Poker Pro Involved in Fatal Hit and Run Makes Court Appearance

A professional poker player accused of causing a deadly crash then leaving the scene was able to post $100,000 bond Thursday morning.

Bradley Ruben, sporting cuts and bruises on his face, is charged with killing 63-year-old Juan Pedro Garcia on I-95 in South Florida Wednesday and then running from the scene, though his public defender claimed he initially waited for police then walked a quarter mile and was found sitting upon a highway rail.

Prosecutor Veronica Rivera offered a different account.

“The defendant crashed and then ran, continued to run southbound on foot, he did not walk away casually. He ran,” she told the court Thursday morning.

The public defender said that’s not accurate.

“He does remain at the scene, and then he walks a distance away and sits down on the railing of I-95,” said public defender Brian Reedy. “According to the police report he went about a quarter of a mile and was sitting on the railing when the police approached him.”

Ruben allegedly admitted to having eaten a marijuana edible prior to the accident but has not yet been charged with a DUI. Investigators believe alcohol may also be involved and await the toxicology reports.

“The defendant did admit to having an edible, he did admit to feeling its effects.  So while he’s not currently charged with DUI, he did have blood drawn, the state will be looking at all possible charges down the road,” said the prosecutor.

“According to the report, he did admit to eating marijuana-laced edible and said it affected him, it certainly doesn’t say it affected him to the extent his normal facilities were impaired,” stated Reedy.

Prosecutors also asked for a hundred thousand dollar bond out of concern that he might flee to another state or even leave the country, noting that Rubin has won substantial amounts of money playing poker.

“He has winnings upwards of $360,000 from what I can find so far,” said Rivera. “The state is concerned with him traveling to different states, traveling outside of the country, he does have financial means.”

“Last year, 2017 he had a great year, he made about 60-thousand dollars, unfortunately, this year he’s in the red, he’s lost more than he’s won.”

Rubin recorded six cashes in last year’s World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and it is possible prosecutors believed he might flee there in the coming weeks to take part in this year’s WSOP event.

- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com