Leaving his violently crushed and traumatized girlfriend in mattress, a rich Parkland monetary adviser stood up, placed on a costume shirt and joined a Zoom listening to in his divorce case.
Scott Matalon listened calmly as a Broward choose advised him and his ex-wife that they had been a “handsome couple” and that he couldn’t be the “strict father or mother” proper now.
“I’m not going to be, Choose,” Matalon mentioned within the Zoom listening to. Within the subsequent room, his new girlfriend was plotting her escape whereas nursing quite a few accidents, her imaginative and prescient nonetheless blurry from the alcohol Matalon had poured in her eyes. “Choose, I’m going to be simple peasy and pleasurable and guarantee that our son is well-adjusted, well-adapted, and use and make use of the methods that anger administration has instructed me to.”
4 years after that June day, Matalon, now 44, is in jail, anticipated to be launched in a 12 months. He’s accused of attacking a minimum of 4 girls, three in a matter of months, profiting from a Florida courtroom system that was ill-equipped to cease him.
A number of home violence instances have made headlines in South Florida within the final 12 months, most solely after they led to homicide. In lots of of those instances, the perpetrators had recognized histories of violence, however had been nonetheless in a position to entry the victims.
- In Might of final 12 months, a person stabbed his 2-year-old daughter to dying throughout an unsupervised go to in Pembroke Pines, in response to police. The mom of the kid had fought for supervised visits, citing the daddy’s unstable psychological well being and violent outbursts.
- In November of final 12 months, a person stabbed his pregnant girlfriend to dying in Hallandale Seaside, in response to police. He had two prior home violence fees, however prosecutors dropped them each occasions after the sufferer didn’t cooperate.
- In February, a person hunted his former spouse by a Tamarac neighborhood, capturing and killing her, her father and a neighbor into whose dwelling she ran looking for assist, in response to deputies. Her repeated warnings to legislation enforcement went unheeded.
- In March, a person killed his girlfriend and her three kids in a murder-suicide in Pembroke Park, days earlier than she deliberate to go away him, her household mentioned.
- In June, a Michelin-star chef whose profession bounced again after a previous home violence conviction, left a West Palm Seaside girl hospitalized with bleeding in her mind, in response to police. He has pleaded not responsible.
After which there’s Scott Matalon.
A bald man of 6-foot-1 and about 300 kilos, he offered himself as prosperous and chivalrous, shopping for girls seafood towers on dates, taking them on drives in his Mercedes convertible, and caring for them once they had been sick. In non-public, he could possibly be emotional. Typically he cried within the arms of the ladies he dated. Different occasions he would rage, beating and strangling girls, chasing them and carrying them again in the event that they tried to flee, threatening to kill them or their family members in the event that they left him or advised the police. Then he would demand forgiveness from them, typically within the type of intercourse, and they’d give in, even when they didn’t wish to.
Matalon didn’t kill any of the ladies he attacked. However his case serves as a very stark illustration of what victims endure, each by the hands of their abuser and within the courtroom system.
Regardless of a number of witnesses, extreme and visual accidents, a direct police response, footage and pictures, and their very own persistence, the ladies who escaped Matalon nonetheless confronted the various challenges inherent to Florida’s dealing with of home violence instances.
Victims are questioned and belittled in courtroom whereas perpetrators appeal attorneys and judges. Perpetrators are repeatedly launched beneath the state’s bond system. Prosecutors drop or down-charge the crimes. And people with kids face custody battles that drain them of their cash and pressure them to proceed having a relationship with their abuser.
To report this text, the Solar Sentinel reviewed divorce information, police studies, courtroom transcripts, body-camera footage, emails and textual content messages, and spoke with victims, their associates, kin and neighbors, home violence specialists and attorneys.
The reporting reveals the simultaneous ease with which Matalon prevented penalties and the lengths his victims needed to go with a view to get justice.
Michele Matalon, his ex-wife, says the household courtroom system let her down throughout divorce proceedings. The choose gave Scott Matalon equal timesharing of their children, whereas baby safety investigators decided twice that he was not a hazard to them regardless of allegations of abuse and threats to Michele’s life. He’s now submitting quite a few motions for timesharing from jail, forcing his ex-wife to spend hundreds on lawyer charges.
Concurrently the divorce case unfolded in household courtroom, in felony courtroom, his instances started to pile up.
The primary was Christina La Ferrera, now 40, the girlfriend Matalon had attacked simply earlier than his divorce listening to. The brutal assault had unfolded over the course of a weekend, starting in a Miami resort room and ending at La Ferrera’s dwelling in Boca Raton. Regardless that she reported the assault to police the identical day, it took months for Miami prosecutors to cost Matalon.
Two weeks after La Ferrera’s assault, Matalon attacked one other girlfriend at his dwelling in Parkland. The girl didn’t reply to a number of requests for an interview, so the South Florida Solar Sentinel just isn’t naming her. Matalon was charged with kidnapping, however he was launched right into a co-ed rehab program.
There, he started a relationship with Brittany Emslie, now 30, the final sufferer, a recovering addict working as a behavioral tech. After she was violently attacked, Matalon and his attorneys satisfied her to not press fees and to ship prosecutors an affidavit stating she was not afraid of him. When, 4 months later, she requested prosecutors to reopen the case, they refused, misstating vital particulars.
Neither Emslie nor La Ferrera knew that statements they made to police about having tough intercourse with Matalon can be used repeatedly to discredit them.
“I really feel like justice was positively not served for me,” Emslie advised the South Florida Solar Sentinel.
Matalon’s protection attorneys, Jeremy Kroll and Dave Raben, declined to remark in response to a collection of questions.
‘I’m nervous they’re going to fail me once more’
Ultimately, the system caught up with Matalon. Two years after the divorce listening to, he agreed to plead responsible in La Ferrera’s case and no contest within the Parkland girl’s case in change for 5½ years in jail.
The truth that Matalon acquired a felony conviction in any respect is uncommon. Many victims by no means report their abuser. And once they do, the felony justice system typically fails to observe by, specialists say.
“If they’re arrested, not often does it transfer ahead to an precise home violence cost or conviction,” mentioned Bethany Backes, an affiliate professor who leads the Violence In opposition to Ladies program on the College of Central Florida. “It’s normally diverted by some means or it’s down-charged. Very severe crimes are being downgraded to misdemeanors.”
Whereas the three girls had been relieved to see some type of justice, they’re additionally frightened of Matalon’s impending launch. He’s anticipated to get out in September 2026 on good habits, in response to Michele Matalon.
In a espresso store in West Delray in late March, the three girls reunited, the abuse years behind them and Matalon nonetheless in jail. Michele Matalon and Christina La Ferrera had change into greatest associates over time. They’d by no means met Brittany Emslie in individual earlier than, however had steadily texted and spoken together with her over the cellphone.
“I really feel like I do know you,” Emslie advised Matalon, standing in line for espresso.
All three of the ladies have been left shaken by the abuse and the years of trauma they endured — the threats, the legal professionals, non-public investigators and even an alleged hitman, in response to statements in courtroom, emails to prosecutors and police studies.
As the ladies attempt to transfer on with their lives, they fear in regards to the future. Michele Matalon, now 43, is anxious in regards to the consequence of her pending custody case and Scott’s request for timesharing of their two kids from jail.
“I’m nervous in regards to the system,” Michele Matalon mentioned. “And I’m nervous that they’re going to fail me once more.”
‘I attempted to go away one million occasions’
Michele (then Zuckerman) was residing in Lengthy Island when she met Scott Matalon on a Jewish relationship app in 2007.
They had been of their 20s on the time, and had so much in frequent: He had grown up within the city subsequent to hers; they went to the identical summer time camp; each their dad and mom had been within the jewellery enterprise. And Michele’s dad and mom had all the time advised her thus far a “good Jewish boy,” she mentioned.
They started residing in a bed room in Matalon’s dad and mom’ home. Michele noticed indicators of his abusive nature early on, she recalled in a deposition for the divorce case. If she made him offended — by going out with associates, or saying one thing he didn’t like — he would seize her by the neck and “barricade” her within the bed room by standing within the door, throwing her on the mattress if she tried to go away and telling her she “wasn’t allowed.”
After each hourslong combat, Scott would demand forgiveness and make-up intercourse, Michele mentioned in her deposition. She would oblige in order that she may sleep.
The abuse continued throughout their engagement, she mentioned in her deposition, culminating in “the evening that was by no means imagined to be spoken about.”
It was the evening of their bachelor and bachelorette events.
An intoxicated Scott had known as Michele “in a panic as a result of he did some inappropriate habits at his bachelor occasion and he needed to admit to me what he had executed,” she recalled in her deposition. She left her personal bachelorette occasion early and met him at his dad and mom’ home. When he confessed to her, she advised him she was harm, which made him offended. When she tried to go away the room, he grabbed her and punched her within the face, she mentioned. The assault ended when he stumbled and fell down a flight of stairs.
After that evening, Scott promised to do higher, acknowledging his anger and management points, Michele mentioned in her deposition. She needed to consider him. The marriage went ahead.
“I attempted to go away one million occasions,” Michele advised the Solar Sentinel. “After which as soon as I used to be married, I simply tried to outlive.”
Abusive relationships and the “patterns of terrorism” that unfold inside them are like “hostage conditions,” mentioned Backes, the UCF professor, typically taking away victims’ sense of self-efficacy and independence, making it harder for them to go away.
“What we neglect, is these are relationships that always have been in place, there was love on this relationship, or what somebody envisioned as love,” she mentioned. “… The individual has been held and handled in such a means that’s reframing their persona, making them really feel helpless. Typically it’s simpler to manage within the relationship than out of it.”
Scott and Michele married in 2010. He grew to become a outstanding funding adviser whereas she stopped working solely, rising financially depending on him. The abuse continued all through their marriage and the births of their son and daughter, Michele mentioned in her deposition. She contemplated leaving, however remained for the sake of the kids.
The household moved to Parkland in 2019. Michele didn’t know anybody in South Florida apart from her dad and mom.
It wasn’t till their 8-year-old son started confiding in Michele Matalon’s dad and mom in regards to the abuse that she made efforts to go away, in response to her deposition. The household got here up with an exit plan, buying Mace and burner telephones to succeed in police in the event that they had been in peril.
In the meantime, a baby protecting investigator opened a case on Scott Matalon. A pediatrician had reported baby abuse to the Division of Youngsters and Households in February 2021 after Michele introduced of their son over a painful “noogie” his father had given him out of anger, in response to her deposition and a medical report.
Later that month, the Matalons went to Disney World for his or her daughter’s sixth birthday, the place a violent, hourslong episode passed off by which Scott pushed their son to the bottom and cursed out their daughter earlier than turning on Michele, in response to her deposition. Once they bought again, she knowledgeable Scott in a textual content that she supposed to go away with the kids for her dad and mom’ home.
Scott texted her dozens of occasions, begging for her to remain. He despatched photos of himself smiling with their daughter and promised to give up ingesting and get emergency assist from docs for his psychological well being.
“We will discuss at the moment and keep in mind I’m completely different at the moment,” he wrote, in response to copies of the texts filed in courtroom. “Promise me just one factor you’ll hear and I received’t scream if I yell you allow however I promise you at the moment is completely different and I do know why! I can’t wait to elucidate as a result of this has proven me one thing I didn’t learn about myself.”
Three days later, on Feb. 16, 2021, Michele Matalon filed for divorce.
Scott instantly filed an emergency movement for 50-50 custody.
In courtroom, earlier than Choose Dale Cohen, Michele started detailing the abuse, hoping that he would see the necessity for supervised visits, not equal custody.
“This has been an abusive relationship for 12 years with the spouse in addition to with the kids,” Michele’s lawyer advised the choose at a March 2021 listening to over whether or not to grant Scott’s request.
Scott Matalon and his lawyer denied Michele’s allegations of abuse, saying he hadn’t seen his kids in a month.
The choose denied the emergency custody movement, awaiting the outcomes of the kid protecting providers investigation.
“I’ve a number of issues about this case,” he mentioned. “I do assume the daddy has an anger downside.”
Michele and her kids started telling the CPS investigator in regards to the years of Scott’s verbal and bodily abuse. Michele’s dad and mom described Scott as “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”
The report documented how Scott bit her lip so laborious that it bled in entrance of their children. The youngsters each described fearing their father and witnessing bodily and verbal fights. In a single incident on a cruise, Scott broke their son’s Nintendo in half and threw it into the ocean. One other time, after Michele defended their son throughout an argument, he dragged her into the bed room. Their son stood exterior the door yelling, “Don’t harm Mommy, don’t harm Mommy.”
Scott Matalon denied the allegations, telling the investigator that Michele was “manipulating” the kids and that he was merely a strict father or mother, not an abusive one. He mentioned his son had been confused when he banged on the door and that he and Michele had been practising martial arts, not truly preventing.
“His voice is sterner with the best way he speaks and the mom by no means sees something incorrect and by no means tries to self-discipline them,” the investigator wrote in her report, summarizing Scott’s statements. “… He has by no means laid a finger on his spouse or kids. He simply misses his kids and want [sic] this was all a dream.” The investigator spoke to Scott’s sister and two household associates, who all expressed “shock” over the case and denied any abuse towards Michele or the kids.
In depositions and hearings, Matalon mentioned that they had been a “bodily” household who preferred to grapple and play. The 2 had an awesome marriage however started arguing attributable to completely different parenting types and stress due to the pandemic, he and his lawyer mentioned. Scott described himself as an concerned father who performed dolls along with his daughter and video video games along with his son, offering photos of the household collectively on holidays and birthday letters Michele and the kids had written to him.
“When (my daughter’s) not right here I get up on their own,” Scott mentioned in March. “The primary couple days I slept in her mattress. I miss them. I miss him, I miss (my son).”
An excellent deal was using on what CPS concluded. However most of Michele’s and the childrens’ conferences with the investigator consisted of minutes-long conversations in a parking zone, she recalled. Rising anxious in regards to the case and the investigator’s capability to dedicate time to it, she despatched the investigator an electronic mail in early Might.
“I used to be involved earlier than since you had expressed to me that you’ve a considerable amount of instances and a scarcity of time to assessment all of them,” Matalon wrote, referring to a dialog they’d had earlier.
The investigator didn’t reply.
Weeks later, CPS closed its investigation. The investigator wrote in her report that “the daddy threatens and degrades the mom. Typically the daddy is bodily abusive” and that their son witnessed “a number of it.”
However she additionally wrote that the kids had no seen bruises and that Michele had by no means known as the police.
“The case is being closed as no indicators for bodily harm and never substantiated for family violence threatens baby,” the report concluded.
Florida’s baby protecting investigators typically lack the time and sources essential to delve into difficult abuse instances, in response to officers within the authorized system.
“They’re so overworked,” mentioned Rhoda Sokoloff, a household lawyer primarily based in Fort Lauderdale who does professional bono work on home violence.
Many investigators are additionally cynical about allegations of abuse after dealing with instances the place dad and mom lie with a view to use it as a tactic.
“When this occurs within the context of a marital breakdown, CPS may be like, yeah, we’re gonna take that with perhaps a little bit grain of salt,” mentioned Laura Arcaro, a divorce and baby custody lawyer primarily based in Fort Lauderdale. “As a result of is it simply to achieve a bonus in litigation or is that this girl really a sufferer of abuse?”
The listening to for momentary custody of the Matalon kids was set for June 2021.
‘I assumed you had been Michele’
Only a month after Michele Matalon fled the house, Scott Matalon moved on to a different girl.
Christina La Ferrera had been on the point of deleting her profile on the relationship app Hinge in March 2021 when she acquired a match notification that sparked her curiosity. His pictures and bio depicted him as a household man and knowledgeable, sporting a white costume shirt, posing subsequent to a golden retriever.
Matalon was direct about his curiosity — one thing La Ferrera discovered refreshing in comparison with the ghosting and hook-up tradition so prevalent on the app — and requested her out to dinner that evening. Their relationship progressed rapidly. He needed to be collectively all the time, so she began working at her tech job from the Parkland home he as soon as shared along with his household.
La Ferrera didn’t know something about Matalon’s divorce. When she requested him about his children, she mentioned, he made it sound like he nonetheless noticed them repeatedly. Sometimes, he would make feedback that La Ferrera discovered alarming, however she chalked them as much as the phrases of a person “emotionally devastated by his divorce,” she mentioned in a press release filed by Michele Matalon’s lawyer within the divorce case.
He had talked about eager to kill his ex-wife, La Ferrera mentioned within the assertion, and advised her “that his driver / pal Ozzy from NYC was going to kidnap” her and “inject some substance … between her toes in order that there can be no marks or proof when her physique was discovered.”
In Might 2021, La Ferrera briefly broke up with Matalon after receiving mysterious texts from a girl — who just isn’t among the many 4 victims talked about on this article — exhibiting photos of bruises, telling her that he didn’t have custody of his children, in contrast to what he had advised La Ferrera.
However Matalon begged to get again collectively, texting her prolonged notes and sending her flowers, telling her the girl was mendacity as a result of she was jealous. The person La Ferrera thought she knew was not the person the thriller girl was describing.
“He was insistent on getting again collectively,” she advised the Solar Sentinel. “So I gave him one other probability.”
By June, they’d reconciled.
Then, on June 12, two days earlier than the custody listening to, La Ferrera found the darkish aspect of Scott Matalon. He and La Ferrera had made plans for a “staycation” at a resort in Miami, starting with a flowery dinner adopted by an evening out at a lounge Saturday together with her associates. Matalon had paid about $1,000 for a desk, however her associates didn’t present. He grew to become upset, she advised the Solar Sentinel, and determined to rent an escort. Whereas the 2 had been within the resort room, La Ferrera retreated to the balcony. When, finally, La Ferrera advised Matalon the escort wanted to go away, she mentioned, he grew to become enraged.
The subsequent factor La Ferrera remembered, she was opening her eyes within the resort mattress. She thought she’d simply had a foul dream. Then she realized Matalon’s fingers had been round her neck, in response to a Miami Police report.
He was crying and hovering over her face. “Babe, I’m so sorry! I assumed you had been Michelle!” [sic] La Ferrera recalled him saying, in response to courtroom paperwork and a sworn assertion given to police. “… I wasn’t making an attempt to kill you, I used to be making an attempt to kill her. You understand I’d by no means harm you babe.”
La Ferrera started to scream. Matalon advised her to be quiet; somebody would hear. When she didn’t cease, he grabbed her by the throat and threw her into the wall, then threw her cellphone on the wall so she couldn’t name for assist, in response to her assertion within the divorce case. When she tried to go away the room for assist, he pinned her to the mattress, poured alcohol from the minibar into her eyes, then demanded she have intercourse with him “with a view to make issues proper,” in response to the police report.
The subsequent morning, on June 13, Matalon made La Ferrera cowl her bruises earlier than they drove again to her dwelling in Boca Raton. He threatened to kill her kids and her household if she disrupted his custody listening to, she wrote. La Ferrera complied with all of his calls for.
Scott stayed at her home that evening, and the identical cycle of violence, threats and intercourse continued into the following day. Then, at 3:20 p.m., he calmly bought dressed, sat at her eating room desk and logged into the custody listening to.
The common-or-garden, charming aspect of Scott Matalon returned as he testified earlier than the choose. Michele watched from her new condominium in Parkland, placing a post-it over his face so she wouldn’t have to take a look at him. He advised the choose he had volunteered to take anger administration lessons and began seeing a therapist about his parenting. He denied any abuse.
“I wish to be proactive,” he mentioned. “I wish to maintain (my daughter and son). And so I did something I may to simply present greatest efforts as a result of I actually assume our youngsters want each a father and a mom.”
When it was Michele Matalon’s flip, she advised a unique story.
“I used to be fearful to go away from the start,” she mentioned. “… He advised me that he would harm my father, harm my household. After which after we did get married and I’d stick up for myself or in an argument, he would inform me that he would take the kids from me.”
Matalon had solely 10 minutes for her testimony and needed to rush by the assorted incidents of abuse.
“I’ve a lot extra to inform you,” her lawyer advised Choose Cohen when she ran out of time.
“I’ve heard sufficient,” Cohen replied. “I get the gist … sadly I suppose, Michele, you realize, you’ve been in concern even earlier than you bought married which most likely ought to have signaled you to not get married.”
He then issued a ruling that would go away Michele Matalon reeling. It got here amid a shift in Florida’s household courts towards presuming 50-50 custody is greatest for the kids.
Cohen started by lecturing Scott and Michele about household values and the significance of working issues out. He praised Scott for taking anger administration lessons to “right” his difficulty.
“If I used to be a therapist, I’d inform everyone, every single day if you see your spouse, you consider the primary day and that’s the way you deal with your spouse,” Cohen mentioned.
He described the photographs he had seen of the household, shared by Matalon’s lawyer, by the pool, a fortieth birthday submit saying “you’re the best.” In the event that they needed, the choose mentioned, they may “repair it and have a contented household.”
Cohen praised the kid protecting investigator, saying that she “discovered no proof of abuse.” And he criticized each Scott and Michele Matalon for preventing in entrance of the children.
“No matter what path you all determine to go down sooner or later, there’s a lot room for enchancment between the 2 of you,” he advised them. “However you’re each good, you each care about your kids, and also you each did like one another sooner or later in your life. So there’s no purpose which you can’t simply get alongside.”
He granted Scott Matalon’s request for 50-50 timesharing, pending a ultimate listening to.
Michele Matalon felt blamed for her personal abuse.
“Clearly I would like remedy,” she advised the Solar Sentinel. “However yeah, yeah I did (marry him). Why are you sufferer blaming?”
Cohen has since retired as a choose, and now works as a household mediator. He declined to remark when reached by a Solar Sentinel reporter by cellphone and textual content for this text.
Florida’s shift towards 50-50 custody
In 2023, a brand new Florida legislation made 50-50 custody a compulsory presumption, requiring attorneys to persuade judges why an alternate can be preferable. The legislation has led to drawn-out custody battles and agreements that always pressure victims to proceed relationships with their abusers.
The brand new legislation was preceded by a pattern towards 50-50 custody in Florida’s household courts, the place the Matalon case was heard.
“The pendulum swung from the ’80s, after I first began,” mentioned Susan Brown, a household lawyer primarily based in Plantation. “Mother bought custody, Dad bought each weekend until Mother was actually dangerous, after which Dad would get custody.”
The custody case compelled Michele Matalon to maintain interacting with the person she had fled.
“Now that I’m secure and I’m divorced, I don’t have to return,” she advised the Solar Sentinel. “However now you need me to ship my kids again to him? … I’m not OK with that. I hear his title or see his face and it brings me into nervousness, and into panic, about what’s going to occur.”
Even when Matalon needed to go away Florida together with her kids, the legislation forbids dad and mom with custody preparations from leaving the state until they get the approval of their former companion.
Constraints like that always lead victims to remain in abusive relationships as a result of the choice appears even worse. Their mindset is, “‘I can’t go away, however I can’t keep, what do I do?’ ” mentioned Arcaro, the Fort Lauderdale household lawyer. “I’m simply going to attempt to easy issues over.”
Because the Matalons’ timesharing listening to wrapped up, Scott had yet another request for the choose: permission to have dinner along with his kids that evening.
Choose Cohen granted the request.
La Ferrera escapes
After closing Zoom, Scott Matalon yelled “I received!” and gave La Ferrera a hug. On his means out the door, he advised her to “be prepared for his return at 8:30 p.m.”
She had three hours.
Afraid for her life, La Ferrera picked up her kids from summer time camp and took them to her father’s dwelling for his or her security, then drove to the Boca Raton Police station. The doorways had been locked, so she used the decision field to sign an emergency. When officers arrived, she began telling them every part that had occurred to her over the past 24 hours. And he or she requested them to do a wellness verify on Michele Matalon and her kids.
In the meantime, Scott Matalon had been calling and texting La Ferrera repeatedly, asking her if every part was okay and sending photos of himself smiling along with his children within the pool.
“Sorry I really like you and was incorrect and am all good personal [sic],” he wrote. “Diff man with children.”
La Ferrera advised law enforcement officials that Scott Matalon drove a white Mercedes convertible, and so they waited for him to return to her dwelling that evening. About 8:30, a automotive matching the outline drove towards the home, then did a U-turn and left, in response to a possible trigger affidavit. Police tried to name Matalon a number of occasions, however he didn’t choose up.
The subsequent evening, he calmly turned himself in on the police station. He had introduced one other girlfriend with him, physique digicam footage confirmed.
“Thanks for coming in,” one of many officers advised Matalon as they put him in handcuffs.
“After all, man,” Matalon mentioned. He requested the girl to scratch his chin for him since he was in handcuffs, and the 2 of them laughed. The officers advised him he can be in jail just for a short while.
“I really like you,” Matalon advised the girl as they kissed goodbye. “I’ll see you for dinner.”
“You bought this, child,” the girl replied.
The law enforcement officials walked him to the squad automotive, the place he tried to joke with them.
“You spoke to my lawyer already?” Matalon requested one of many officers.
“Sure sir,” the officer mentioned. “You’re all good, man. We’ll simply get by this …”
As a result of the weekend-long assault had taken place in two jurisdictions, Boca Raton Police advised La Ferrera she must file a separate police report in Miami for what had occurred there. However Miami Police wouldn’t take a report over the cellphone, telling her she needed to come to the station.
La Ferrera, who had suffered blunt pressure accidents to her head and whose imaginative and prescient was nonetheless impaired from the alcohol in her eyes, didn’t really feel comfy driving to Miami within the rain that evening.
“I assumed I had a cranium fracture,” La Ferrera advised the Solar Sentinel. Later, a watch examination revealed that she had “scientific indicators” of a watch socket fracture.
With no different possibility, she ended up driving again to Miami on June 17, 4 days after the assault, and made a delayed report.
“The sufferer was not in a position to report the incident that occurred on the resort previous to at the moment’s date attributable to private points,” the Miami incident report states.
Palm Seaside County prosecutors charged Matalon with two counts of easy battery, a misdemeanor, primarily based on the occasions that had taken place after he and La Ferrera returned to Boca Raton from Miami.
The morning after Matalon’s arrest, La Ferrera attended his first look listening to in courtroom, the place, she mentioned, she requested the choose to disclaim him bond. She advised the courtroom she feared for her personal security, the security of her kids, Michele Matalon’s kids and the general public.
Matalon was launched the identical day.
Simply two weeks later, he was again in handcuffs, charged with kidnapping and strangling the girlfriend he had introduced with him to the Boca Raton police station.
A profile of a serial batterer
When Dr. Donald Dutton got down to analysis home batterers within the early Nineteen Nineties, the prevailing focus within the psychology group was on the victims, not the perpetrators. Famend psychologist Dr. Lenore Walker had coined the time period “battered girl syndrome” after finding out victims in abusive relationships. However the psychology of the lads who dedicated the acts was far much less studied.
Dutton, a psychologist who labored with dozens of batterers in intervention applications, was interested in their motivations.
“I’ve all the time been fascinated by questions I assumed had been unanswerable,” mentioned Dutton, who reviewed the Matalon case for the Solar Sentinel. “How will you love somebody and beat them up? That simply is not sensible in any respect.”
He started to develop a profile of a sure subset of abusers generally known as “cyclical batterers” — those that abuse their intimate companions in a repeated cycle of violence and contrition.
Cyclical batterers have a tendency to incorporate serial batterers, Dutton mentioned, as a result of they’re repeat offenders, although cyclical batterers might keep in a single relationship whereas serial batterers commit violence in a number of relationships. Cyclical batterers are additionally essentially the most troublesome to deal with, and poorly understood by the felony justice system, Dutton mentioned.
“The felony justice system says, nicely, we’ll put them in remedy,” he mentioned. “They assume it’s going to make the issue go away. It doesn’t make the issue go away.”
The outline of Matalon given by the victims — as charming at first look however a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” — is a trademark trait of cyclical batterers. In Dutton’s expertise, they “appeared to have two personalities, one at dwelling with their companions and one other in public, and even in non-public they appeared to bear modifications, alternately performing abusive and contrite,” he wrote in his e-book “The Batterer: A Psychological Profile.” Dutton is now one of many main specialists on batterer psychology.
Many cyclical batterers have persona problems which might be very troublesome to deal with, akin to borderline persona dysfunction, which frequently manifests as “an unstable sense of self, a kind of terror of being deserted by their companion and actually excessive emotional reactions to a way of abandonment,” qualities that make them extra harmful, Dutton advised the Solar Sentinel. “These are the people who find themselves overrepresented amongst spousal murder perpetrators. ‘She will’t go away me, I’ll kill her earlier than she leaves me.’”
Additionally overrepresented amongst spousal murder perpetrators are those that strangle. An individual who has been strangled by their companion is 750% extra more likely to be killed by them, research present. Scott Matalon would in the end be charged with strangling two girls and convicted on one of many fees.
Judges in home violence instances can require anger administration lessons and batterer intervention applications, however until the abuser has a want to vary and the applications particularly deal with persona problems, rehabilitation is unlikely.
“[The abuser] has to agree that there’s elements of him that want to vary,” Dutton mentioned. “… However for those who can’t get to that conclusion then every part else is a waste of time.”
Rehabilitation can also be much less doubtless in instances the place there are quite a few victims, mentioned Backes, the UCF professor.
“It’s a discovered habits,” she mentioned. “Whenever you be taught you’re in a position to get away with it and also you’re ready to do this otherwise you noticed your dad try this, it turns into very normalized and also you don’t assume it’s incorrect.”
Dutton’s analysis has made him extra supportive of longer-term incarceration relating to home violence. He was involved when he discovered that Matalon might be launched in a 12 months.
“I come down as an actual law-and-order man in sure instances,” Dutton mentioned. “With people who find themselves persistently violent, analysis reveals it’s essential to defend the general public. That must be your No. 1 precedence. On this case, defending girls that this man will get in relationships with.”
In comparison with somebody who abuses one individual repeatedly over the course of a relationship, a serial batterer should repeatedly discover new individuals thus far.
They typically search for vulnerabilities, Backes mentioned.
“Somebody who’s a serial batterer has a greater understanding of the kind of individuals to pick out,” she mentioned. “They may establish sure issues in an individual that makes them a extra appropriate goal for them to interact in a relationship.”
That features people who find themselves extra remoted or had been victims of abuse themselves.
Home Violence sources
A personal investigator and ‘tough intercourse’
Although La Ferrera had escaped Scott Matalon, she nonetheless wasn’t fully freed from him.
Days after Matalon’s arrest, a personal investigator contacted La Ferrera’s ex-boyfriend, requesting to satisfy with him.
The ex-boyfriend, who requested to not be named, was offended with La Ferrera on the time for submitting a petition for a restraining order in opposition to him whereas she was relationship Matalon. He was additionally interested in what the PI needed to say. They agreed to satisfy at a Starbucks.
The PI was a former corrections officer who labored for Matalon’s lawyer, in response to Florida legislation enforcement information. She confirmed up on the Starbucks in Gucci and excessive heels and commenced questioning the person about his intercourse life with La Ferrera. She needed to know if they’d tough intercourse, if she preferred him slapping her round, tying her up, restraining her or choking her.
The interplay made the ex-boyfriend uncomfortable. He advised the Solar Sentinel he felt the PI was making an attempt to coerce him into admitting one thing that hadn’t occurred.
Later, the PI emailed him with an affidavit to signal on behalf of considered one of Matalon’s attorneys.
It was a listing of 17 statements. One learn, “Christina was into every part when it got here to intercourse. Her sexual proclivities included, BDSM (bondage, dominance, sadomasochism) swinger events and unprotected intercourse with strangers.”
One other acknowledged, “Throughout our relationship our intimacy included, spanking, flogging, choking, biting, slapping, hair pulling, spitting, and title calling. Christina all the time needed it tougher. She cherished tough intercourse. (video proof 07/2020).”
When he didn’t reply to the e-mail, the PI texted him a number of occasions.
“Morning. Hope all is nicely,” one textual content learn. “We’re working with the Miami Detective making an attempt to make this go away. Do you have got any video or pictures of you and Christina have [sic] tough intercourse and or with toys. Please. And sorry to hassle.”
The PI advised him he may edit the affidavit as he noticed match.
“I used to be like, if I edit it I’m gonna take out every part,” the ex-boyfriend advised the Solar Sentinel.
He didn’t signal, and texted La Ferrera in regards to the dialog.
For La Ferrera, the revelation — notably the non-public investigator’s assertion that she was working with Miami Police — solely added to her issues about her case. She had acquired little info from the Miami-Dade State Legal professional’s Workplace, which had not but filed fees in opposition to Matalon for the incident within the resort room.
The allegations in Miami had the potential for extra severe fees than the misdemeanor battery fees introduced in opposition to Matalon in Boca Raton.
It wouldn’t be till Oct. 27, 2021, 4 months after the assault, that Miami-Dade prosecutors filed felony fees in opposition to Matalon: home battery with strangulation and false imprisonment, each felonies, in addition to easy home battery and felony mischief.
The non-public investigator declined to remark when reached by the Solar Sentinel. The Miami-Dade State Legal professional’s Workplace didn’t present particulars on the delay, saying that the prosecutors assigned to the case on the time had left the workplace.
‘Christina’s going to utterly kill me’
Ultimately, La Ferrera and Michele Matalon discovered one another.
The evening of the June custody listening to, Broward Sheriff’s deputies arrived at Michele Matalon’s new condominium for the wellness verify La Ferrera had requested.
The subsequent day, Michele’s father bought a textual content from an unknown quantity with an image of Scott’s mugshot. Collectively, they known as the quantity a number of occasions. Lastly, a girl picked up.
“Christina’s going to utterly kill me,” she advised Michele Matalon, in response to a recording of the decision. She recognized herself as a detailed pal of La Ferrera. She had been searching for Michele’s quantity on-line however discovered her father’s as an alternative.
“She needed to sit and watch by your complete courtroom mediation whereas he bought his children again as he’s beating her ass,” the pal added.
Quickly after that, La Ferrera and Michele Matalon spoke on the cellphone.
“And form of ever since then, we’ve been there for one another,” Matalon advised the Solar Sentinel.
The investigation of La Ferrera’s allegations in opposition to Matalon prompted baby protecting investigators to open a brand new probe into Michele Matalon’s case.
The day after Matalon’s arrest, Michele’s lawyer filed an emergency movement difficult timesharing of their divorce case, attaching a press release from La Ferrera and a police report describing the weekend-long assault and Scott Matalon’s threats to Michele Matalon’s life.
Choose Cohen denied Michele’s request. A month later, the CPS investigator once more decided that the kids weren’t in peril.
CPS investigators are likely to view occasions by the lens of what occurs instantly in entrance of the children, specialists say. However allegations of violence in one other case, like these made by La Ferrera, could possibly be indicative of potential hazard to the kids.
“What occurs if the child will get a little bit bit older, and the child pisses off the daddy?” mentioned Sokoloff, the household lawyer. “Who’s to say the daddy’s not gonna go off? He might not have the ability to management himself.”
The kid protecting investigator declined to remark when reached by the Solar Sentinel.
However even because the CPS investigation was ongoing, so was Scott Matalon’s violent habits.
On July 5, 2021, he attacked the girl who had supported him throughout his Boca Raton arrest.
The Parkland assault
The assault passed off the evening of July 5, at Matalon’s Parkland dwelling. He had thrown the girl down within the shallow space of the pool, then beat her inside the house whereas stopping her from escaping, in response to a possible trigger affidavit. She lastly managed to flee throughout the road to a neighbor’s home.
There, she rang the doorbell, barefoot and respiration closely, in response to Ring doorbell digicam footage.
Earlier than anybody may reply, Matalon caught as much as her, sporting nothing however swim trunks.
“I’m executed,” he mentioned, panting, in response to the footage. “It’s over.”
“Avoid me,” the girl demanded as he approached. “Avoid me!”
The video reveals Matalon choosing her up, throwing her over his shoulder, and carrying her again to his dwelling. He known as her a whore and stuffed $100 payments in her mouth to silence her, the girl later wrote in a petition for a restraining order. Once they bought again inside the house, he threatened to kill her canine and cornered her in a closet.
He advised her police would by no means come, however they did. The neighbors had watched the confrontation by their Ring digicam and known as 911.
“He got here in like a caveman and grabbed her,” a girl advised the dispatcher.
Deputies arrested Matalon the identical day because the assault. Prosecutors with the Broward State Legal professional’s Workplace charged him with kidnapping, false imprisonment, home battery by strangulation and easy home battery, all violations of his bond in Palm Seaside County.
However Matalon’s attorneys satisfied a choose to launch him once more, this time right into a co-ed substance abuse program. There, he would have direct contact with susceptible girls.
Considered one of them was Brittany Emslie, a recovering addict who labored on the program.
In six months, Emslie and Matalon had been married. A month later, police had been known as to their new dwelling.
‘I can’t think about why a choose would allow you to out’
The choice to launch Matalon perplexed some specialists who reviewed the case for the Solar Sentinel.
In Broward, he had been launched on home arrest with an ankle monitor and a requirement that approval was wanted for any appointments. He was then jailed once more in Palm Seaside County as a result of the violent assault and kidnapping had been a direct violation of his bond there.
However his attorneys argued for his launch, saying he would go on to rehab to work on his substance abuse points.
At first, Choose Melanie Surber denied their request, however requested for extra info. Two weeks later, they offered her with a letter from a program he had attended known as Restoration Unplugged, which mentioned Matalon had demonstrated “profitable progress,” regardless that information present he was there for lower than per week.
“Purchasers are supervised by employees 24/7. We will accommodate a GPS monitor and we now have labored with probation and the courts within the tri-county space for a few years,” this system’s admissions supervisor wrote within the letter. “Any main rule violation might be reported to the courtroom.”
Surber launched him.
“Frankly, for those who’re on pretrial launch for a home violence case and also you go on to interrupt it, not by getting a DUI or one thing not associated to that, however for those who’re on pretrial launch and also you’re out committing different home violence acts, I can’t think about why a choose would allow you to out,” mentioned Adriana Alcalde, a former Broward prosecutor who now represents victims of sexual violence.
Judges might even see home violence as non-public in nature, affecting solely a sufferer or a household, in response to Backes, the UCF professor. In the meantime, Florida’s money bond system permits abusers with cash to keep away from jail time.
“A few of our danger assessments that we do when somebody is detained or at first look, if you’re fascinated with pre-trial situations like an ankle monitor or one thing like that, don’t actually take into account the dynamics of home violence,” Backes mentioned.
Since COVID, Backes has observed a nationwide pattern towards fewer home violence arrests and extra down-charging, presumably as a part of a “push to not overincarcerate people.”
“Issues that must be felonies are simply being charged as misdemeanors,” she mentioned.
Surber didn’t reply to requests for remark.
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‘It’s solely a matter of time’
Within the remedy program, Matalon and Emslie grew shut. Within the courtroom system, La Ferrera’s warnings about Matalon’s violence went unheeded.
Matalon was one of many purchasers assigned to Emslie within the inpatient program. She was in a susceptible place on the time, she advised the Solar Sentinel. Her son’s father had died of an overdose lower than a 12 months prior, and she or he was working to beat her personal dependancy points.
In September 2022, Matalon transitioned from inpatient right into a midway home — one other step authorized by the Palm Seaside County choose. Quickly, Emslie mentioned she was virtually residing in Matalon’s room on the home regardless of her place as an worker, a violation of this system’s guidelines.
Matalon had additionally been posting TikTok movies with different girls from rehab. He joked about what his alibi can be if he dedicated against the law and about having intercourse with one other girl in this system. He confirmed himself driving with a number of girls in a convertible as considered one of them stood within the shifting automotive, the music “Younger, Wild & Free” enjoying within the background, even supposing he was on home arrest with an ankle monitor.
When La Ferrera noticed the movies, she contacted the Palm Seaside County prosecutors assigned to Matalon’s case, nervous for the security of the ladies and anxious he was violating his bond.
Prosecutors referred her to the police, who referred her to Matalon’s probation officer.
La Ferrera emailed the probation officer, saying Matalon had entry to “susceptible” girls who “are doubtless looking for remedy and really more likely to be or already are being abused.”
“I discover it very laborious to think about making TikTok’s about committing crimes and planning alibi’s is compliant not to mention pleasure rides with susceptible girl [sic],” she wrote. “… It’s only a matter of time that another person might be a sufferer identical to the girl that was attacked solely three weeks after he attacked me whereas he was out on pre-trial launch for my case. I’d hate to see another person get harm not to mention killed when all of this might have been dealt with otherwise.”
However Matalon remained in this system.
Quickly after her electronic mail to the probation officer, La Ferrera tried once more to sound alarms over Matalon.
Miami prosecutors had lastly charged him with battery, battery with strangulation, false imprisonment and felony mischief in her resort room assault. At a bond listening to for the case, she pleaded with the choose to not launch him.
“I encourage you to please hold our group secure from this monster of a person,” La Ferrera advised the choose on the listening to.
After she spoke, Matalon’s lawyer, Dave Raben, learn from the arrest affidavit about La Ferrera’s assault in Boca Raton, the place police wrote that she advised them Matalon preferred tough intercourse and that at one level she slapped him “as a result of she is aware of that’s what he likes.”
Matalon was launched on home arrest. He now wore two ankle displays.
‘You probably did save my life’
Along with his three felony instances underway and nonetheless beneath home arrest, Scott Matalon was within the strategy of getting married.
In November 2021, he moved out of rehab and into a brand new dwelling in Dawn with Emslie. In December, the 2 wed.
Inside weeks, he attacked his new bride.
He had been ingesting the evening of Jan. 15, Emslie recalled, and have become offended. She went on a drive, hoping he would cool off. She returned to search out him sitting exterior, crying. When he noticed her, he charged towards her automotive and dragged her out, she advised police.
The subsequent factor she may keep in mind, she was within the yard of their home, partially deaf, her imaginative and prescient blurry and her mouth stuffed with blood.
A neighbor Emslie had by no means met, Melissa Adamson, was watching TV when she heard screams. She thought somebody had been attacked by a canine and adopted the sound to the couple’s yard. There, she witnessed the assault and mentioned she would name the police, in response to physique digicam footage.
Emslie adopted Adamson, begging her to not name the police. However one other neighbor did.
Dawn Cops arrived and located Emslie curled up on Adamson’s sofa. She had a damaged tooth, her brow swelling into a big knot. Her complete physique was bruised.
“He has a historical past of this,” Adamson advised the officers.
“And also you’re telling me you don’t wish to press fees. Do you thoughts telling me why? I imply if anyone beat my ass, I’d definitely wish to press fees,” the reporting officer mentioned.
“I’m simply scared, sir,” Emslie replied, sobbing. She had nowhere to go, no household close by and no cash, having give up her rehab job for Matalon. She signed a paper declining to press fees.
“Honey, don’t return to him,” Adamson advised her, pulling her right into a hug. “Simply don’t return to him. It doesn’t matter what he says.”
Emslie handed her a chunk of paper. “Are you able to please put your quantity on right here?” she requested. “As a result of I don’t know the place my cellphone is at the moment. I actually wish to hold you as a pal as a result of I wish to let you realize that you simply did save my life.”
‘I should be together with her, defend her’
Two doorways down, law enforcement officials handcuffed Matalon on the bottom and put him behind a patrol automotive. The officers mentioned they smelled alcohol on him, in response to the footage.
“He has two ankle displays on,” one of many officers later advised a sergeant.
“Two?” the sergeant requested in disbelief.
At first, Matalon was calm. He requested the officers to contact his mom and his lawyer, which they did, and to readjust his handcuffs to make them extra comfy. He requested if they may convey him a seltzer, which they mentioned they may not.
As he waited within the automotive, nonetheless, he grew to become determined, talking about how one other arrest would violate his bond in his three different open instances. He requested a number of occasions if Emslie was urgent fees, and, if not, why he needed to be arrested. He begged, time and again, to talk to Emslie.
“Is there any probability that Brittany says, you realize, it’s OK —”
“There’s no probability,” an officer interrupted. “It doesn’t matter what Brittany says.”
“Brittany’s enter in that is — for those who arrest me, it breaks my bond,” Matalon mentioned. “Please, officer. Officer, I’m begging you. I’m begging you to talk to my spouse … I’ll by no means do something, sergeant, please. I’m in love together with her. And I should be together with her, defend her. Sergeant, please. If I can’t, I’m by no means gonna see her for an additional decade.”
“No,” an officer mentioned.
Later, on his option to jail, Matalon requested, “If she doesn’t testify in opposition to me, the state goes to drop the costs, right?”
“That I couldn’t inform you,” the officer mentioned. “That’s going to be as much as the state lawyer.”
Prosecutors drop case
The Broward State Legal professional’s Workplace did decline to file fees as Matalon had predicted, citing Emslie’s “lack of cooperation,” regardless of witnesses, footage and pictures of her bruises.
Repeatedly, prosecutors wrote that she by no means gave police a sworn assertion, regardless that she had.
Emslie “refused to offer a sworn assertion and acknowledged that she didn’t wish to prosecute. Because the [Body Worn Camera] footage progressed, the sufferer acknowledged that she couldn’t recall what occurred and that she thought she blacked out,” prosecutors wrote.
Emslie advised police she had felt discombobulated after the assault. However physique digicam footage reveals that she did give a sworn assertion with the main points she remembered, akin to making an attempt to lock her doorways as Matalon dragged her from the automotive, then ending up behind the home. She affirmed that Matalon hit her and that her accidents had been from that evening.
Requested in regards to the sworn assertion, Paula McMahon, a spokesperson for the State Legal professional’s Workplace, advised the Solar Sentinel that “the decline memo ought to have acknowledged that the sufferer/survivor didn’t present a sworn assertion that might help prosecutors in proving a case — the sworn assertion offered on physique worn digicam was that she didn’t know what occurred and wouldn’t press fees.”
Prosecutors additionally wrote within the memo that Emslie “indicated that her accidents had been induced from tough intercourse.”
Physique digicam footage reveals that Emslie had made a remark to police whereas they documented her accidents indicating that the bruises on her arms had been from tough intercourse. She didn’t say any of her different accidents had been from tough intercourse.
Within the weeks after the assault, Emslie, who was scared that Matalon would get out once more, continued to talk to him on the cellphone whereas he was in jail. He and his protection attorneys satisfied her to ship prosecutors an affidavit stating her tooth was not completely damaged and she or he was not afraid of him, regardless that she was.
“I needed everyone to assume every part was all good till I discovered a secure place to go,” Emslie advised the Solar Sentinel.
Prosecutors cited the affidavit in addition to a scarcity of sworn statements from witnesses of their choice to not file fees. It’s unclear why police didn’t swear in Adamson, however she did converse to the reporting officer at size that evening about witnessing the assault. At one level, he described her as a “phenomenal witness.”
Adamson advised the Solar Sentinel that neither police nor prosecutors adopted up together with her after the evening of the assault. A bit of over per week after prosecutors declined to file fees, Adamson emailed the State Legal professional’s Workplace to specific her disappointment. She didn’t obtain a response.
In the meantime, La Ferrera and Michele Matalon had begun following Emslie’s case. The evening of the assault, law enforcement officials, alerted by Scott’s ankle monitor, had additionally arrived at La Ferrera’s door searching for him. The very first thing she mentioned when she answered the door, she recalled, was, “What did Scott do?”
When La Ferrera came upon prosecutors wouldn’t file the costs, she needed Emslie’s case reopened. After just a few months, she spoke to Emslie, who had discovered a brand new place to remain and not feared Matalon. He had remained in jail since his arrest and wouldn’t be launched once more. His bond had been revoked in his Parkland case and his Boca Raton case, the place Choose Surber granted a movement from prosecutors.
La Ferrera inspired Emslie to contact the Broward State Legal professional’s Workplace.
However prosecutors refused to reopen the case.
“It’s inconceivable at this level to reconcile the statements that you simply initially made on the evening of the incident (that you will need to have had tough intercourse, and that you will need to have blacked out), in addition to your refusal to offer a sworn assertion to police, together with your capability to now recall each element six months later,” the prosecutor, who’s now the top of the home violence unit, advised Emslie in an electronic mail.
Home violence instances typically dropped
Prosecutors steadily drop home violence instances in Florida, citing a scarcity of cooperation from the sufferer.
However cooperation is troublesome when individuals are afraid for his or her lives, specialists say.
Usually, defendants get launched on bond too rapidly for victims to determine whether or not to pursue fees. Defendants might have private attorneys whereas their victims haven’t any illustration or understanding of the authorized system.
“They’re simply on the market making an attempt to determine it out on their very own,” mentioned Dr. Donna King, a Tampa-based lawyer and sociologist who serves as president of the Victims’ Secure Harbor Basis. “They usually’re approached by protection counsel, and so they don’t essentially know what to do.”
The best way prosecutors dealt with Emslie’s case made her cynical in regards to the justice system.
“Whenever you attempt to reopen a case they beautiful a lot inform you to f— off,” she mentioned. “They mentioned I signed that paper. I signed that paper as a result of I used to be scared … How is there not sufficient proof when the police report clearly states I had a lacking tooth and my head is bleeding and I used to be bruised from head to toe?”
Now, Emslie mentioned, “my concern is that this man’s gonna get out.”
All three girls consider that, had Emslie’s case been prosecuted, Matalon would face a for much longer sentence.
In October 2023, he pleaded no contest within the Parkland case, the place he was sentenced to 5½ years. Later that month, he pleaded responsible within the Miami case, the place prosecutors wrote that his five-year sentence can be served concurrently the Broward one. In 2024, he pleaded responsible within the Palm Seaside County case in change for a jail sentence of 30 days.
“Our choice to increase the plea provide within the case adopted a cautious assessment of the proof and consideration of the chance of success in taking the case to trial,” Marc Freeman, the spokesperson for the Palm Seaside County State Legal professional, mentioned in an electronic mail. “The plea provide was made in session with the sufferer, who indicated her settlement to the phrases in a dialog with our prosecutor in December 2023.”
McMahon, the spokesperson for the Broward State Legal professional, mentioned that Matalon was sentenced “to the identical jail time period he would have confronted if a jury had discovered him responsible after a jury trial.”
“Regardless that prosecutors didn’t have enough, impartial proof to go ahead with the case involving this sufferer/survivor [BM], it is extremely vital that Scott Matalon has been locked up ever since his arrest on that allegation that evening, January 14, 2022,” the assertion mentioned, referring to the Broward victims by initials. “He went to jail that evening and has not had sooner or later of freedom since then — he pleaded no contest to the initially filed Broward fees of kidnapping and battery within the July 5, 2021, case [JL] and was adjudicated responsible and sentenced to five.5 years in state jail, which he’s nonetheless serving … There isn’t any plea settlement doc within the 2021 Broward case — Matalon pleaded no contest to the initially filed fees and was sentenced to the punishment really helpful by state sentencing tips.”
In response to questions on how the Miami plea settlement was reached, the Miami-Dade State Legal professional’s Workplace once more mentioned that the prosecutor assigned to the case had left and so they couldn’t present definitive info. Additional makes an attempt to succeed in the prosecutor had been unsuccessful.
‘A serial batterer, a strangler, and a kidnapper’
For a 12 months, Michele Matalon didn’t hear from Scott Matalon. Then, in September 2024, he filed a movement looking for visits along with his kids — this time in jail.
“The Former Husband has been a mannequin inmate and has by no means acquired a single disciplinary assessment, quotation or perhaps a warning throughout his rehabilitation,” his lawyer wrote, including that he has taken a number of lessons for his “self-betterment” together with “Parenting from the Inside,” “Communication & Anger,” and “Inside/Outdoors Dad.”
The movement goes on to accuse Michele Matalon of failing to speak together with her ex-husband in regards to the kids, akin to by not telling him the place she lives. He requested video and in-person jail visits, saying his ex-wife ought to should drive them to jail if his household can’t.
Michele Matalon’s lawyer responded with a request for full custody.
“He’s a serial batterer, a strangler, and a kidnapper who preys on feminine victims inflicting irreparable trauma,” the movement mentioned. “Unable to manage or bodily intimidate the Former Spouse from jail, the Former Husband has resorted to submitting meritless motions from jail.”
The continuing battle over the kids, now ages 10 and 13, has drained Michele Matalon emotionally and financially. She has spent hundreds on attorneys’ charges. A trial is ready for September.
“He’s bleeding me dry,” Matalon advised the Solar Sentinel on the espresso store in March.
“He’s draining her financially, abusing her whereas she’s simply making an attempt to guard her children,” La Ferrera, who was sitting subsequent to her, chimed in. “And the legal guidelines within the state allow abusers to proceed to abuse their companions post-separation.”
Some home violence perpetrators combat for custody as a result of they genuinely want a relationship with their kids. However many additionally use the authorized system to “entry their victims,” mentioned King, the Tampa lawyer, who herself was a sufferer of authorized abuse.
“What I see after I look over this docket are a complete bunch of pink flags associated to energy and management,” King mentioned.
Not as soon as has Scott Matalon taken duty for the abuse, Michele Matalon advised the Solar Sentinel. As a substitute, her validation has come within the type of the opposite girls he inadvertently introduced into her life.
“I really feel dangerous for the ladies,” she mentioned. “However your true colours, man. It validates my story.”
4 years have handed since that June 2021 listening to. Even with Matalon’s 2026 launch hanging over them, the ladies have moved on as greatest they may. Emslie is in restoration and has three kids. Michele Matalon and La Ferrera have change into shut associates. In the previous couple of weeks, Matalon has begun to really feel cautiously optimistic about her custody case, thanks partially to the proof from the three different girls’s instances.
Throughout one latest deposition, which Scott Matalon attended, his lawyer requested about her relationship with La Ferrera.
Michele Matalon felt proud.
“I’m considering to myself, that’s proper,” she mentioned. “You see me on social media residing my life, and yeah, she’s now my greatest pal. And I mentioned, ‘Not solely is she my greatest pal, she’s my angel.’”