John Robert Whelden wasn’t planning on going to jail as his sat in Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on June 10. He was preparing for the trip to Los Cabos, Mexico, he had earned for being a good salesman.
Whelden wasn’t expecting Broward County detectives to place him under arrest for causing a fatal accident in 2013.
Now Whelden is waiting to see if he will have to wait in jail until trial, or might get out on bond, wearing an ankle monitor.
Whelden, now 25, lives in Coral Springs, Florida. On Sept. 6, 2013, Whelden and a friend were driving in Pompano Beach.
According to the police, Whelden was traveling at 95 mph in a 35 mph in his 2011 Dodge Challenger when he struck the 2010 Toyota Corolla driven by 49-year-old Mohammad Uddin, a Pompano beach resident.
The collision occurred shortly after midnight. Uddin was pronounced dead half an hour later.
No one seems to know anything about the fatal accident five years ago.
The detective who originally worked the case retired, and the detective who took over couldn’t find any record of it, Broward Sheriff’s spokeswoman Keyla Concepcion told the Sun-Sentinel.
It is equally a mystery why the case was resurrected five years later.
The case was filed with the Broward state attorney’s office Feb. 23, 2018, and on April 30 the prosecutor filed a charged of vehicular homicide.
Whelden was arraigned on June 11. Broward County Judge Florence Taylor Barner ordered a $250,000 bond and further ordered Whelden not to drive, use intoxicants, or have contact with Uddin’s family.
Whelden’s lawyer, Blanca Perper Greenstein, said Whelden was not a flight risk, describing him as an “upstanding member of the community.”
Greenstein pointed out that Wheedon excels at his job—hence the vacation bonus—and has 23 employees working under him.
If Whelden raises the bond money he will have to wear an ankle bracelet until he goes to trial.
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