Two men are facing charges in a kickback scheme that investigators said stole thousands of dollars from a Miami-Dade home owner's association.

 

Carlos Mejia, the property manager at Venetian Gardens at Country Club of Miami, and Richard Thomas Murray, the owner of AP Construction Solutions, worked together in the alleged scheme, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said at a news conference Thursday. Fernandez Rundle said Murray's companies paid Mejia disguised kickbacks labeled as loan agreements. That money went into Mejia's pocket, while Murray's company received contracts from the association, investigators said. The contract amounts were inflated and according to an arrest affidavit, Murray's company issued more than $180,000 to Mejia between October 2024 and September 2025.

Fernandez Rundle said the scheme led to serious problems in the complex, including plumbing and roofing issues.

Authorities said it was with the help of a salesman previously associated with the condo and Murray's company, along with one of Murray's employees who came forward, that the alleged scheme was brought to their attention.

"Carlos Jose Mejia had a duty to serve those residents at the Venetian Gardens. Instead he engaged in a scheme to line his own pockets at the expense of every single owner at Venetian Gardens," Fernandez Rundle said. "And all the while the property became unbearable and perhaps dangerous as it crumbled around its residents."

Mejia is facing 10 counts of receiving a kickback and one count of organized scheme to defraud, while Murray is facing one count of organized scheme to defraud.