NEWS

After admitting to shooting Sheri Deann Carter twice in her Boynton Beach condo Monday evening in self-defense, Jimmy Dac Ho was ordered by Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Krista Marx to undergo mental health evaluation with no contact with his family or the victim.

News about the officer shocked the FAU community. President Mary Jane Saunders sent out an announcement sending her regards to Carter’s family.

Liz Brodie, a senior art history major who knew Dac Ho, found out through Facebook. She said he was an overall “nice guy.”

“I used to live in the student apartments and I would always see him,” said Brodie. “My car died and he helped jump start it with his police car. We chatted for a half an hour, he was super nice.”

After Dac Ho helped Brodie with her car, he gave her a Snickers bar and asked for her name.

“Every time he would see me he would say, ‘Yo Brodie what’s up?”

Victoria Buono, a junior criminal justice major, said Dac Ho gave her career advice.

“He came a couple of times to the bookstore where I worked and I would always try to have conversations with him about his job because I’m a criminal justice major. He said I should go into the FBI, he was really nice,” said Buono.”When I read what happened I was like, ‘No way.’ He would always say hi to me after that. He told me he was divorced and had two kids and one was in the same force as him,” said Buono.

Tuesday afternoon, Dac Ho resigned from his duties after being an FAU officer since 2006. He was an award-winning officer in 2009 when he received recognition for “Perfect Attendance.” He told police at the time of his arrest that he “ruined his life.”

Dac Ho met Carter from an escort ad she posted on Backpage.com, a listing site similar to Craigslist. On Carter’s Facebook, she lists herself as a University of South Florida alumna who studied English literature.

On her last Backpage posting on Monday, she listed that she offers a “quite clean and discrete incall location” (See Carter’s ad posting above on the right).

Dac Ho was involved in another investigation regarding the site Backpage.com back in 2009, when he was a victim of a fraud scheme (click here to see Dac Ho’s 2009 police report).

Dac Ho faces first-degree murder and false imprisonment charges if found guilty.

Prostitute vs. escort

Escorting is perfectly legal, while prostitution is not. Why? It’s considered a business because they pay taxes.

An escort is defined as someone who is accompanying another person to provide companionship. According to USlegal.com, an escort service is a business where a person is hired for a fee to accompany another person for a social affair. “Escort services are generally legal, but if they are a cover for prostitution, they are not.”

A prostitute is defined as someone who receives payment for sexual acts.

[Source: www.uslegal.com]

Criminal charges definitions:

First-degree murder: killing that is premeditated, planned

False imprisonment: unlawfully holding someone against their will

[Source: www.uslegal.com]