Charles Custodio was sentenced to 5 years in prison for Tampering with a Juror, which is the maximum sentence, and 20 years in prison for Tampering with a Witness. The sentencing immediately followed his conviction. The jury returned the guilty verdict just after 5 p.m. Wednesday, following a two-day trial in Lee County.
Assistant State Attorneys Christine Cummins and Steven Vitale prosecuted the case.
The defendant was on trial two years ago in a drug trafficking case. The night before trial began, a witness in the case received a long text message from an unknown number. The context of the message conveyed having sympathy for the defendant and a possible payment of money.
An investigation was done by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office which led to a third party who used a phone app to create an anonymous phone number. The person admitted sending the text on behalf of the defendant.
The defendant tampered with the juror on day two of the trial via Facebook messenger. He sent a juror a message that said “not guilty = $50,000.” He found the juror by taking a jury list and looked up the jurors via social media. The juror he looked up had their Facebook profile set to private but they were selling something on Facebook marketplace which allowed the message to be received by the juror.
The defendant used his actual Facebook profile to send the message.
Samantha Syoen – State Attorney’s Office Communications Director