SUSPECT ARRESTED, CHARGED WITH MURDER

IN 2022 DRUG-RELATED DEATH

Second suspect still wanted

A39-year-old former Marathon resident has been arrested in Beaufort, South Carolina for what police say was his role in the drugrelated death of 42-year-old Brandon Marr of Grassy Key, while the Monroe County Sheriff ’s Office continues to search for another suspect.

“I want to thank the men and women of the Sheriff ’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office as well as our law enforcement partners out of state for their hard work on this case,” said Sheriff Rick Ramsay. “This is the second time within a year the Sheriff ’s Office has arrested a drug dealer in connection with a drug-related death and we will continue to hold these criminals accountable for their actions.” from page 4

Ronald Meyers III was charged with murder and the use of a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony.

Arrest warrants have been obtained for Meyers’ former Marathon roommate, Jeremiah Judson Johnson, 42, who remains at large, also on charges of murder and the use of a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony.

The Sheriff ’s Office responded to the scene of an overdose death on Grassy Key in February 2022, where Marr was discovered at a friend’s apartment. His death was caused by a combination of alcohol and cocaine use.

Major crimes unit and special operations detectives worked with members of the Office of the State Attorney and discovered Marr had contacted Meyers several times to purchase cocaine in the hours before his death.

Meyers was unable to facilitate the transaction but made arrangements for Johnson to sell Marr the cocaine on his behalf. Detectives executed a search warrant at the suspects’ residence and said they obtained evidence of that communication between Meyers and Johnson. Meyers and Johnson also removed evidence from their residence upon learning Marr died, officials said.

Anyone with information about Johnson’s location is asked to contact the Sheriff ’s Office Special Investigations Division at 305-289-2410.

52-unit building is still unclear. Marketrate building allocations were initially used to build the structure, but were eventually transferred to other sites when the development was awarded 52 affordable allocations – a portion of the 300 units eventually revoked by the August DCA opinion.

The origin and existence of the market-rate units initially used on the building have become a bone of contention between the city and DEO, although the same DCA opinion that revoked the development’s affordable allocations acknowledged the existence of the original market-rate units. The transfer of the market-rate units to several other sites is still under appeal.

In other news…

• Following the council’s Jan. 24 vacation rental workshop, city code director Ted Lozier reported that city staff in other departments are temporarily assisting the code department with vacation rental code compliance investigations. With Mayor Luis Gonzalez’s pledge to pursue hiring of code enforcement officers to work shifts that include nights and weekends, Lozier reported the city has received applications for the open full-time positions.

• Public works director Carlos Solis informed the council that pay stations for parking at Sombrero Beach and Marathon’s public boat ramps should be installed this week. The department will use a database of license plates for vehicles registered in Marathon to exempt residents’ cars from parking and ramp fees, but permanent residents with vehicles registered elsewhere will need to use an online system to prove their residence and add their vehicles to the exempt list. The start date for enforcement has yet to be announced.

• On the recommendation of City Manager George Garrett after reviewing the city’s applicable ordinances, the council unanimously voted to reinstate a program awarding $100,000 per year in grants to local nonprofits.

The practice is a return to a previous city program discontinued after Hurricane Irma that awarded $90,000 per year raised from ad valorem taxes.

With an unbudgeted refund expected by the city from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office that should be returned to Marathon’s general fund, Finance Director Jennifer Johnson said the surplus could be used to fund this year’s program.

Eligible nonprofits will apply through an online system, and council members will be tasked with evaluating each application on a number of criteria before ranking and submitting their desired award amounts. Final awards will be calculated by averaging council members’ evaluations.

• Finally, the council unanimously approved an ordinance to amend Marathon’s comprehensive plan and mirror language used by Monroe County as it prepares for updates to the Marathon airport.

In an effort to increase Marathon’s viability for commercial air traffic, the airport runway will eventually be moved roughly 40 feet to the northwest to comply with current FAA regulations. As a result, about 40 feet of the vegetative buffer on the airport’s north edge bordering Aviation Boulevard will be removed to create a new Runway Object-Free Area (ROFA).

Though the airport is within Marathon’s city limits, Florida’s Airport Law of 1945 gives Monroe County regulatory authority over the site, rendering the runway move possible regardless of Marathon’s decision to change its comprehensive plan language. Adopting the proposed change would also allow a request that vegetation removed would be replanted with native species in a mitigation effort in a 3:1 ratio, not the county’s 2:1 ratio. The proposed ordinance also requires removal of all invasive exotic vegetation in the development area.

In its initial reading at the Marathon Planning Commission’s Jan. 23 meeting, Planning Director Brian Shea confirmed that the altered comprehensive plan language would have no impact on developments outside the airport.