By Steve Plunkett
A Gulf Stream resident is charged with aggravated battery on a person 65 years or older, battery of the man’s wife and animal cruelty after confronting two former neighbors at the beach and allegedly kicking their dog.
Mika Michaels, 51, was released from the Palm Beach County Jail on $7,000 bond on March 24 after spending the night behind bars. Circuit Judge John Parnofiello ordered Michaels to have no contact with the alleged victims “and their pets” or with two witnesses.
Michaels, who lives at 4227 N. County Road, also was ordered to stay away from the town’s four northernmost beachfront properties: the Ballantrae condos, 4001 North Ocean condos, Bellamar House and Gulfstream Manor timeshare resort.
Victims Brian and Fiona Roberto, who once lived in a Sea Ridge condominium neighboring Michaels’ residence, said they were trying to exit the beach with two dogs on Sunday morning, March 22, and “were blocked from exiting on the stairs” by Michaels, according to a Gulf Stream police report.
Michaels told the Robertos that the stairs behind 4001 North Ocean were “only for residents” and they started arguing over who has the right to use the beach access, the report said.
When Fiona Roberto tried to pass by Michaels, he pushed her back. Brian Roberto, 68, said, “Do not touch my wife,” and Michaels kicked one of their dogs, according to the report.
“When this happened Brian and Michaels got into a physical altercation,” the report said. “During this scuffle Brian and Fiona said Michaels punched Brian in the face with a closed fist.”
Police Sgt. Bernard O’Donnell arrested Michaels on March 23 after observing a red mark on Brian Roberto’s left cheek, a cellphone video of the confrontation taken by Fiona Roberto and photos she took of her husband’s bruised chest.
O’Donnell also reported that Michaels had “prior law enforcement encounters” and that Brian Roberto said he knew Michaels “from previous negative encounters.”
One of those encounters led to Fiona Roberto paying a $100 fine and $28 costs after Michaels complained that her dog ran into his yard while chasing a cat in June 2022.
“Witness (Michaels) observed this from inside his home,” O’Donnell, again the investigating officer, reported.
Fiona Roberto admitted the dog got away from her but blamed it on a loose collar clip, O’Donnell wrote on the citation.
Michaels is scheduled to return to court on April 22.
The Robertos sold their Sea Ridge condo in May 2024, county property records show, after they bought a single-family home in Boynton Beach west of Military Trail that April.
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