MIAMI -- A community
in disrepair demands change. The board president of
Caribbean Isles Villas responds to those concerns. At the
same time, Miami-Dade police confirmed to CBS News Miami its
Economic Crimes Bureau is investigating the Association's
handling of funds.
Photos sent by
residents to CBS News Miami revealed bugs crawling up the
wall and ceiling. Another unit photo showed a cracked
ceiling and what appeared to be mold or mildew.
Our cameras captured cardboard covering soaked drywall in a
bedroom from a third different unit that Luis Nunez happens
to own and rent.
"Two months since it's been reported," said Nunez. Even the
water is coming down as we speak."
Nunez owns and rents multiple condos in
Caribbean Isles Villas in Homestead. He listens as one of
his renters pleads for repairs. She speaks with him from
behind our camera, fearful of retaliation from the
Association. |
|
|
"My biggest priority
is all of us getting sick, and it's not what I want," shared
Nunez's tenant from that unit. "The sheets keep getting wet.
I have to dry them constantly."
"There's nothing I can do," explained Nunez. "You have to
repair the roof, which the Association owns. Even if I do it
on my own, I risk being sued because I have no right to
touch that."
"It's deteriorated, and it's very disheartening because it
shouldn't be that way," said Ketty Urbay, another unit
owner.
While walking with CBS News Miami's Joe Gorchow, she pointed
out balconies covered in what appears to be mildew and
stairways with a similar appearance. We notice cracked
sidewalks and multiple mounds of trash.
"We started to organize ourselves, and we're close to 160
owners strong, and we started what's called a recall
process," shared Urbay.
Urbay and Nunez want to replace three sitting board members
by placing themselves on the board. On August 3rd, Florida's
Department of Business and Professional Regulation
arbitrator certified their recall effort. But, the
Association filed a lawsuit to block it temporarily.
"There has been limited to almost practically no access to
records," added Urbay.
Records like budgets, she says, have been difficult to
access since board leadership was elected at the end of
2019.
"We haven't seen any physical evidence of the funds used,"
said Urbay.
Urbay and others against the current leadership tell us an
election for a new board will be held Monday in Hialeah, not
in Homestead, at 2 p.m. It's roughly a 40-mile drive and
takes about an hour without traffic.
"This is very difficult for people to attend," shared
another unit owner. "Almost impossible."
"If the same board wins, it's just going to continue to go
downhill," said Urbay.
A few years ago, the Association hired a firm from Boca
Raton to conduct an independent audit of the 2020 financial
records of Caribbean Isles Villas.
In its report, a "concentration of risk." Mentioning that 55
of the 252 units are "owned directly or indirectly by one
board member who controls the board." "Four vendors
[receiving money for Association work] are related to a
board member who owns the 55 units."
"We are successful developers," shared Michael Sagaro,
Caribbean Isles Villas board president. "We're in a
business. That's what we do. They needed our apartment
team."
Gorchow referred to the audit report when asking Sagaro if
he still contracts vendors for Caribbean Isles that are
directly or indirectly connected to his investment group.
"I'm not going to go out there and pay top freaking dollar,"
said Sagaro. "When it's at the same rate, like you got a
janitor, I have a guy to put a drywall to replace one."
Sagaro spoke to us over the phone over several days this
week. He said his investment group owns roughly 30% of units
within the community and nearly 1,000 total apartments and
condos throughout South Florida.
In January 2020, a proposed meeting noticed by the
Association detailed the need for a loan of over a million
dollars to address "capital improvement and roof repairs as
deemed needed by the Board of Directors." The audit
confirmed the Association did obtain that loan the next
month.
Gorchow asked Sagaro, "What was the plan for the
million-dollar use?
"Million dollars with over 85 repairs done, immediately,"
shared Sagaro. "Last week alone, we had four major roof
repairs."
The City of Homestead couldn't find any permits pulled for
roofing projects from 2020 through the current day. It did
find 61 permits for work related to fencing, plumbing,
mechanical, alarms, and electrical.
Sagaro told us roof leaks throughout the community have
caused excessive interior drywall damage and damage to
electrical panels. He said the annual association dues fall
short of daily repair needs and insurance.
He provided a spreadsheet outlining what he said are
operating expenses and how his company, called Threefold
Caribbean Villas Property Holdings, LLC, has contributed
over a million dollars toward roofs, operating, and
insurance repairs.
"There's not enough money to pay the budget, the monthly
bills," emphasized Sagaro. "So every time there's a roof
leak in the community, yes, Threefold group pays for it.
It's been non-stop for four years."
And Sagaro said Threefold will fund a massive roofing
project for all 27 buildings.
"We've already placed the money for the deposit," shared
Sagaro.
We have yet to verify the accuracy of the budget expenses
independently by looking at the Miami-Dade County Community
Associations Registry website.
"I can't say anything with certainty about our financial
status," added Urbay. "We have yet to see a full picture."
In January 2023, the Association hired a new property
management company to help review finances, address leaky
roofs, and other repair needs.
That company terminated its agreement with the Association
four months later. It issued this letter to the Board of
Directors. Citing alleged irregularities by Sagaro and the
board of directors and what it said was an unwillingness to
follow state laws and regulations.
Sagaro categorically denies those claims.
"No answers, for what I would call almost a black hole of
four years of watching our community deteriorate and not
knowing what is happening with our funds," said Urbay.
Urbay told CBS News Miami the community was in far better
shape and had hundreds of thousands in reserves before the
current board of directors was elected in 2019.
Michael Sagaro declined to discuss the ongoing police
investigation into the Association. He told us on Friday the
Association will provide the financial records to the
community.