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Article Courtesy of NBC
Channel 6 South Florida
By Brian Hamacher
Published November 2, 2024
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WATCH VIDEO |
Another arrest has been made amid a years-long investigation into the alleged
massive theft of funds from the Hammocks Home Owners Association, while two
people who were previously arrested have pleaded guilty and are cooperating,
prosecutors said.
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Ivan Dario Diez, 58,
was arrested Thursday on charges including grand theft,
organized fraud, fabricating physical evidence and perjury,
Miami-Dade jail records showed.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle
announced the arrest at a news conference Thursday
afternoon.
Diez's arrest is at least the seventh involving Hammocks HOA
board members and their relatives dating back to 2022.
Five were arrested in November 2022 after they were accused
of stealing millions from the HOA in a scheme dating back
years. |
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Ivan Dario Diez
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The first arrest made was Marglli Gallego, the former president and
treasurer of the HOA, who Fernandez Rundle said was the ringleader and is
facing charges including racketeering and organized fraud in two separate
cases.
Gallego's husband, Jose Gonzalez, and cousin, Kevin Leonardo Alzate, were also
arrested, along with board member and former treasurer Myriam Rodgers and
Yoleidis Lopez.
The board's president after Gallego, Monica Ghilardi, was also arrested and
charged with racketeering and grand theft.
According to Fernandez Rundle, the board members and relatives used shell
companies to funnel HOA funds under the guise that they were vendor payments.
The fake vendors were paid for performing little or no work, Fernandez Rundle
said.
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Diez, who Fernandez
Rundle said is related to Gallego through marriage, is
alleged to have bought the rights to an existing company for
a few thousand dollars just a few weeks before the company
started billing the HOA.
From June 15, 2022 to Nov. 9, 2022, Diez's company received
almost $172,000 from a Hammocks HOA account that was used to
pay vendors, Fernandez Rundle said.
Among the phony bills the company sent the HOA were for
hurricane cleanup for a hurricane that didn't exist, and
holiday decorations that records showed were put up and
taken down the same day, Fernandez Rundle said.
Ghilardi, who Fernandez Rundle said was a "puppet president"
for Gallego, took a plea deal and is cooperating with
prosecutors. |
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Jose Gonzalez, Monica Ghilardi, Myriam Rodgers,
Yoleidis Lopez, Marglli Gallego
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She surrendered Thursday and pleaded guilty to grand theft and perjury
charges, and will serve a year and a day in state prison followed by 12
years of probation, along with paying over $291,000 in restitution to the
HOA under the deal, Fernandez Rundle said.Rodgers also took a plea deal and
agreed to cooperate in exchange for pleading guilty to grand theft and
serving five years of probation and paying $1,700 in restitution.
Fernandez Rundle said around $6 million has been recovered from what was
misappropriated through waste, fraud and abuse, but there's millions of
dollars of additional questionable expenditures that are being investigated.
"We are going to continue this investigation," Fernandez Rundle said. "It
has been a methodical, dedicated commitment to those homeowners to hold
those accountable for putting them through so much angst and stealing from
them."
The Hammocks HOA oversees about 40 communities with more than 6,500 units
and around 18,000 residents, and is one of the largest homeowners
associations in the state and the largest in Miami-Dade.
The HOA theft scandal led to the creation of a new state law meant to
protect homeowners.
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