State prosecutors announced the arrest of fugitive lawyer Johnny Portorreal Reyes. He is accused of scamming RD$16 million off around 283 people with the surname Rosario. The victims say they paid Portorreal for legal work to recover their supposed billionaire inheritance. Prosecutor Juan Ramirez, of the Fugitives Department of the National District Prosecutor’s Office, said the arrest took place on Wednesday, 29 June 2022.
The prosecutor says Portorreal had been on the run for 13 months. The lawyer was arrested in Villa Margarita in Boca Chica in Santo Domingo East. He is accused of violating articles 265, 266 and 405 of the Penal Code.
National District prosecutor Rosalba Ramos confirmed the arrest via Twitter. Last year she had called for Portorreal to turn himself in because sooner or later the prosecutors would find him.
Two others in the same case, Miguelina Gómez Santana and Miguel de Oleo Montero, aka Miguelón, were both sentenced to house arrest and the use of electronic shackles.
A statement from the National District prosecutor office indicates that Portorreal was on the run since 25 May 2021. He is accused of charging people with the surname Rosario sums ranging from 30 to 40 thousand pesos for supposed legal and representation expenses in their claims to a billionaire inheritance.
The wife of Portorreal, nevertheless, denied her husband was a fugitive of justice. She said her husband was always at home and working through his law firm. She said her husband had not been notified that there was a legal case against him. Portorreal was arrested at home and taken to the provisional jail at the Palacio de Justicia in Ciudad Nueva.
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30 June 2022