Jesse Lopez was already facing charges for operating an unlicensed weight loss clinic. However, police say that while she was incarcerated, she also placed a hit on her husband, Daniel Lopez, who she believed would act as the star witness for the prosecution. She then struck up a conversation with another inmate and decided that the world would be a better place without her husband in it. Police say that they have a letter written by Jesse Lopez asking if it could look like a robbery gone wrong so that it would be traced back to her.
What Lopez didn’t know, however, was that she was communicating with an undercover cop. Now she is facing additional charges for solicitation of murder which will likely keep her behind bars for the rest of her life.
Lopez Ran a Fraudulent Weight Loss Clinic
Police first took notice of Lopez in 2018. She was the principal owner of the Drop It Like It’s Hot weight loss clinic. According to police, she described herself as a registered nurse and posed in nurse’s scrubs even though she was not certified as a registered nurse. Lopez did have an expired pharmacy technician’s license.
The clinic targeted social media for its advertising campaign and offered services such as mole removal and laser facials. She told undercover officers that she could give them a “vampire facelift” which involved the injection of their own blood and plasma in their faces. Patients that the police contacted were all under the impression that Lopez was a doctor. She prescribed them weight loss medication.
Lopez reached a plea with prosecutors but she was forbidden from advertising herself as a nurse and prevented from having needles at her clinic. Less than a year later, however, Lopez set up shop elsewhere under the name of Jesse’s Gym. The gym had six examination rooms and when law enforcement showed up, posing as potential clients, Lopez offered them human chorionic gonadotropin, a prescription hormone and other medical effects.
As a repeat offender, Lopez was not offered bail. While in jail, she began telling people that she wanted her husband dead. Once again, undercover agents gave her enough rope to hang herself with. She placed a hit on her husband and will now find it very difficult to ever get out of prison again.
Is This Entrapment?
No. Entrapment isn’t what most people think it is. Clients still come into defense attorneys’ offices thinking that cops have to tell you if they’re a cop if you ask them directly. Entrapment requires some basic level of coercion. In other words, law enforcement must pressure you do something that would otherwise be outside your character to do. In this case, law enforcement did not pressure Lopez to place a hit on her husband. She has no legitimate defense to these actions.
Talk to a West Palm Beach Criminal Defense Attorney
If you’ve tried to place a hit on your husband from jail, the West Palm Beach criminal attorneys at The Skier Law Firm, P.A. can represent you. Hopefully, there isn’t a giant paper trail to pin the attempt on you. Talk to us today for more information.
Resource:
washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/03/florida-fake-weight-loss-nurse-hitman-jail-undercover/