Florida homeowners rebelled, hope to see justice after years of battling HOA board

Residents of the Hammocks, once a paragon of peaceful suburbia, felt vindicated Tuesday when key leaders of their homeowners association, clad in orange jumpsuits, stood before a judge to face very unneighborly charges of racketeering, money laundering and grand theft. They are accused of stealing $2 million from HOA bank accounts by writing checks to sham companies to pad their own pockets.

Homeowners rejoiced, too, after seven years of what they call totalitarian rule in West Kendall and failed attempts to oust a board of directors that quadrupled monthly maintenance fees even as many residents complained of being harassed with foreclosure warnings and code violation fines, neglected landscaping and playgrounds at the 3,800-acre planned development, held secret meetings and conducted elections they believe were rigged by HOA leaders.

Leaders of Florida’s largest homeowners association charged in $2 million fraud scheme

“It’s been a long time coming but we’ve taken a giant step toward taking our community back,” said Don Kearns, a 28-year resident, former HOA president and a leader of Justice for the Hammocks, which has fought to expose the board, audit the books and hold a clean election. “You’ve got working-class people here, elderly people, single-parent families who are suffering with 300-400% fee increases they can’t afford, held hostage by their own board.”

Five people were arrested Tuesday, including current board president Monica Ghilardi, current board member Myriam Rodgers, former board member Yoleidis Lopez Garcia, former president and treasurer Marglli Gallego and Gallego’s husband, Jose Antonio Gonzalez. The board runs the largest HOA in Florida, with 6,500 units and 25,000 residents.

While Ghilardi and Rodgers must resign, four board members allied with them will remain. It’s unclear how the two vacant spots will be filled.

“If they had any dignity and could see the wrath of their neighbors, they would all resign,” said Idalmen “Chicky” Ardisson, a 27-year resident and leader of Justice for the Hammocks who organized a recall vote that was rejected by the board in July. “We expect more arrests. But they still have a quorum with four seats. We know power corrupts.”

Since fees were unilaterally raised by the board in March — Ardisson’s went up from $103 to $390 — the HOA, which used to have an annual budget of $4 million and reserves of $1 million, has collected about $9 million but has acknowledged it is broke and committed “multiple errors” in the budgeting process, the arrest warrant stated.

“Believe me, this does not look like a place where $9 million has been spent on anything,” Ardisson said. “We still don’t know where the money is going and we still have a lot of work to do to get the Hammocks in order given the damage.”

Four of the five arrested Tuesday were out of jail by Wednesday. Only the former association president Gallego remained behind bars. She was expected to stay there until at least Thursday morning, when a judge will determine whether to revoke her bond from an arrest on similar charges involving the association 20 months ago or set a new one. The state is asking for Gallego’s new bond to be set at more than $1 million, citing a potential risk of flight, while her attorneys argued she has strong ties here and are asking for $200,000.

Gallego’s attorney Frank Quintero disputed the state’s allegations that his client had violated her previous bond by committing new crimes since her 2021 arrest. She hasn’t been a board member since then, he said.

“The allegations, from what I’ve read, appear to be about transactions between the homeowners association and her husband’s company,” he said.

According to the warrant and Miami-Dade prosecutors, which depict Gallego as the mastermind of the fraud scheme, numerous checks were written by HOA leaders to vendors who did no work, and money from the vendors, who took a cut, was then funneled back primarily to Gallego.

Attorneys for all those charged have denied the allegations. Quintero said the state has presented no proof — even after a 49-page arrest warrant was issued — that his client stole any money. “A warrant doesn’t mean it’s true,” he said.

In one example described by prosecutors, vendor Roberto Trueba received about $988,000 from 2018 to 2021 for services provided by his companies Okeechobee Auto and Boat Rescue Loans, Nikiti Trade Equipment International Rental Inc., and Bartolo’s Body Shop.

At one point, Gallego gave Trueba a check for $24,000 for “rental of a chipper,” although “Okeechobee did not perform any work for the HOA and did not even have a chipper,” the warrant said. Trueba, on Gallego’s instructions, deposited the check, transferred $9,955 to her bank account in Medellin, Colombia, and gave her the remaining amount in cash. Another time, Gallego gave Trueba two checks for $66,000 and told him to transfer $60,000 to her husband’s repair business and give her $6,000 in cash. Trueba has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

Gallego’s husband, Gonzalez, ordered to pay $115,000 bond and wear a GPS monitor, is charged with running two companies that collected $1.26 million in HOA funds as a vendor even though investigators could find no evidence that he performed any repair, handyman or electrician tasks through his Excellent Work and Services and Cima Solutions companies from 2017 through August, 2022. He does not have a state professional license or any employees and never pulled any permits, yet over one six-month period he was paid $226,205 in checks signed by Gallego and Rodgers, the warrant said.

“They bought a house in Colombia with the monies he received, bought a truck and renovated their entire house in Miami,” said John Perikles, Miami-Dade assistant state attorney in charge of economic crimes, during Tuesday’s bond hearings.

Gallego was previously arrested for theft of HOA funds in April 2021 and removed from her seat as president. That case is pending.

Investigators found the HOA has paid over $250,000 for Gallego’s legal fees “in a case in which she is charged with misappropriating funds from the very homeowners now paying for her defense.”

“She has four attorneys, for one case?” Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy S. Glazer said Tuesday.

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Perikles said the investigation of board members, prompted by homeowners’ complaints, is ongoing.

“This is phase one, the tip of the iceberg,” Perikles said. “The rest of the board closed ranks and voted to fund Gallego’s defense and voted to withhold records. Even after her first arrest her compatriots continued to flow money to her. She’s behind a lot of the manipulation in this case. She’s an obstructionist.”

The charges are unlikely, however, to end the legal battle for control of the HOA in the Hammocks, which is located between Southwest 120th Street and Kendall Drive, and between Southwest 147th and 162nd avenues.

Hammocks homeowners are asking a judge to appoint a receiver to take over the board, conduct an audit and supervise a new election. They successfully disputed the results of a chaotic Jan. 3 election during which hundreds of residents didn’t get to vote because of a fake bomb threat. They’ve challenged the board’s refusal to certify the signatures they collected for the recall in July. Justice for the Hammocks also wants legislators to rewrite state statute 720 which regulates HOAs.

“All victims of rogue HOAs need to pressure the state to put teeth into 720 and give the Department of Business and Professional Regulation real enforcement authority,” Kearns said. “Otherwise, it’s a Wild West free-for-all. When you’ve got unscrupulous characters running your community, 720 is a sieve.”

Ardisson said she hopes what happened in the Hammocks can serve as a model for other communities seeking reform. Criminal charges are rare in HOA disputes but complaints are common.

“Don’t fall asleep or your board will become brazen in its seizure of control,” she said. “This isn’t just a Miami problem. Communities need to be more vocal. You have to be involved, go to meetings, read your bylaws, ask questions, know your candidates. It’s your money and you have a right to know how it’s spent.”

Miami Herald Staff Writer Charles Rabin contributed to this report