Five current and former members of the
Hammocks Home Owners Association Board are facing charges
related to the theft of funds from the association,
authorities said.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle
announced the arrests at a Tuesday afternoon press
conference.
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Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced the arrests at a Tuesday afternoon press conference |
Board member Myriam Rodgers, 76, faces
seven charges including grand theft and racketeering and had
a $580,000 bond, while Yoleidis Lopez, 47, faces one grand
theft charge and had a $10,000 bond, records showed.
Gallego had already been arrested last year. According to an
arrest affidavit, she and her husband are accused of using
HOA funds for their personal expenses, as well as receiving
over $2 million through his five shell businesses as a
vendor.
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Jose Gonzalez, Monica Ghilardi, Myriam Rodgers, Yoleidis Lopez, Marglli Gallego
Fernandez Rundle said
there could be more possible suspects who haven't been
charged yet.
The HOA oversees about 40 communities with more than 6,500
units, and is one of the largest homeowners associations in
the state.
Residents in the southwest Miami-Dade community have been
taking legal action against their homeowners association
after a steep increase in fees. The action was done in March
in an effort to stop a 400% increase in HOA fees.
“We’re gonna go to court to ask for help to put them out,”
resident Ana Tanton said at the time. “We tried the
election, it didn’t work…The Hammocks doesn’t deserve this.
The people from The Hammocks, they don’t deserve this.”
Earlier this year, the lawyer representing the homeowners
association told NBC 6 they hadn’t raised their fees in
seven years.
“They’re catching up,” lawyer Hilton Napoleon said at the
time.
Residents said the steep increase in HOA fees is forcing
people to move away from the neighborhood, where some had
lived for decades.