Miami Plastic Surgeon Charged With Attempted Murder, Kidnapping
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A South Florida plastic surgeon is being held without bond at the Miami-Dade County Jail accused of trying to kill his ex-girlfriend.
Without scrubs or a lab coat, Dr. Orlando Llorente went before a judge Wednesday after turning himself over to police Tuesday.
Detectives said Llorente is married, but is facing charges of violently beating his ex-girlfriend.
"You are ordered to have no contact with Leeanne Sauma," the judge told Llorente.
The plastic surgeon faces charges ranging from battery and strong arm robbery to kidnapping and attempted murder.
According to the arrest affidavit the trouble started on April 21st, when an argument between Llorente and Sauma over a Facebook message turned violent.
"He became enraged, grabbed her by the hair, took her into the bathroom, and not only stuck her head inside the toilet, but then put her in the tub and was able to get a rag and stuff it down her mouth," Miami Police Spokeswoman Kenia Reyes said.
Police say Sauma told them she was held against her will in a Brickell apartment building for twelve to sixteen hours.
"This lady was able to free herself and convince him that she was not going to press charges," Reyes said.
But according to a separate arrest affidavit, the two were together later that night in front of a Pinecrest CVS, where Sauma claims Llorente grabbed her by the neck and crushed her iPhone after she tried to record what he was saying.
The affidavit said Sauma claimed Llorente was "coaching" her on what to tell her family about her injuries.
Llorente's attorney Marcos Beaton issued a statement to CBS 4's Lauren Pastrana.
"Dr. Llorente voluntarily surrendered to authorities yesterday and is resolute on clearing his name," Beaton wrote. "He reached out to law enforcement, through his lawyers, when these false allegations surfaced. We are disappointed that our requests for more time in which to present a thorough and thoughtful examination into the source of the allegations and the facts surrounding them was declined."
The statement went on to say Miami Police ignored messages from Llorente's attorneys.
"We look forward to vindicating him in court," Beaton wrote.
When we visited an address on record for the victim, the person who responded said, via an intercom, Sauma would not comment at this time.
We also visisted Llorente's home, where several neighbors said they had seen police before.
"I think it's horrible. Especially because he's a surgeon," neighbor Ed Krukowski told Pastrana. "That's not the kind of guy I would want doing surgery on me."
Wednesday afternoon, Dr. Llorente's biography was on the website of Kendall Regional Medical Center.
We contacted the hospital, whose spokesman, Peter Judge, issued the following statement:
"Dr. Orlando Llorente's employment with Burn Center's of Florida and affiliation with Kendall's Burn Center ended in March 2013. Dr. Llorente pursued private practice while remaining as an independent member of the Medical Staff. When his actions came to our attention we summarily suspended him. This incident did not involve any patients or employees at Kendall Regional Medical Center and we are diligent about having systems and processes in place to address issues which occur outside of our facility."
