Article Courtesy of Channel
10 News WPLG
By Chris Gothner
Published February 22, 2024
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MIAMI-DADE COUNTY – Thirty-eight-year-old Yasnely Pedroso had once been fired
from the Westwind Lakes Garden Homes Condominium Association, Inc. for
destroying records, among other things, according to police.
Enter her mother, Idoris Pedroso. According to Miami-Dade police, when the
63-year-old became board president, she rehired her daughter as an assistant.
That’s when police said the pair teamed up with Yasnely’s boyfriend, Yoel
Tapanes Fernandez, 42, to steal tens of thousands of dollars from the
homeowners’ association.
The condo complex is located at 6610 SW 152nd Place in the West Kendall area.
According to police, the trio’s scheme began in 2020.
An arrest report states that Tapanes
Fernandez received more than $42,000 worth of checks for
maintenance work he never performed. Those checks went to an
inactive company called “Yoel Maintenance LLC.” |
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Yasnely Pedroso and Yoel Tapanes Fernandez
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Police said the checks were supposed to have been signed by two board
members, but were instead signed only by Idoris Pedroso.
The arrest report states Yasnely Pedroso tried to get someone to fabricate
an invoice to justify the $42,178 Tapanes Fernandez got from the
association.
Police said that person, whose position wasn’t identified, told her “he was
not going to do that” because he knew Tapanes Fernandez “did not do work
around the association and he did not want to jeopardize his business.”
A new board eventually took over, police said, and told authorities there
were no records or invoices on file for work performed by Tapanes Fernandez.
The arrest report states that police located Yasnely Pedroso and Tapanes
Fernandez at their home on Southwest 160th Terrace on Thursday and
questioned the pair.
Police wrote that Tapanes Fernandez claimed to have “painted parking
bumpers, the pool and pressure cleaned throughout the association” but, yet,
couldn’t remember the name of his company and didn’t have any invoices.
Authorities also said that type of work could not have cost $42,000.
In a separate interview, Yasnely Pedroso told police that her boyfriend
worked for a painting company, police said. The problem with that, police
said, is that he told detectives during his interview that he didn’t work
for said company.
Yasnely Pedroso, detectives noted, claimed the HOA paid her more than
$40,000 yearly but had no reported wages or earnings.
Police arrested the pair on charges of grand theft and organized scheme to
defraud. Both were being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional
Center on a $7,500 bond as of late Friday morning.
According to the arrest report, authorities were still looking for Idoris
Pedroso as of Friday. It’s unclear what charges she will face.
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