Miami-Dade cops got a tip about a woman held against her will. Here’s what they found instead

Police officers say they have arrested a woman who was running an unlicensed cosmetic surgery recovery home near Miami International Airport after finding eight convalescing women and medical waste inside her residence.

Maidelys Sanchez, 38, was charged with felonies that include operating an assisted living facility without a license and illegally disposing hazardous waste, court records show. The Miami-Dade County woman has bonded out of the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, with bail totaling $13,500.

According to a police report, the Miami-Dade Police Department’s human trafficking unit got a tip Tuesday that an unknown woman from another state had cosmetic surgery and was being held against her will in an apartment at 7711 NW Seventh St., Sanchez’s permanent address.

When detectives arrived, they found eight women “in different stages of post-operative recovery.”

The women told detectives that the owners and employees of the facility had helped them with their personal care, including dressing and eating, as well as medication, transportation and using the bathroom, investigators said in the report. That was later confirmed by three of Sanchez’s employees who said they were being paid in cash, police noted. The women also said they had been charged between $1,600 and $2,100 for the services they received.

Further investigation revealed the facility had large plastic bags in the kitchen, garage and bathrooms with used bandages and pads that contained human fecal matter, blood and urine. The medical waste, detectives said, was being illegally dumped at 12420 SW 95th Ter., a house near Kendall. Police noted Sanchez wasn’t using biohazard bin containers nor did she hire a licensed biohazard waste company to remove the soiled bandages and pads.

On Tuesday afternoon, police arrested Sanchez at her apartment and took her to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. Her attorney information wasn’t available Thursday afternoon.

Her first formal appearance in court on the charges is set for April 27.

Sanchez, police said, had previously received three notices of unlicensed activity from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. Any facility in the state that provides assistance to people with their daily personal care, including dressing, toileting, feeding and grooming, must be licensed.

In 2022, the agency issued a little over 30 notices of violation for operating an unlicensed assisted living facility in the state, of which 22 were in Miami-Dade, AHCA online records show.