Two South Florida families say they paid the same person money to remodel their kitchens, but he never did the work.
Maria Alvarez needed a new kitchen for her investment property. She says searching on social media market sites, she found someone for the job who she says advertised himself as a licensed contractor.
“This guy, Robert Gonzalez. His quote was right in the middle, and I went with that one, but I really went with him mainly because of his personality. He was very friendly,” Alvarez said.
He was so friendly, Maria says, she let her guard down and forgot to verify the company name Amazon Kitchen and Flooring or his license.
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“I paid him $6,188,” Maria said.
She says she sent that deposit via Zelle. Weeks later when the job was supposed to be done, she says Robert didn’t show up and kept giving her excuses.
“I waited. I'm not waiting anymore. I'm making a police report,” Maria told NBC6.
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She says police told her she should file a complaint with the Miami-Dade County Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources, known as RER.
“We've had three previous complaints before Ms. Alvarez’s complaint. Similar to Ms. Alvarez is that this contractor took money from the client and never started the work. Both or all three were referred to the Miami Dade Police Department,” said Cristina Alonso, who works for the department.
After Maria filed her complaint, she later went to RER to pick the alleged contractor out of a photo lineup.
“Very quick, thankfully very fast and I hope eventually they catch this guy because he really needs to get caught,” Maria said.
It turns out, Robert is really Hiran Mazaira, who is an unlicensed contractor.
NBC6 found a mugshot of a 2015 arrest in Lee County, when he was accused of charging a client $4,100 for another job records say he didn’t finish.
He didn’t fight those charges and was sentenced to one day in jail, forced to pay fines and participate in community programs after being convicted of grand theft and engaging as a contractor without a license.
Those are the same charges he faced in Manatee County for an almost identical case and the sentence was very similar.
Esther Fonseca lives in Delray Beach and says she was also scammed by Mazaira.
“He said that he was contractor. He said to me that he had this business during the 25 years,” Fonseca said.
Like Maria, she was looking to remodel her kitchen.
“We give to him almost $7,000. He told me that his name was Roberto Gonzalez,” she said.
Esther is in the process of reporting him to the regulatory agency in her area while Maria’s case is moving forward in Miami Dade County.
“In the case of Ms. Alvarez, he took the money for the contracting job but never started the work. So in that case, the investigation started with us, with our contractor enforcement section and is going to be referred to the Miami-Dade Police Department for a felony charge of grand theft and a misdemeanor for acting as a contractor,” Alonso said.
Miami-Dade Police told NBC6 Responds they have an open active investigation pending in this case.
We tried reaching Hiran Mazaira several times but were unable to make contact.
“Our contractor enforcement section has tried to reach the individual, and we have not been able to successfully get in contact with him,” Alonso said.
RER says, to avoid situations like this, homeowners are encouraged to contact the department before hiring a contractor to verify their license and possible history, adding Mazaira not only changes his name but uses different company names.
If you have been the victim of an unlicensed contractor, you can report it to your local police department, contractor enforcement division or state department of professional regulation by calling 1-866-532-1440.
