{"id":75743,"date":"2025-12-08T17:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T17:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/75743\/"},"modified":"2025-12-08T17:09:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T17:09:08","slug":"miami-woman-charged-with-battery-after-snatching-billy-corbens-phone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/75743\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami Woman Charged with Battery After Snatching Billy Corben’s Phone"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Miami resident and Joe Carollo superfan<\/a> is now facing a misdemeanor battery charge after she snatched documentary filmmaker and civic watchdog Billy Corben\u2019s phone during a sunshine meeting at Miami City Hall<\/a> in May.<\/p>\n

The Miami-Dade State Attorney\u2019s Office information packet, dated November 25, obtained by New Times stated that Maria \u201cBeba\u201d Sardi\u00f1a Mann \u201cdid unlawfully commit battery upon William Cohen, AKA Billy Corben, by actually and intentionally touching or striking said person against said person\u2019s will.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the May 30 meeting inside the City of Miami commission chambers, Corben walked up and recorded Sardi\u00f1a Mann talking to activist Thomas Kennedy while they stood in line for public comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was way too close to me, and I turn around, and she looks at me and says, \u2018You guys love to humiliate yourselves,\u201d Kennedy previously told\u00a0New Times. \u201cI gave her a grin. [Corben] is filming and senses the hostility because he is right there.\u201d\t\t<\/p>\n

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Mann waved and smiled before shoving her hand into the phone camera. The audio captured Corben\u2019s muffled \u201cOof.\u201d Kennedy said she then snatched the phone and slammed it onto the dais.\u00a0Corben filed a complaint with the police department that day after a sergeant-at-arms witnessed the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was in front of everyone,\u201d Kennedy said. \u201cIt was next to the city manager.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the incident, however, he added that nobody took any action, and she was still allowed to speak at the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine if roles were reversed,\u201d he said. \u201cWe would be arrested on the spot, rightfully so.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mann admitted during her two minutes of public speaking that she did, in fact, take Corben\u2019s phone. And, like\u00a0her favorite commissioner<\/a>, the woman called him \u201cMr. Cohen,\u201d a reference to Corben\u2019s legal name, which the filmmaker says\u00a0public officials repeatedly use<\/a> to draw attention to his Jewish heritage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to put on the record right now that Mr. Cohen, Corben, whatever his real legal name is, put a camera to my face, invaded my space, and he has a tendency, just like he has done here with the chicken and with everything else, to mock people and make fun of them,\u201d she said before the commission. \u201cIf he so does desire to do that for me, you guys are witnesses. I will get an attorney and sue him for harassment because this is called harassment.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added, \u201cNow to speak, no, that was not assault. Oh my God. I took his camera. I took his camera. That\u2019s not assault.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mann continued to call Corben and Kennedy immature and petty.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys are little kids,\u201d she said. \u201cYou act like you\u2019re five years old. You are a total joke.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once Commissioner Damian Pardo got her back on track, she focused on her prepared public comments. While holding back tears, Mann said Carollo deserves more praise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he has done for us is unbelievable,\u201d Mann said. \u201cHe is the only commissioner who has done that. I don\u2019t see anyone here talking about the things that Mr. Carollo does. All I see is the same people speaking, same time, every time, at the commission before it becomes a circus. Beginning with our elected officials that act, appear like immature children. This is a professional post that you are elected to have, not to sit here and completely derail everything for little snaps at each other. Please, let\u2019s all grow up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mann\u2019s attorney, Richard Diaz, emailed New Times a statement regarding the recent criminal charge. \u201cThe entire matter is captured on video, and it speaks for itself, and because of that, we are very much looking forward to a jury trial.\u201d Back in July, Mann told New Times that she took Corben\u2019s phone and gave it to the city clerk because she felt threatened.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Corben told New Times in a statement that this wasn\u2019t the outcome he hoped for. He added that he only wanted Mann to take responsibility and formally apologize for her actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor six months, I worked with Miami-Dade chief assistant state attorney (ASA) Stephen Talpins and ASA Jose Rohaidy to avoid charges against Ms. Mann and attempt to resolve the case with fairness and civility,\u201d he said. \u201cAll I wanted was an apology from the defendant at Miami City Hall, the scene of the crime, for disrupting a public meeting and committing battery when she took my phone while I was legally video recording. Now more than ever, it is incumbent upon all of us to repudiate political violence of any kind and protect everyone\u2019s First Amendment rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cUnfortunately, Ms. Mann refuses to accept responsibility for her criminal misconduct, so she\u2019s been rightfully charged. The defendant, a longtime ally of outgoing Commissioner Joe Carollo, was empowered to commit a crime in city hall on camera and then immediately confess on live television because she believed there would be no accountability or consequences. She was right \u2014 for a while \u2014 as certain members of City of Miami Police Department\u2019s sergeant-at-arms detail and robbery unit failed to take appropriate action.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf not for their dereliction of duty and Ms. Mann\u2019s recalcitrance, this matter could have been settled half a year ago. I greatly appreciate the patience and professionalism of ASAs Mr. Rohaidy and Mr. Talpins, and look forward to seeing justice prevail.\u201d\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Though MPD marks the robbery case as closed, Corben says no one from the department has notified him.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: After New Times published our initial story in July, Mann emailed the following statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in line to speak, second in line, when Mr. Cohen jumped out of his seat (front row) and started videotaping me with his phone,\u201d Mann writes. \u201cI didn\u2019t think anything of it, so I gave him a peace sign and made some fun movements. He then launched at me with the phone and put it to my face. I felt threatened and took the phone from him and gave it to the City Clerk\u2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a senior, and a private citizen, I felt threatened by this man when he leaped towards me. His behavior and lack of respect for others has reached new heights. Next time, I hope he thinks twice before provoking a senior.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Miami resident and Joe Carollo superfan is now facing a misdemeanor battery charge after she snatched documentary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[11113,2161,123,125,124,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-75743","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-free-speech","9":"tag-government","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-headlines","12":"tag-miami-news","13":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}