As repairs continue after a partial apartment building collapse in Hialeah, NBC 6 found the engineer who signed that the structure was safe died months before the inspection.
Dozens of families were displaced Monday after portions of the 15-unit building near Palm Avenue and 23rd Street collapsed. No injuries were reported.
The building was recertified as safe in 2019, NBC 6 found. Documents show Engineer Claudio Jofre signed off on the inspection, giving his stamp of approval in October of 2018.
But the Florida Board of Professional Engineers says he died months earlier in 2017.
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After NBC 6 provided this information to the city of Hialeah, it started an investigation and learned this is the only property in the city that was falsely approved using Jofre’s stamp and signature.
But this scam has been happening across Miami-Dade County.
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According to the county's Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources, Miami-Dade County, the City of Miami and North Bay Village also received building reports using Jofre’s stamp after his death.
The contractor enforcement section has notified the police departments to initiate criminal investigations.
It's unclear for now how many buildings were falsely approved using this engineer’s stamp and if they were ever inspected.
