Two Individuals Charged For Robbery And Carjacking Murder Of Orocovis Businessman

U.S. Attorney’s Office
District of Puerto Rico
27 March 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – On March 26, 2018, a federal grand jury returned a four-count indictment charging Juan A. Negrón-Rodríguez, 27, and Jonathan Torres-Rojas, 29, for conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, interference with commerce by robbery, carjacking resulting in death, and using and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in death, announced Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico. The FBI is in charge of the investigation of the case.

On June 12, 2015, Negrón-Rodríguez and Torres-Rojas robbed and carjacked José A. Medina-Meléndez, 67, as he was closing his bar, “El Rejón del Gallo,” in Orocovis. Before they fled in the victim’s stolen 2001 grey Toyota Sequoia, one of the defendants shot and mortally wounded Medina-Meléndez.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Victor O. Acevedo-Hernández is in charge of the prosecution case. If convicted, the defendants face from 10 years to a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The charges and allegations in the indictment are merely accusations; all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.