A mother, daughter and the daughter’s boyfriend allegedly defrauded a South Florida homeowners association, accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars for work that was not completed.
Yasnely Pedroso and her boyfriend Yoel Tapanes Fernandez are in jail, accused of stealing from the Westwind Lakes Garden Homes Condo Association in southwest Miami-Dade.
An arrest form stated Pedroso was previously fired from the board of directors for destroying records, but when her mom Idoris Pedroso was elected president of the board, she rehired her daughter.
According to the current HOA president, in 2020, the board took out a $2 million loan to paint homes and fix roofs, and two years later, took out another loan for $400,000.
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"Now we're really asking questions because it’s 2024 and the work is still not finished,” HOA president Iliana Ordaz Jeffries said.
Jeffries said she and others in the community started their own investigation and got police involved.
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"It just became apparent that something was seriously wrong,” Jeffries said.
According to the arrest report, Fernandez got more than $42,000 in checks from the association's bank account for work he didn't do and Pedroso's mother signed the checks.
The arrest form stated the checks were made payable to “Yoel Maintenance LLC,” which is currently inactive in Florida and no annual reports were filed for the LLC.
A detective wrote that Pedroso asked someone to fabricate an invoice to justify the $42,178 Fernandez received from the association, but the witness said he wouldn’t because he knew Fernandez did not do work around the association and he did not want to jeopardize his business.
Police arrested the couple Thursday and they were in court Friday. Both were arrested and charged with one count of grand theft, a second-degree felony, and one count of organized fraud.
When a detective asked Fernandez if he had any copies of the invoices or receipts for the work he performed at the association, he stated that he did not remember.
The judge said Pedroso can get out for free on pretrial or post a monetary bond of $7,500. Fernandez was also given pretrial services with an alternate bond of $7,500.
"What goes through our mind is it's been exhausting not being believed other owners don’t believe what you’re saying you’re trying to get people to see that there’s something seriously wrong if we’ve spent that much money this community should look a lot better than it does,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries said now they're left with no money and millions of dollars of debt, but they will try to move forward.
"We want justice for our community, obviously, we want restitution we want retribution,” Jeffries said. "It is an unconscionable thing to do to your neighbors and your community."
Police still have not arrested Idoris Pedroso, who is still considered at large.
