In Part 1 of this series, we established that Miami Herald reporter Aaron Leibowitz set up Bay Harbor Islands Police Corporal Pablo Lima in order to destroy his reputation, prevent him from becoming the Chief of Police, and then contrived false allegations to create a #FakeNews story.

As early as January 7, 2020, the reporter emailed the Town Manager J.C. Jimenez asking for updates about the “police chief search.”

By January 15, 2020, Leibowitz still had no documented evidence that Lima had even applied for the position, as evidenced by his January 15, 2020 12:24 pm email asking for “a list of applicants for the police chief position.”  In her response, the Town Clerk advised him that “we are still accepting applications until the end of the day today.”

And yet, only thirty four minutes later at 12:58 pm, Leibowitz sent another email to the Town Clerk asking for “the application materials for only one applicant: Pablo Lima.”

And even though the final list had not been made public until the following day, as evidenced by a January 16, 2020 10:51 am email from the Town Clerk, only seventeen minutes after he asked for Pablo Lima’s application, Leibowitz emailed Town Manager Jimenez to file a complaint against him.

The only way Aaron Leibowitz could have possibly known that Corporal Lima had applied for the job was if someone inside Town Hall or the Police Department, or someone who has ties to Town officials, had tipped him off.

But, we digress.

Let’s take a closer look at this complaint and the Internal Affairs investigation that it sparked.

As we already noted, Aaron Leibowitz filed his complaint in an email to Town Manager J.C. Jimenez on January 15, 2020 at 1:15 pm, a mere seventeen minutes after he requested a copy of Corporal Lima’s application for police chief.  He began his email with:

Hi JC,

Here is the Facebook post that caught my attention: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2303158449917161&id=100006690855837

Screenshots are attached.

On Jan. 30, 2019, an account appearing to belong to Mr. Lima shared a link to an article from WLRN titled: “Why A Hallandale Beach Panel Condemned A Commissioner For Anti-Islamic Language.”

He then “liked” the following comments on the post: 1) “But Talib gets to spew her hatred of Jews and others not of the Islamic faith and it’s ok not to defend yourself ? I’m with the commissioner, awaiting the next terrorist plot to open eyes again only when something happens.” 2) “free speach fk them” 3) “Complete BS….” 4) “I applaud her” 5) “Screw these liberal commisioners and mayor. When will these politicians grow some cohones and start supporting America and it’s Americans. They talk about her being a racist and spewing hate. These POS’s forget that this muslim supports the people who flew planes into our NY twin towers and killed over 5000 people and more dying from exposure still 18 years later. This POS took her oath on the Koran. She openly hates Jews and talks about how they should all die or be killed. Remind me again why you would not support Lima-Talib?”

Let’s review the screenshots he attached to back up his complaint, which we are posting in the order of his allegations.  We will also explain how some of these screenshots have been manipulated to fit Aaron Leibowitz’ narrative, which was the basis of his complaint.

To begin, this is the screenshot of the article posted by the Corporal’s wife, Hallandale Beach Commissioner Anabelle Lima-Taub.

This is the screenshot reflecting that Pablo Lima “liked” the article that was posted.

1. No screenshot was attached that Pablo Lima “liked” the first comment beginning with, “But Talib gets to spew her hatred of Jews…,” even though the IA investigation report shows that he did.

2. This is a screenshot reflecting that Pablo Lima allegedly “liked” the first comment, “free speach fk them.”

3.  This is the screenshot reflecting that Pablo Lima “liked” the third comment, “Complete BS….”

4.  This is the screenshot reflecting that Pablo Lima “liked” the third comment, “I applaud her”

Pay close attention because this next, and final screenshot is the WORST MANIPULATION OF ALL!

5.  In his complaint, Aaron Leibowitz alleged that Pablo Lima “liked” the comment beginning with, “Screw these liberal commisioners and mayor.”

However, when he attached a screenshot of this comment, he very deliberately included the previous comment, which is a picture of the now infamous “Muslim Doll,” and which had a total of three “likes.”

By using this particular screenshot, Aaron Leibowitz made two very calculatingly deceptive moves:

• He deliberately cut of the top of the Muslim Doll photo, thereby omitting the name of the person who actually posted that comment and giving the false impression that it was Pablo Lima’s comment.
• He deliberately cut off the bottom of the second comment reflecting its number of “likes,” thereby giving the false impression that Pablo Lima was one of the three people who “liked” the Mustlim Doll photograph above it.

Aaron Leibowitz did not have to use a screenshot of the “Muslim Doll.”  He could have merely scrolled up the page to screenshot just the comment below it, per his complaint, as well as the number of “likes” it received.

But, by including this inflammatory photo in his screenshot, Aaron Leibowitz was counting on a knee-jerk reaction of disgust for Corporal Lima from Town officials when they received and reviewed his complaint.

Miami Herald reporter Aaron Leibowitz may have thought he was so smart with his visual manipulation of the screenshots, but he was no match for the analytical powers of Internal Affairs Investigator Lieutenant Curtis Johnson, who saw through the reporter’s deliberate lies.

Beginning on page 5 of the Internal Affairs Case Number 2020-IA-01, Lt. Curtis wrote, “After reviewing the social media pages of Corporal Lima, I was immediately able to confirm that Corporal Lima did not post the image of the Muslim Doll, nor did he ‘Like’ the post.”

During the course of his investigation, Lieutenant Johnson made two videos demonstrating that:

1. Corporal Lima did not “like” the Muslim Doll photo.

2.  Corporal Lima did “like” the comment below it.

Lieutenant Johnson’s investigation also included as an exhibit a print-out of Commissioner Lima-Taub’s entire post, reflecting the names of those who posted comments, highlighting those comments actually “liked” by Corporal Lima, and exposing the artful dishonesty of Miami Herald reporter Aaron Leibowitz.

When Corporal Pablo Lima was interviewed by Lieutenant Curtis Johnson in the course of the Internal Affairs investigation, his union lawyer had the opportunity to also question him about the “Muslim Doll” post.

On page six of the Corporal’s Sworn Statement, Dade County Police Benevolent Association attorney Louis Fuste, Esq. noted [emphasis ours]:

For the record, the city does not take any action on this. But to me as an individual that’s looking at this, I find that this was the way the complainant brought it to the city’s attention is extremely misleading and it goes to the candor of the complainant, particularly Mr. Leibowitz that if done in this fashion, not doing a dropdown to show who liked and who didn’t like nor including that this was not posted by a Mr. Lima. It was posted by somebody else. I know the city has duty to investigate this matter, but I think it’s completely misleading and lacks the candor. I think it was posted by an Al Lapore, Senior, and forgive me for any mispronunciations. But I really think that a seasoned investigator, anybody who works for The Herald, could clearly go on Pablo Lima’s Facebook page, which to my understanding was open to the public, click on it and seen that he did not post this nor did he like it. Again, the city has to investigate all matters brought forth to them.

Exactly!

But Aaron Leibowitz did not stop at Facebook.

In his deliberate attempt to take down Corporal Pablo Lima, the reporter also spent time trolling Mrs. Lima-Taub’s Instagram account in search of more “evidence” against her husband.

In his complaint against Corporal Lima, Leibowitz added:

I also came across a post from Annabelle Lima-Taub on Instagram that Mr. Lima “liked” –
– https://www.instagram.com/p/B2Sg8rNA4zw/

Here is a screenshot of that post:

When asked by Lieutenant Johnson if he cared to explain why he “liked” this post, Corporal Pablo Lima responded:

Absolutely. 9/11 was the most horrific attack against the United States on our soil. Thousands of people died and hundreds of first responders, including law enforcement officers, died in that. And as a law enforcement officer, I feel this is something that we need to honor them and never forget the bravery that the personnel showed on that particular day in trying to minimize and save lives.

Amen to that!

Even more disturbing than the deliberate manipulation of evidence to falsely accuse a law enforcement officer of wrongdoing, is a so-called reporter who allows himself to be used by shady characters for political purposes.

As we reported in The attempted takedown of Corporal Pablo Lima, and the Miami Herald reporter who got played, Corporal Lima was merely collateral damage in a concerted effort to oust his wife from office.  The only thing standing in the way of a financial windfall for special interest groups and their lobbyists is Hallandale Beach Commissioner Anabelle Lima-Taub’s vote on the dais.

If we can’t trust a journalist to be ethical, professional, and unbiased, then he may as well turn in his press pass and become a lobbyist.

Just saying.

After a thorough investigation, Lieutenant Curtis Johnson found no evidence that Corporal Pablo Lima’s “liking” the posts in question was a violation of policy.

He also added, “I further find that Corporal Lima was expressing his First Amendment rights showing support for his wife.”

Interestingly, Lieutenant Johnson also noted that the complainant, Miami Herald reporter Aaron Leibowitz, refused to give a sworn statement attesting to his apparently false allegations.

In Part 3, we will explain why he wouldn’t do so, and how Miami Herald Senior Editor Dave Wilson is trying to alter reality.

Stay tuned.

Stephanie