Transcript of Initial Appearance Hearing — United States v. Evan Edwards and Joshua Edwards (M.D. Fla. No. 6:22-cr-00201)

Record facts

U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida · No. 6:22-cr-00201-AGM-LHP · Doc. 14 · 2022-12-15 · Docket on CourtListener

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA 
ORLANDO DIVISION 
CASE NUMBER 6:22-cr-201-WWB-LHP 
 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,     : 
                              :     
 
          Plaintiff,          :
 
           :
Orlando, Florida 
              v.              :
December 14, 2022 
                              :
2:44 p.m. 
EVAN EDWARDS,                 :  
also known as Ian Heringa,    : 
                              : 
AND                           : 
                              : 
JOSHUA EDWARDS,               : 
                              : 
 Defendants.         : 
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
 
TRANSCRIPT OF INITIAL APPEARANCE HEARING 
BEFORE THE HONORABLE DAVID A. BAKER  
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Court Reporter:  
Amie R. First, RDR, CRR, CRC, CPE 
Federal Official Court Reporter 
401 West Central Boulevard, Suite 4600 
Orlando, Florida  32801 
AmieFirst.CourtReporter@gmail.com 
P r o c e e d i n g s  r e c o r d e d  b y  F T R  G o l d  D i g i t a l  R e c o r d i n g .    
T r a n s c r i p t  p r o d u c e d  b y  C o m p u t e r - A i d e d  T r a n s c r i p t i o n . 
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APPEARANCES:  
 
Counsel for Government:
 Kara M. Wick
 
 
Counsel for Defendant Evan Edwards:
 
 Erin B. Hyde       
 
Counsel for Defendant Joshua Edwards:
 
 Charles E. Taylor, Jr.  
 
 
 
INDEX OF PROCEEDINGS 
 
3
Initial Appearance - Evan Edwards ......... 
5
Initial Appearance - Joshua Edward ........ 
 
 
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P R O C E E D I N G S 
***** 
(Court called to order.)
THE DEPUTY CLERK:  Case Number 22-cr-201,
United States of America versus Evan Edwards and Joshua
Edwards.
Counsel, please make your appearance for the
record.
MS. WICK:  Good afternoon, Your Honor.  Kara Wick
on behalf of the United States.  With me is Roger Fuentes
from the United States Secret Service.
MS. HYDE:  Good afternoon.  Erin Hyde, Federal
Defender's Office, for Mr. Evan Edwards.
MR. TAYLOR:  Good afternoon, Your Honor.  Charles
Taylor on behalf of Mr. Joshua Edwards.
THE COURT:  All right.  I understand that the
senior Mr. Edwards is in medical distress.
MS. HYDE:  That's what we're hearing from the
holding cell, something to that effect.  I understand the
Government probably has better intel on that.
MS. WICK:  The information, as I understand it,
that's been conveyed to the agent is that Mr. Evan Edwards
had expressed that he's having some medical concerns and is
refusing to get in the wheelchair to come upstairs.
So the marshals have advised that the agents need
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to take him to a medical facility or take custody of him to
do that, to get him medically evaluated.
THE COURT:  All right.  
Ms. Hyde, you've not been formally appointed.
Have you had a chance to speak with him?
MS. HYDE:  I have tried to, Your Honor.  It looked
like to me, going into the holding cell, reading the
13-page Indictment, Mr. Edwards appears to be nonverbal.  I
don't know that he understood anything that I said.  I
didn't get any responses from him.  If he said a word or
two, they were not words in a complete sentence or that
were relevant to what I was talking about.
THE COURT:  Well, again, to sum up, you've not
been able to communicate effectively with him?
MS. HYDE:  That is correct, Your Honor.
THE COURT:  All right.  Well, it seems to me in
the past when I've had this situation I've entered some
sort of order authorizing the continued custody by the
agents of the defendant pending report on his medical
condition.
So as to his initial appearance, we'll continue
that and then see what is indicated at that point.
There are different things that can happen.  One
is that depending on what that report is.  So we'll deal
with that in due course.
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All right.  As to Joshua Edwards.
Mr. Edwards, you've been named in an Indictment
returned by the grand jury for this district.  In that
Indictment, you're charged with a number of federal crimes.
Given the variety of charges, I'd like to ask the
United States attorney to summarize those charges and the
maximum penalties associated with them.
MS. WICK:  Yes, Your Honor.
Joshua Edwards is charged in count one with
conspiracy to commit bank fraud, in violation of
18 U.S.C. 1344; in count two with bank fraud, in violation
of 18 U.S.C. 1349; in count three for making a false
statement to a lending institution, in violation of
18 U.S.C. 1014; and in count six for Visa fraud, in
violation of 18 U.S.C. 1546.
With regard to the maximum penalties, for counts
one and two, in each of those counts, the defendant faces
up to 30 years' imprisonment; a fine up to $1 million or
twice the gross gain or loss of the offense, whichever is
greater; the term of supervised release of not more than
5 years; and a special assessment of $100.
With regard to count three, the defendant faces a
term of imprisonment up to 30 years, a fine of up to
$250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss of the offense, a
term of supervised release not more than 5 years, and a
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$100 special assessment.
With respect to count six, the defendant faces up
to 10 years' imprisonment, not more than a $250,000 fine,
not more than 3 years' supervised release, and a
$100 special assessment.
THE COURT:  Thank you.
Mr. Edwards, as to these charges, you have the
right to remain silent, not to make any statements or
comments.  If you do make any statements or comments, the
Government can use those statements or comments against
you.
Do you understand that?  
DEFENDANT JOSHUA EDWARDS:  (No audible response.)
MR. TAYLOR:  Yes, Your Honor, if I may.
I went downstairs to speak with Mr. Joshua Edwards
before the hearing in the case had started.  I had
difficulty explaining the charges to Mr. Edwards.  The only
thing I got from Mr. Edwards is that he had another
attorney.
I reached out to that private attorney.  That
attorney indicated that he did not represent Mr. Joshua
Edwards.
So the most I could get out of him was he wanted
to speak with his attorney, which he did not have, and his
mother and sister who are currently in the courtroom.
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Your Honor, this is the first time that I've had
this happen.  I do believe that there is a competency issue
in this case.  So I would be requesting a competency
evaluation.  However, I would like one to be done here in
the Orlando area so it would not take as long, Your Honor.
THE COURT:  Mr. Edwards, can you hear me?
DEFENDANT JOSHUA EDWARDS:  (No audible response.)
THE COURT:  Mr. Edwards, stand up.
(Pause.)
THE COURT:  Mr. Edwards, are you in pain?
DEFENDANT JOSHUA EDWARDS:  (No audible response.)
THE COURT:  Do you understand where we are?
DEFENDANT JOSHUA EDWARDS:  (No audible response.)
THE COURT:  Mr. Edwards, do you understand what
I'm saying?
DEFENDANT JOSHUA EDWARDS:  (No audible response.)
THE COURT:  Based on the defendant's unwillingness
or inability to respond to the Court's inquiries, I'm going
to make a provisional appointment of the Criminal Justice
Act of counsel to represent him, provisional because we
have not been able to get him to request counsel or even
get financial information from him.  But it will be an
appointment.
And based on his -- well, let me hear from the
Government.  My intention would be to send him to one of
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our local psychiatrists for a quick evaluation to see
whether he's able to proceed at all.
MS. WICK:  For clarification, Your Honor, would he
remain in custody for that?
THE COURT:  Well, I'm going to put him in custody
since he's here and been seen and is refusing to -- or,
again, may be unable to participate.  So I'm going to put
him in the marshal's custody subject to that psychiatric
review.  And then further proceedings depending on what
that report is.
MS. WICK:  May I have just one moment, Your Honor?
(Pause.)
MS. WICK:  I have no objection to that,
Your Honor.
I would note for the record, however, that the
agents interacted with Mr. Josh Edwards this morning, and
he was speaking and responding to them just fine.
THE COURT:  Well, I'm taking the presentation that
I've got here and the request from his attorney.  If those
circumstances change, we'll deal with that.
MS. WICK:  Your Honor, I've also gotten a report
from the agent regarding the other defendant, Evan Edwards.
I have some information to convey to the Court if the Court
would like me to do that at this time.
THE COURT:  All right.
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MS. WICK:  Mr. Evan Edwards is refusing to go with
the agents or respond to any questions or move his physical
body in compliance with them.
While the marshals have indicated that my agents
need to take custody of him to take him for a medical
evaluation, they're unable to do that at this time.
THE COURT:  Well, we can't leave him in a holding
cell.  I think under the circumstances, given the expertise
of the agents and the marshals, which are in different
dimensions, a lot of overlap but differences, I'm also
going to commit him, based on that report, to the -- I'll
make a provisional appointment of the public defender to
represent him, even in absentia, just so he has somebody on
his side, and direct the marshals to use their normal
procedures to take care of individuals in that condition to
get him to a hospital for medical evaluation.
And if part of that turns out to be that he needs
a psychiatric evaluation, we'll deal with that in due
course.
Ms. Hyde?
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Sir --
MS. HYDE:  No -- no objection, Your Honor.  
Based on my interaction with him this morning, I
think a competency evaluation is prudent.  I realize that
the magistrate judges have been doing that locally rather
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than the four to six months it takes to get somebody to
Butner.
If the Government doesn't object, I could see
Dr. Danziger's availability --
THE COURT:  Well, and there I'm hesitant to -- we
may well do that and we may do it very quickly.
But the Pretrial Services report indicates some
medical problems as well, and we need to make sure that's
stable.  If it's purely a medical problem, that's one
thing.  If it's a medical and mental/emotional, we can deal
with both.  But for him, I'm going to take it one step at a
time.
MS. HYDE:  There are grave medical concerns, I
understand from his family -- Mr. Taylor referenced those
in the courtroom -- as it pertains to Evan Edwards.
THE COURT:  So I want to get that dealt with
first, make sure he's physically safe.
MR. TAYLOR:  And, Your Honor, I would ask that
Dr. Danziger be appointed in this case.
THE COURT:  He's our most frequent go-to.  And
he's certainly been an asset to the administration of
justice in this division because he's quick.  And my
impression of him, he's been pretty evenhanded over the
years.  So we'll get him referred for that.
All right.  I don't think there's anything else we
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can do as to these defendants in this case at this time.
So I will recess.
(Proceedings adjourned at 2:57 p.m.)
***** 
 
C E R T I F I C A T E 
 
I certify that the foregoing is a correct 
transcript from the record of proceedings in the 
above-entitled matter. 
 
December 15, 2022 
 
    s\  Amie R. First                          
Amie R. First, RDR, CRR, CRC, CPE 
Federal Official Court Reporter 
United States District Court 
Middle District of Florida 
 
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