Jorge Rodriguez-Chomat (June 28, 1945 – August 19, 2017) was a Cuban-American politician and judge. He was a one-term member of the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...

representing a district in West Miami for the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

from 1994 until his defeat in 1998. He served as a Judge of the Criminal and Family Divisions of the

Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court of Florida The Florida circuit courts are state courts, and are trial courts of original jurisdiction for most controversies. In Florida, the circuit courts are one of four types of courts created by the Florida Constitution (the other three being The Flo ...

from 2011 until his retirement in 2017.

Early life and education

Rodriguez-Chomat was born in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

and was active in the Cuban-American lobby. He attended high school briefly but dropped out. He was educated at St. Thomas University and served in the U.S. Army Reserve. Rodriguez-Chomat went on to work as an accountant, an IRS agent and a tax lawyer before winning office as a lawmaker and later serving as a judge.

Career

In 2013, Rodriguez-Chomat was the subject of a

viral video A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander Haupt ...

after a teenage girl arrested on drugs charges told Rodriguez-Chomat "''adiós''" as she walked off. He responded by calling her back and doubling her bond amount, to her disbelief, after which he bade her "''adiós''". After the girl, Penelope Soto, responded by saying "Fuck you", and gave him the middle finger, he sentenced her to 30 days in the county jail for criminal contempt of court. After she apologized at a hearing four days later, he withdrew the contempt citations and urged her to seek drug counselling.

Death

Rodriguez-Chomat died on August 19, 2017, after a long battle with

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...

at age 72. He was survived by his wife, Susanita Ferro Rodriguez-Chomat and his children and stepchildren.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez-Chomat, Jorge 1945 births 2017 deaths American politicians of Cuban descent Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in Florida Florida lawyers Florida state court judges Republican Party members of the Florida House of Representatives St. Thomas University (Florida) alumni Cuban emigrants to the United States Military personnel from Florida Internal Revenue Service people Deaths from prostate cancer Deaths from cancer in Florida United States Army reservists 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers