Here’s the revised version with all grammar corrected, while preserving the original air quotations:
A Jacksonville father missed the birth of his child because he was in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. Action News Jax dug into how that Polk County Sheriff’s Office mistake almost ruined a man’s life and landed him behind bars here in Jacksonville.
He spent 12 days in jail, missed his daughter’s birth, and could have been deported, even though he’s here legally. It was horrific for him, and now he’s picking up the pieces, determining what to do next.
Samuel Enrique Toledo Vasquez took a great picture at the birth of his first child. There is no picture of him with his second, though, because attorney Jonathan Vega says it’s because he was behind bars.
“The only way that he was able to participate in his daughter’s birth,” attorney Josh Vega says, “was by being on the phone from the jail listening to his daughter, his baby’s cries.”
Vasquez didn’t want to do an interview after everything that’s happened, but his attorneys say he runs a lawn company in Jacksonville — so imagine his surprise when he was arrested by JSO on a warrant out of Polk County. The 29-year-old was charged with burglary, grand theft, and domestic assault — except he didn’t do any of those things.
According to the victim, the real criminal is 41-year-old Samuel Augusto Vasquez.
“They have different nationalities,” Vega says, “different country of origin, they have different heights and weights. They have everything, they don’t even look alike.”
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But somehow, attorney Rajan Joshi says, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office put the wrong name on the arrest warrant and never showed the victim a mug shot once Vasquez was in custody to confirm it was the right man. It wasn’t until his attorney knocked on her door that they figured it out.
“The client was fortunate that he had a law firm that was proactive,” he says, “scary is, is that if he hadn’t had such proactive attorneys, he’d probably still be sitting in jail as the process went through.”
The charges were dropped, but Vasquez still couldn’t go home. Even though he’s here legally, ICE put him on a hold, forcing his family to hire an immigration attorney on top of a defense attorney.
“We assume the police are going to protect the innocent,” Joshi says, “and over here, an innocent person went to jail.”
Vasquez is now putting his life back together and considering a lawsuit against the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. We reached out to them for comment and didn’t hear back.
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