A federal inmate already serving a 34-year stretch for a litany of drug and robbery charges walked back into a South Florida courtroom on January 27, but this time, the stakes involve the death penalty. Palacio Valdes Farley, 45, stood before a judge to face fresh, harrowing allegations tied to a 2016 double homicide that reads more like a grim underworld thriller than a standard police report.
The case stems from a brutal August night nearly a decade ago.
According to federal prosecutors, Farley wasn’t just a participant but the alleged mastermind who orchestrated a high-stakes “rip-off” of a narcotics stash house in Oakland Park. The plan was sophisticated and ruthless: the crew reportedly bought GPS trackers, rented getaway cars, and even suited up in tactical gear emblazoned with “DEA” to mimic federal agents.
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The federal indictment paints a chaotic picture of the night of August 18, 2016. Using a tracker they’d slapped onto a target’s car, Farley and five co-conspirators—Frederic Wayne Mordon Jr., Emmanuel Xavier White, Walter James Tillman, Andrew Francois Martin, and Joassaint Josiah Aristil Jr.—allegedly cornered a man identified as “GT” and his acquaintance, Tiara Jeanne Register, at a Lauderhill apartment complex.
Masked and armed, the group reportedly shouted that they were the DEA before snatching both victims at gunpoint.
While Register was whisked away to a staging location to be held captive, the crew took GT to his own stash house to force their way inside. The robbery spiraled out of control almost immediately.
When GT’s associate, Eric Orlando McNair, spotted the group and tried to bolt, a struggle broke out. GT managed to survive being shot twice and fled, but McNair wasn’t as lucky. Prosecutors say Farley and White chased him into a bedroom where Farley allegedly shot him in the head and neck.
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After looting the apartment for drugs and cash, the group reconvened at a residence in Lauderhill. It was there that the alleged plot took its darkest turn.
According to court records, Farley handed a gun to Andrew Martin and gave a cold-blooded order: take Tiara Register to a nearby cul-de-sac and kill her. Martin reportedly followed through, shooting the woman in the head at a dead end before returning to tell Farley the job was done.
Now, years after the smoke cleared, the federal government is seeking accountability for the lives of McNair and Register. The defendants face a mountain of charges, including kidnapping resulting in death and the killing of a witness.
With U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones leading the charge, the legal reality for these men is grim: if convicted, they are looking at a mandatory life sentence, with the possibility of the death penalty still looming over the case. For Farley, who was already set to be behind bars until his 70s, this latest legal chapter may ensure he never breathes free air again.
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