Police say Andy Mora is one of two people who persuaded the elderly
victim to sign over the house and funds, claiming to him that they were
family.
Mora's arrest came a day after police took 57-year-old Maribel Torres into custody.
Authorities say she was a funeral home worker who met the victim
while he was making arrangements for his wife the day after she died in
August 2019.
It wasn't clear what Mora's relationship was with Torres.
Authorities say Torres not only filed paperwork to take the house but
took out business loans under a corporation she created, using the
victim's residence and collecting more than $400,000.
Miami-Dade
State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle told CBS Miami it all came to
light when "a good nephew who went back to check up on his uncle."
The nephew discovered Torres and her son had moved into the victim's home, which he reported to authorities.
The home "has technically been sold and borrowed against," Rundle told CBS Miami.
It will be nearly impossible to get the house back, the station notes.
Mora and Torres are facing several felony charges, including exploitation of an elderly person.
Rundle says she worries there may be other victims.
Maribel Torres allegedly told the victim
she and her son were family members and she was able to obtain his
financial paperwork as well as information regarding the status of his
home of 40 years
By NBC 6
A Miami-Dade funeral home worker found herself behind bars after
authorities said she befriended an elderly client after his wife's death
and gained access to both the paperwork on his home and his financial
affairs, using them to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars through a
loan and a balloon mortgage.
Miami-Dade Police and the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office's
Elderly Exploitation Task Force arrested 56-year-old Maribel Torres on
Tuesday and charged her with three counts, including grand theft and
organized scheme to defraud.
According to a news release, Torres was an employee at Maspons
Funeral Home and met the 84-year-old victim in August 2019 shortly after
the death of his wife.
Miami-Dade Corrections
Maribel Torres
The man had been diagnosed the previous year with Alzheimer's and
advanced dementia, and his wife had been his primary caregiver,
authorities said.
Torres allegedly told the victim that she and her son were family
members and she was able to obtain his financial paperwork as well as
information regarding the status of his home of 40 years.
Torres and her adult son also allegedly had the victim sign numerous
documents so they could be added as owners of the home, and had him sign
a power of attorney to provide her with access to his legal and
financial matters.
In 2020, the property ownership was changed to a corporation created
by Torres that was listed as a car wash business, and Torres used that
to obtain a $100,000 balloon mortgage, authorities said.
Last year, Torres' corporation obtained a business loan for $360,000,
which was deposited to a bank account controlled by Torres, officials
said.
“Utilizing a wife’s death and an obvious impairment as tools to steal
an elderly man’s home would seem to be a new low in alleged criminal
conduct,” noted State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. “Situations
like this expose the ugly face of elderly exploitation which targets the
frailest members of our community.”
A spokesperson for the Mapsons Funeral Home said in a statement that they suspended Torres indefinitely.
"Our funeral home does not have access to, nor were we ever provided
with any of the family’s financial paperwork that is allegedly involved
in this case," the statement read in part. "We are deeply concerned for
the family, as we have a long tradition of serving this community with
compassion, dignity, and professionalism. We are cooperating with
Miami-Dade Police in their investigation and will share more information
as we receive it."
The victim’s nephew, who lived in Palm Beach County, visited the
victim and discovered Torres and her son living at the home recently.
When the victim identified Torres and her son as the nephew’s aunt and
cousin from Cuba, the nephew notified the authorities.
Torres and her son are not related to the victim and his family. Torres is scheduled to appear in court April 7.
Officers arrested Maribel Torres on Tuesday in Miami-Dade County. (MDCR)
MIAMI
– Prosecutors released information on Wednesday about the evidence
detectives found after suspecting a 56-year-old woman took advantage of
an 84-year-old widower for years in Miami-Dade County.
Detectives
accused Maribel Torres of preying on her victim while making funeral
arrangements after his wife died in 2019. To gain his trust, the Maspons
Funeral Home employee pretended she and her son were relatives from
Cuba, according to the Miami-Dade Police Department.
Detectives
and prosecutors accused Torres of manipulating the widower — who has
Alzheimer’s disease and advanced dementia — into giving her access to
his legal and financial matters and transferring ownership of his
mortgage-free home of 40 years.
“Utilizing
a wife’s death and an obvious impairment as tools to steal an elderly
man’s home would seem to be a new low in alleged criminal conduct,”
State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement on
Wednesday.
Torres and her
son were living in the victim’s home when a nephew who lived in Palm
Beach County showed up to visit and became suspicious enough to report
them to authorities, according to police. Investigators reported the
suspicious transactions were in 2020 and 2021.
“Situations
like this expose the ugly face of elderly exploitation which targets
the frailest members of our community,” Fernandez Rundle said.
State
and county records show Torres registered 5811 SW 25 St LLC as a
Florida corporation on Nov. 3, 2020, and transferred the ownership of
the home at 5811 SW 25 St., in Miami-Dade’s Coral Way Heights
neighborhood on Nov. 10, 2020.
There
was a balloon mortgage on the victim’s property for $100,000 and a
business loan for $360,000 —utilizing the home as collateral, according
to prosecutors with the elderly exploitation task force.
The
investigation included a bank account with Torres and her son as the
only authorized signers. In 2021, from March 23 to April 8, there were
$118,000 in cash withdrawals and $104,627 in deposits in that account,
police said.
“Our community
will not stand for crimes in which our elderly are exploited,” MDPD
Interim director, George A. Perez, said in a statement.
Officers
arrested Torres on Tuesday. She is facing charges of first-degree
felony exploitation of the elderly or disabled over $100,000,
first-degree felony grand theft over $100,000, and third-degree felony
organized scheme to defraud. She was released on a $25,000 bond on
Wednesday.
Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Wilson Louis contributed to this report.
