The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office says 20 people have been charged in a major arson and insurance scam that targeted rental properties in South Miami-Dade.
"Operation Candlelight" targeted the ringleaders and fake renters in the scam, according to the State Attorney's Office.
Prosecutors say 13 of the suspects were renters who either set or allowed their homes to be set on fire. The other seven were the masterminds, prosecutors said.
The suspects would allegedly rent the homes, wait 90 days for the insurance to kick in, then set the fires and collect the insurance money, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said the suspects would move the furniture to another rental home and do it all over again.
The operation constituted a $1.4 million fraud, with the average take from a fire about $60,000, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said. The ringerleaders would reap about $50,000 and the fake renters about $10,000 on each home, according to her.
Raul Ferrer, whom investigators describe as one of the ringleaders, made his first appearance in court Wednesday. The 22-year-old faces 20 felony charges including counts of racketeering, arson, insurance fraud and grand theft, according to court records.
His wife Maria Ferrer, 23, was also arrested and faces 15 counts, including multiple insurance fraud and grand theft charges, according to Miami-Dade Corrections records.
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Fernandez Rundle said two homes were the source of income for the owners who took the renters in, and when the fires forced the renters out, the owners didn't have any way to pay their bills and lost their primary residence.
The state attorney said the fraud would result in higher premiums for consumers.
"Everybody should be mad. This is a crime against all of us," she said.
