MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A former Miami-Dade firefighter was sentenced to life in prison Monday after he was convicted of child molestation and pointing a gun at his ex-wife.
The Miami Herald’s David Ovalle first reported the news Monday, confirming that Judge Ellen Venzer immediately sentenced Fernando Castano, 49, to life in prison after he was convicted of the charges.
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“We respect the system, but we are very disappointed with the verdict,” defense attorney Michael A. Catalano said in a statement to Local 10 News Tuesday. “The family had all kinds of motive to make this up.”
Catalano said they are appealing the conviction.
Castano was arrested in July 2021 following a domestic disturbance with his then-estranged wife in Cutler Bay.
The victim told police at the time that she had recently moved out of their home with their children and that Castano wanted to meet at a restaurant, but she refused.
He was accused of going to the home and trying to talk to his wife about their marriage, at which point police say Castano got upset and grabbed a black handgun.
According to his arrest affidavit, Castano pointed the gun at his wife and said, “If you want to end things, I should end it right now.”
After he was asked to leave, Castano is accused of pushing his estranged wife and saying that “he was not going to end up in the back of a police vehicle and that he would commit multiple homicides and kill himself,” the arrest report said.
Police said he later stabbed himself in the chest during a meeting with police officers to surrender his weapons in compliance with a court order.
His attorney said Castano had been with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue for almost 21 years and was with Hialeah Fire Rescue for about seven years.
During a hearing last year, his attorney asked for the judge to consider Castano’s search and recovery work at the site of the Champlain Towers South collapse when issuing his bond.
“They were going through a divorce,” the attorney said at the bond court hearing. “After all the dead bodies, the smell, he just got overwhelmed by what he was doing the whole time at Surfside.
“From what I heard from police officers, it was horrendous. The smell, the body parts, it was just disgusting. He lost control of himself, apparently, from what everyone’s saying.”
Jail records show Castano is currently being held at the Metrowest Detention Center.