Former Grand Juror Sentenced to Prison for Obstructing Justice

A former federal grand juror was sentenced to prison today for obstructing justice.

Benjamin G. Greenberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida and Robert F. Lasky, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.

Leslie Lynn Heburn, 37, Miami, previously pled guilty to obstruction of justice, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1503.  U.S. District Judge Marcia G. Cooke sentenced Heburn to one year and one day in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release.

According to the court record, on January 19, 2017, Heburn was sworn in as a federal grand juror and advised of the rules concerning grand jury secrecy, including that a grand juror is not to disclose matters occurring before the grand jury.  Heburn was also advised of the possible criminal consequences of making any unauthorized disclosure of grand jury information.

On May 4, 2017, Heburn was present during the United States Attorney’s Office presentation to the federal grand jury of a proposed indictment for Rocky Dejesus Molina.  Copies of the proposed indictment for Molina were distributed to the members of the grand jury, but they were not supposed to leave the grand jury chamber.  Later that day, the grand jury returned an indictment against Molina (Case Number 17-20304-CR-ALTONAGA).

On May 10, 2017, prior to Molina’s arrest, Heburn used an alias Facebook account to contact Molina’s girlfriend via Facebook Messenger.  During the course of their communication, Heburn advised Molina’s girlfriend that she was serving as a grand juror and had seen Molina’s name on an indictment.  Heburn then warned Molina’s girlfriend that Molina had been set up by a “snitch” since March 2016.

After Molina’s arrest on May 24, 2017, Molina’s girlfriend contacted Heburn at the alias Facebook account to ask more questions.  Heburn sent the girlfriend photos of the proposed indictment for Molina that was part of the secret grand jury proceedings.  Heburn continued to tell Molina’s girlfriend that Molina had been set up on a number of occasions by a confidential informant.  Heburn acknowledged during their communications that she knew she could get into trouble for disclosing information regarding the grand jury proceedings.

On October 20, 2017, Molina pleaded guilty to dealing in firearms without a license and being a felon in possession of a firearm.  He was sentenced to 180 months in prison on January 3, 2018.

Mr. Greenberg commended the investigative efforts of the FBI in this matter.  He also thanked the FBI Miami Area Corruption Task Force, Miami-Dade Police Department, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for their assistance.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Dobbins.