Feds decide not to retry lawyer and police officer in mortgage fraud case

It's the right decision. After two really long mortgage trials before Judge Cohn, the government needs to cut its losses. From the Sun-Sentinel:

Federal prosecutors said Wednesday they are dropping all criminal charges against a Fort Lauderdale lawyer and a former police officer arrested last year in a mortgage fraud investigation.

The decision to dismiss the cases against attorney Steven Stoll and former Plantation Police Officer Dennis Guaracino comes a month after a Fort Lauderdale federal jury deadlocked on the charges against them.

The two men and Joseph Guaracino, who is Dennise Guaracino's brother, spent more than five months on trial defending themselves against allegations resulting from "Operation Copout" — an inquiry into a group of police officers involved in suspicious real estate transactions.

The U.S. Attorney's Office will continue pursuing its case against Joseph Guaracino, whose first trial also ended in a hung jury, federal prosecutors told U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn.

Not a good day for Joseph Guaracino though... I wonder why the different decision. Anyone have the scoop here?

And I know I'm being annoying on the press release issue, but shouldn't the feds issue a release about its decision to drop the case against the other two. If you google their names, the arrest press release still comes up... If the USAO can do a release on every illegal lobstering arrest (there seems to be a bunch of those on the website), then certainly they can do one here, no?