Wallace To Be Arraigned Monday In Hernandez Case
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A Miramar man connected to a murder investigation involving former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez is scheduled to arraigned Monday in a Massachusetts courtroom.
Ernest Wallace, 41, will be arraigned on a charge of Accessory to Murder – After the Fact in Attleboro District Court. The charge relates to the murder of Odin Lloyd.
Investigators said Wallace and another man, Carlos Ortiz, drove with Hernandez and Lloyd to an industrial park where Lloyd was killed. Ortiz was arrested in the case and later transferred to Massachusetts to face a gun charge.
All three men have ties to Bristol, Connecticut. Hernandez grew up there, Ortiz had been living there and authorities had conflicting addresses for Wallace there and in Miramar. Hernandez pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and was denied bail. Ortiz is being held without bail pending a court hearing on July 9.
Wallace lived in South Florida before 2003 and most of his family still lives in the area today.
The current case started back on June 16, when prosecutors said Hernandez texted two friends asking them to come from Massachusetts to Connecticut in a hurry. Prosecutors said Hernandez then texted Lloyd telling him he wanted to get together.
Prosecutors said the three men picked up Lloyd around 2:30 a.m. June 17 and drove him to an industrial park near Hernandez's home and shot him five times. The state has not said who fired the shots.
Since Hernandez's arrest, an investigation has also heated up looking at Hernandez and a double-murder from 2012. The drive-by shooting last year may have had something to do with Lloyd's murder this year, according to the Boston Globe. The Globe reported that Lloyd may have had information about Hernandez's involvement in the 2012 double-murder and that he was possibly ready to implicate Hernandez.
Hernandez also has had a civil suit filed against him in South Florida. The civil suit alleges Hernandez shot a man through the eye after an argument at a Tootsie's strip club. No criminal charges were filed in the alleged strip club shooting.
Hernandez could face life in prison if convicted.
