Gym Owner In Weight-Loss Sting Faces New Charge

AUBURNDALE, FL — A Polk County gym owner who is awaiting trial for practicing medicine without a license and other offenses is now facing a new charge of solicitation to commit first-degree murder.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said that Jesusadelaida "Jesse" Lopez Jesusadelaida "Jesse" Lopez, who owns Jesse's Gym, allegedly attempted to have her husband killed while she was awaiting trial in the Polk County Jail.

"She decided Daniel Lopez was a witness against her in this case and we understand that she is going through a divorce and child custody," explained Judd. "She’s thinking 'hmm if my husband were out of the way that would take care of my witness and my child custody issues.'"

The woman was previously taken into custody following a police sting operation in which undercover investigators were taught how to give themselves injections of a a hormone used for weight loss.

Officials said Jesusadelaida Lopez had already been on probation for similar charges at the time of her arrest in February.

"We went in, in an undercover capacity where she offered to write prescriptions and provide hormone shots called HCG,"Judd said in announcing the charges back in February. "In fact, she was teaching us how to give ourselves the HCG shots."

HCG is short for human chorionic gonadotropin, which is used for weight loss. The gym is located at 1141 U.S. Highway 92 in Auburndale.

Jesse's Gym also used the phrase, "Drop It Like It's Hot" on Facebook, which Judd said was the name of Lopez' previous business that was the subject of similar charges in June of 2018. The “Drop It Likes It’s Hot” weight loss clinic had been located at 6356 Cypress Gardens Boulevard in Winter Haven.

He said Lopez let it be known at the jail that she wanted to have her husband killed. She began corresponding to an undercover investigator.

"Our undercover people started a communication with her on jail phone calls where she said I’ve got a tree in the yard that needs to be cut down," said Judd. "It needs to be gone."

The investigator asked Lopez to send a photo of the tree.

"We got a picture of her ex husband, or her husband, Daniel Lopez," said Judd. "After a period of communication, it was very nice of her to send us a note ... In it, she tells us can it be like an accident, like a robbery gone wrong or something that cannot come back to me like it was a plan?

Judd said Lopez even flirted with the undercover investigator.