Miami-Dade cracks down on condo association fraud

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, a police officer and Leslie Navarro (via a screenshot of an El Nuevo Herald video)
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, a police officer and Leslie Navarro (via a screenshot of an El Nuevo Herald video)

Miami-Dade police officers arrested a former accounting assistant accused of stealing nearly $150,000 from a condo association in Kendall.

Police charged Leslie Navarro with first-degree grand theft and organized crime to defraud more than $50,000 after they say she stole $148,000 from a Hammocks condo association in less than a year, according to the Miami Herald.

In late 2014, Navarro created a company called Hammocks Community Association Properties LLC, police told the newspaper. The real company that manages the Kendall residential community is called Hammocks Community Association Incorporated. She then opened a bank account in her company’s name and deposited maintenance payments from condo owners, which Navarro then allegedly used on shopping sprees at department stores, supermarkets and toy stores, according to the Herald.

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Bills at Macy’s, for example, totaled $487 at a Miami store in early May and $680 at a Hialeah store the next day.

El Nuevo Herald and Univision 23 first reported the story as part of a “Condo nightmares” series. [Miami Herald] – Katherine Kallergis