Woman Uses Pandemic-Relief Loan To Hire Hitman For The Murder Of Young Mother

A woman has been accused of using part of her Paycheck Protection Program loan to hire a gunman to kill the mother of a 3-year-old child. The accused was recently arrested and charged along with two others involved in the case, authorities said.

Jasmine Martinez reportedly received the P.P.P. loan in April 2021. The federal loan is meant to help businesses stay afloat during the pandemic, and Martinez claimed she needed the money to help sustain her single-employee beauty salon. However, it was found that the 33-year-old made withdrawals amounting to $10,000 in the days before the victim, a TSA agent named Le’Shonte Jones, was shot to death in broad daylight, according to Miami Herald.

Martinez allegedly hired ex-convict Javon Carter to have 24-year-old Jones killed, according to an arrest warrant dated Feb. 9. Another man, Romiel Robinson, believed to have been romantically involved with Martinez, is also accused of acting as the middleman.

On May 3, 2021, Jones was walking into her South Miami-Dade apartment with her daughter when Carter allegedly ambushed them with a volley of gunshots. The mother died at the scene while her toddler, who was also grazed by the bullets, managed to survive, police said.

Investigators found a video on Carter’s phone that was captured a couple of hours after Jones was fatally shot. “Just another day in the office,” Carter said in the video as he counted a “large sum” of money, the arrest warrant revealed.

Martinez had several tiffs with Jones over the years before her death, the New York Times reported. The victim, who was dating Martinez’s ex-boyfriend, was struck by her in 2016. Martinez was arrested on a battery charge for the incident, but the case was dropped. She was once again arrested in 2018 for physically assaulting Jones.

Jones appeared for a scheduled court hearing in Miami in 2020 and testified against Martinez. After the hearing, the woman said she was attacked in the parking lot by Martinez’s ex-boyfriend named Kelly Nelson and another man. Jones said the men had robbed her at gunpoint, as reported by NBC 6.

Investigators also found phone calls made between Martinez and Nelson while the latter was in jail. In one phone conversation that took place on Feb. 11, 2021, Martinez told Nelson "that she is 'ready to go kill this hoe' and that (Jones) has to 'die,'" according to the recent arrest warrant.

Martinez, Robinson and Carter are currently facing murder charges for the death of Le’Shonte Jones.