PARKLAND, Fla. – 29-year-old Robert Mondragon appeared in Broward County court for the first time Monday, a little more than two weeks after deputies arrested him after they say he placed dead animals on a memorial for those killed in the Parkland school shooting.
Previous story: A Broward man is facing multiple charges for leaving dead animals on a memorial in Parkland. Broward Sheriff’s Office detectives said their investigation also revealed his disturbing fascination with mass school shootings.
Robert Mondragon is currently being held without bond on charges of removing or disfiguring a tomb or monument (three counts), violation of probation for battery and indecent exposure (five counts) and violation of a risk protection order.
BSO Threat Management Unit (TMU) detectives said on July 20, a school crossing guard discovered a dead duck with its chest cavity cut open on a bench at the MSD Memorial Garden, located outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. On July 21, the school crossing guard found a dead raccoon on the same memorial bench, and on July 31, a deputy found a dead opossum on the bench.
From surveillance video, detectives saw a white Nissan with all black rims or tires with no hubcaps arrive at the memorial shortly after 11 p.m. on July 30. Detectives said the male driver got out of the car and walked to the passenger’s side, then entered the memorial for several minutes before getting back in the car and leaving.
Late Sunday night on July 31, a vigilant BSO Parkland district deputy saw a white Nissan Sentra with illegal window tint that matched the vehicle description from the surveillance video driving slowly in the area of Pine Island Road and Holmberg Road, and he conducted a traffic stop. The deputy said Mondragon was the only person in the car, and the deputy saw bird feathers and blood on the front passenger side floorboard. Mondragon told the deputy he had the dead bird in his car because he likes “the metal and blood smell that emit from the dead animal.”
BSO V.I.P.E.R. (Violence Intervention Proactive Enforcement Response) detectives received information about Mondragon’s whereabouts from BSO B.A.T. (Burglary Apprehension Team), and they arrested Mondragon Thursday night, Aug. 4, for violating his probation for battery and indecent exposure and for violating his risk protection order.
BSO TMU detectives continued their investigation regarding the dead animals intentionally placed on the memorial and obtained various search warrants for Mondragon’s car, home, cellphone and social media accounts. They found a photo on Mondragon’s phone of him holding a dead duck with its chest cavity cut open, and another photo on his phone of a dead raccoon on the floorboard of the passenger’s side of his vehicle.
TMU detectives said further investigation revealed Mondragon’s obsession with school shooters, both real and fictional. They said Mondragon’s facial tattoos resemble those of Tate Langdon, the character from the television series American Horror Story based on the Columbine High School massacre. They said they also found text messages about school shootings and internet searches about school shooters, how to break into steel doors, shootings involving multiple victims, pipe bombs, as well as slang terms for killing cops. Further concerning evidence revealed that two weeks before the end of the 2021/2022 school year, Mondragon walked the path the MSD school shooter took from the high school to Walmart on Feb. 14, 2018.
During their investigation, TMU investigators received valuable assistance from Coral Springs Police officers based on their previous encounters with Mondragon and ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) agents, who are pursuing possible federal charges against Mondragon.
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