Left: Stefi Cohen appears in a booking photo (Miami-Dade Corrections); Right: Stefi Cohen in a boxing training video (YouTube/Stefi Cohen)
A storied Florida powerlifter-turned-boxer tried out a sweeping leg hook on a member of law enforcement and landed herself in jail earlier this week, according to the Miami Police Department.
Officers aimed to take her into custody, regardless, but the alleged martial arts move only added to the woman’s legal woes.
Stefanie Cohen Magarici, 32, known on social media as “Stefi Cohen,” was arrested Tuesday just outside of her home on Loquat Avenue in the affluent Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami on charges including sexual cyber-harassment, offenses against computer users, criminal mischief, and resisting arrest without violence.
The underlying series of events leading up to Cohen’s arrest allegedly began in March 2022, when she came across her ex-boyfriend’s old laptop computer after he moved out of her house, according to an arrest report obtained by Miami-based ABC affiliate WPLG.
On March 21, 2022, Cohen allegedly guessed her ex’s password and found sexually explicit images of his new girlfriend stored on his Apple iCloud account. After downloading the images, Cohen allegedly posted them in a group chat that the defendant, the victim, and “several other girls were also a part of,” according to police.
“In one of the messages, Ms. Cohen states she sent the photos maliciously and with the intent to cause emotional distress to (the victim),” the arrest report obtained by the TV station reads.
The alleged victim complained to police about the nonconsensual sharing of her intimate photos in November 2023, prompting an investigation that culminated with surveillance on Cohen’s residence.
On May 28, when Cohen walked outside, an officer moved in to arrest the defendant and let her know it, but she allegedly “did not comply and began to walk at fast pace back to her residence” and said something about her dog, according to the arrest report. In turn, the officer “told her she was not allowed to go inside her home and instead to just call her boyfriend so he could just pick up her dog.”
“Ms. Cohen then stated she was not going with them and began to physically resist,” according to the arrest report.
Police say things escalated quickly from there.
After being handcuffed, Cohen allegedly tensed her arms and “right leg hooked” one of two officers to try and “sweep him off his feet.”
Eventually, officers got Cohen into the back of a squad car. But the 25-time world record holder in powerlifting allegedly accessed her mixed martial arts training to perform one more feat of strength.
According to the police report, the handcuffed defendant “placed her right leg on the latch to unlock the door and grabbed it with her toes,” and then “pulled the latch with her toes and intentionally broke the locking system causing the door not to lock at all.”
Detectives wrote that Cohen invoked her right to remain silent when questioned at police headquarters. Late Wednesday morning, she was assessed a $3,000 bond and ordered not to have any contact with the alleged revenge porn victim.
Cohen later dismissed the charges as the actions of a “vengeful,” ex-boyfriend in a social media post, according to CBS News.
“Anyone can be falsely accused of a crime and arrested,” she reportedly wrote. “These are only allegations from a vengeful x-boyfriend. Simply allegations and we will fight it all the way.”
Cohen is slated to appear back in court on June 27.
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