Seahawks’ Quinton Dunbar posts $100,000 bail, leaves Florida jail. Here’s what’s next.
Seahawks cornerback Quinton Dunbar posted $100,000 bail and was released from jail Sunday evening following a morning bond hearing in a Florida court on charges of felony armed robbery.
Broward County (Fla.) records show Dunbar was released from its main jail in Fort Lauderdale Sunday night.
Michael Grieco, Dunbar’s Miami attorney, said on his Twitter account Sunday night he was “looking forward to clearing (Dunbar’s) name.”
The $100,000 bail was $25,000 each for four counts of armed robbery, as set by judge Michael Davis in the 17th Circuit Court of Florida in Fort Lauderdale Sunday morning.
Prosecutors and the Miramar, Florida, police department that requested the arrest warrant for Dunbar for robberies at a party Wednesday night had asked for a “no-bond hold” in Broward County jail while trial proceedings continued.
A judge issued the arrest warrant Thursday. Dunbar surrendered to authorities Saturday afternoon. His lawyer had sought to get the warrant rescinded because Grieco said Friday he had affidavits from five witnesses that say the Seahawks player was not involved in the crime.
What’s next for Dunbar?
Prosecutors will review the evidence, including the statements from four victims and one witness a Miramar police detective gathered at the party Wednesday night where the crimes allegedly occurred. Prosecutors will then decide if formal charges will be filed and whether pre-trial proceedings will continue.
At an 8:30 a.m. bond hearing Sunday, a judge set the terms of Dunbar’s release on bail before trial proceedings may continue. They include: no communication with the alleged victims in what Miramar police say were robberies of jewelry and cash at a house party in that city; no access to firearms; and no travel outside of Florida.
The Seahawks are not conducting team activities for the foreseeable future, so there is no apparent NFL requirement for Dunbar to be out of Florida. Team facilities across the league remain closed by the coronavirus pandemic.
It is likely the next team requirement for Dunbar’s presence with the Seahawks will be the start of training camp. That is scheduled to be the final week of July at team headquarters in Renton. But Seattle’s and all NFL team facilities remain closed indefinitely, as Washington and most states continue to keep non-essential businesses closed to contain the COVID-19 virus.
Dunbar and Miami childhood friend DeAndre Baker, a cornerback for the New York Giants, are accused of robbing fellow party-goes at a house in Miramar of expensive watches and thousands of dollars in cash.
Grieco read in court on Sunday what he says are affidavits from the four victims and one witness who gave a Miramar police detective the probable cause for an arrest warrant at the party early Thursday morning. Grieco told The News Tribune Friday and the judge Sunday that the five witnesses recanted the stories they had originally told police and that on the affidavits those witnesses now say Dunbar was not involved.
“There is no physical evidence. There is no corroborating evidence, beyond the initial five statements of these individuals, whatsoever,” Grieco told the judge.
Grieco then read to the judge the sworn statements he says he received from the witnesses.
“The gathering we attended included 15 to 20 attendees, including DeAndre Baker and Quinton Dunbar,” Grieco read. “At some point between 11 p.m. and 12 a.m. midnight there was an altercation among several individuals. The argument was related to a dice-gambling game.
“Any robbery or assault, with or without a firearm, did not involve Mr. Dunbar. Mr. Dunbar fled the home, and did not re-enter at any time. Mr. Dunbar did not directly, or indirectly, participate in any robbery or assist in collecting any valuables at the scene, or elsewhere.
“This was signed off on by all four victims and the witness, all of whom spoke with police.”
Grieco, as he did to The News Tribune and other media outlets Friday, told the judge this was “a bogus case.”
Aaron Passy, assistant state attorney for Florida’s 17th judicial district, argued for a no-bond hold, as per the arrest warrant issued Thursday that Dunbar surrendered to on Saturday. Passy and prosecutors are skeptical of the motives of those witnesses for allegedly changing their stories.
Passy said in court Sunday it is “suspect” that “the same four victims have now, within 48 hours ... have gone and recanted — and only in regards to Dunbar,” not Baker.
Passy wanted to know why the affidavits Grieco obtained were even part of Sunday’s bond hearing.
Passy told the judge, “Because, like counsel has said, the detective has yet confirm with these witnesses if they’ve recanted, why they’ve recanted. And this is all important information.”
“This is just theoretical, but let’s say that, judge, these witnesses were receiving death threats,” Passy, the assistant state attorney, said. “Or let’s say, judge, that these witnesses were receiving offers or briberies. The detective has the right to go out and investigate why...within 36 hours in a case that has attracted some news coverage why they would recant—and recant only to one defendant, which is very interesting.”
Dunbar is charged with four counts of armed robbery with a firearm.
Section 812.13 of the 2019 Florida Statutes available online states, in part: “If in the course of committing the robbery the offender carried a firearm or other deadly weapon, then the robbery is a felony of the first degree, punishable by imprisonment for a term of years not exceeding life imprisonment or as provided in (other statutory guidelines).”
Florida has a minimum-sentencing law that requires a sentence of at least 10 years in prison for anyone convicted of a felony while using or attempting to use a firearm.
If during the robbery the offender did not carry a weapon, Florida statutes consider that a second-degree felony.
According Miramar police detective Mark Moretti’s application for an arrest warrant, Dunbar allegedly “took money and watches belonging to the victim(s) with force; permanently depriving them of said property. In the course of committing the robbery, Quinton Disheen Dunbar was armed with a semi-automatic firearm.”
One witness told police Dunbar and Baker lost $70,000 at another party days earlier.
The Seahawks issued a statement Thursday evening: “We are aware of the situation involving Quinton Dunbar and (are) still gathering information. We will defer all further comment to league investigators and local authorities.”
The Seahawks acquired Dunbar in a trade with Washington in March to perhaps become their new starting cornerback. He spoke to Seattle-area media on a Zoom call online from his home in south Florida on Thursday, about 11 hours after the alleged incident at the party.
In the Zoom interview, Dunbar — who has earned more than $8 million in his five-year NFL career and is due a salary of $3.25 million in 2020 — called Seattle “a perfect fit,” multiple times. He talked of how he appreciated the Seahawks for acquiring him.
“You just want to feel wanted, at the end of the day. The guys, they made a trade ... for me. That’s good enough,” Dunbar said Thursday.
“Now I just hope to repay them in the way I carry myself as a person and as a player.”
The Miramar police detective’s statement for probable cause states that on early Thursday morning, 20 minutes past midnight, an officer responded to a reported armed robbery at a party at a residence in the south Florida city that had occurred 45 minute earlier. The arriving officer met with four victims and one witness.
According to the party’s host, whose name is redacted in the warrant, the event began around 8 p.m. Wednesday. The host told police Baker had a gun and began directing two others to take money and valuables from other party-goers. The host said Dunbar was “assisting Baker in taking the money and valuables from the attendees.” The host said an unnamed alleged assailant, wearing a mask, took $800 in cash and an $18,000 Rolex watch, at the direction of Baker.
The host also stated Baker directed the alleged assailant wearing the mask to shoot a person who was just entering the party at that time.
That person said the masked man robbed him of $7,000 cash and a $25,000 Hublot watch. Baker allegedly pointed a gun at the man who was robbed of the Hublot watch. That victim said Baker and two other men were armed with guns but Dunbar was not.
Another alleged victim told police the incident began as an argument over a card game at the party. That victim told police Dunbar “was armed with a firearm and he was pointing it” at a person whose name in redacted on the warrant. That victim said Baker then robbed a person whose name is redacted of $4,000 cash and a watch described as an Audemars Piguet valued at $17,500.
This victim stated he met Dunbar and Baker earlier this week at a different party in Miami, at which Dunbar and Baker “had lost about $70,000.”
There are conflicting reports between multiple victims as to whether Dunbar was carrying and pointing or not carrying a gun during the robberies. A third victim told police Dunbar did not have a gun “but he did see and hear him (Dunbar) directing others to take valuables.”
The witness police interviewed at the party scene was identified as Dominick Johnson, who is described in the warrant as a man known as “Coach” throughout the residence. The warrant states Johnson has known Dunbar and Baker since they were children.
Johnson told police, according to the warrant, he “could not conclusively state that Dunbar committed the offense of aggravated assault with a firearm, however he was still an active participant in the armed robbery aiding and assisting Baker and the other unknown offenders.”
One victim said “those involved in the robbery all left together (at the same time) in three different vehicles. That victim and one other said the cars, a Lambourghini, a BMW and a Mercedes, were “pre-positioned” outside the residence in a way to enable to quick getaway.
Then Friday, in Grieco’s law office in Miami, the attorney for the Seahawks player said all four victims and Johnson, the witness, changed their stories and signed the affidavits the lawyer read in court Sunday.
