggests the Osceola Sheriff’s Office does not care if an employee or member is truthful when answering questions outside the chain of command or, say, to the media. I cannot believe that is the case,” Bain wrote.
“Instead, I am concerned that an “inquiry” was selected and done to ensure you would ‘not be questioned’ under policy 325.01(D) since an ‘investigation’ would have mandated your answering questions under oath," Bain added.
The letter also says that, despite the memorandum’s attempt to give context to Lopez’s statements about the photo to WDBO, Bain said he and his team disagreed.
“To be clear, the concerning statement in your interview is your assertion that ‘[n]o one ever came out directly and said it [the photograph] was the victim,’” Bain wrote. “You made this statement in direct response to a reporter’s question about your agency issuing an apology ‘for apparently posting the photo of a body on social media believed to be that of [a minor victim].’ When viewed in this proper context, it is hard to read your immediate answer as anything but an attempt to claim the photo you posted was not the victim in an attempt to lessen your public responsibility for a violation of Florida public records laws. This is particularly true when your public statement then pivots to trying to blame political rivals for discussing the photo you posted.”
Bain concluded the letter by pointing out that Lopez is listed as a witness in the case against Soto’s suspected killer, Stephen Sterns, who is facing the death penalty if convicted.
Bain told Lopez that his conflicting statements about the photo could be used to impeach his credibility as a witness to the Sterns case.
Lopez was also cited for violating Florida’s public record laws for the photo disclosure last month, incurring a $250 fine.
On Tuesday, News 6 obtained the following statement from the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office regarding Lopez’s placement on the Brady List.
“The Sheriff’s Office completely disagrees with Andrew Bain’s decision. The perspectives mentioned in his letter have no merit, and the Sheriff will be appealing his decision. No other statement is available at this time.”
Osceola County Sheriff's Office
Marcos Lopez Brady List Notification by Christie Zizo on Scribd
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