Key Largo man convicted on 11 counts after skipping last day of trial, then caught in Mexico

A Monroe County jury on Oct. 2 found Armando Lopez, 53, of Key Largo, guilty on 11 criminal counts stemming from a violent December 2024 domestic disturbance in which, prosecutors said, he beat a woman, attacked a sheriff's sergeant, stole the sergeant's patrol car and carjacked a passing driver. Lopez was not in the courtroom to hear the verdict. He failed to show up for the final day of his five-day trial on Plantation Key, and days later he was tracked across the Texas border and arrested in Mexico, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office.

Lopez faces the possibility of life in prison, according to the Monroe County State Attorney's Office in the 16th Judicial Circuit. Among the convictions are two counts of burglary with a battery, each a first-degree felony punishable by up to life under Florida law.

The verdict

The trial was held before Circuit Judge James Morgan at the Plantation Key courthouse, which serves the Upper Keys. The six-member jury deliberated for about an hour before returning its verdict, prosecutors said.

According to the State Attorney's Office, the jury found Lopez guilty of:

• Burglary of a dwelling with a battery
• Aggravated battery
• Burglary of an authorized emergency vehicle
• Grand theft of a motor vehicle
• Resisting an officer with violence
• Battery on a law enforcement officer
• Burglary of a conveyance with a battery
• Carjacking
• Fleeing or attempting to elude at high speed or with wanton disregard
• Two counts of reckless driving with property damage

The jury acquitted Lopez of two other counts: domestic battery by strangulation and false imprisonment. When he was arrested in December 2024, the charges announced by the sheriff's office included attempted murder; the counts listed in the State Attorney's Office account of the verdict do not include that charge.

What happened on Dec. 22, 2024

The case began on the afternoon of Dec. 22, 2024, when deputies were sent to a home in the 500 block of Palm Drive in Key Largo at about 4:25 p.m. on a domestic violence call, according to a probable cause affidavit described in 2024 news coverage. The woman, then 30, told deputies that Lopez, with whom she had an on and off relationship, had beaten her during an argument. NBC6 reported that he struck her repeatedly in the head, causing fractures and other injuries.

Monroe County Sheriff's Office Sgt. James Hager arrived first. According to the sheriff's office, Lopez attacked Hager, knocked him to the floor, struck him repeatedly with his fist and tried to take his service weapon. Lopez then ran out of the house, got into Hager's unlocked marked patrol car and drove off.

Dash camera video that became public in February 2025 showed the stolen cruiser being driven recklessly with its emergency lights on. Lopez used the patrol car to pull over a woman driving a Kia SUV near U.S. 1 and Alhambra Drive, then took her vehicle, according to authorities. Deputies and Florida Highway Patrol troopers chased the SUV down U.S. 1 at speeds that topped 100 mph, the Miami Herald reported, until Lopez lost control and crashed into the back of a Volkswagen near mile marker 104.

An empty chair, then a manhunt

Lopez had been free on a $460,000 bond through the trial, which began earlier that week. When he did not appear on Friday, Oct. 2, his public defender received a call from Lopez's father saying he did not know where his son was, according to the Miami Herald. Judge Morgan issued a no bond warrant for Lopez's arrest and allowed the trial to proceed in his absence, which Florida's rules of criminal procedure permit when a defendant who was present at the start of trial voluntarily leaves.

Chief Assistant State Attorney Joseph Mansfield summed up the outcome bluntly. "We convicted an empty chair," he told the Herald.

Sheriff Rick Ramsay said Lopez's father told investigators his son was angry that prosecutors had not offered him a plea deal and had planned to leave the country rather than face a conviction. License plate readers flagged Lopez's rental car in Texas and then recorded it crossing into Mexico at Laredo, according to the sheriff's office. The sheriff's office contacted the U.S. Marshals Service, which located Lopez in Mexico, and he was taken into custody on Monday, Oct. 5. As of that day, he was being held by Mexican authorities pending his return to the United States, the Herald reported.

"He'll be taken back to Monroe County to face justice," Ramsay said.

Case timeline

The case has moved from the Upper Keys to the Mexican border in less than two years.

What the convictions carry under Florida law

The most serious exposure comes from the two burglary with battery convictions. Under Florida's burglary statute, entering a dwelling or a vehicle and committing a battery on someone inside is a first-degree felony punishable by life, which is the basis for prosecutors' statement that Lopez could spend the rest of his life in prison. Carjacking without a firearm or other deadly weapon is a first-degree felony carrying up to 30 years.

Several of the other counts are tied to the attack on Hager. Battery on a law enforcement officer is reclassified one degree higher under Florida law, making a simple battery a third-degree felony, and resisting an officer with violence is also a third-degree felony, each carrying up to five years. Fleeing or eluding at high speed or with wanton disregard is a second-degree felony with a maximum of 15 years. Reckless driving with property damage is a misdemeanor.

Judge Morgan will decide how the sentences run, and whether they are served concurrently or consecutively. Lopez's flight could also become a factor. Failing to appear in court while on felony bond is a separate third-degree felony in Florida, though no new charge for the missed court date had been announced as of Oct. 6.

What's next

Before he can be sentenced, Lopez must be returned from Mexico. The sheriff's office said he was in Mexican custody awaiting extradition or removal to the United States. Once he is back in Monroe County, he is expected to be held without bond under the warrant Judge Morgan issued. No sentencing date had been publicly announced.

Lopez can appeal the verdict to Florida's Third District Court of Appeal after sentencing. For the Upper Keys, the case is a reminder of how quickly a domestic violence call can escalate into a danger for officers and bystanders alike: a single afternoon in Key Largo produced a beaten woman, an injured sergeant, a stolen cruiser, a carjacked motorist and a 100 mph chase down U.S. 1.