Justice Dept. charges 16 in fraud scheme at Guaynabo condominium

Justice Secretary Lourdes Gómez Torres

By THE STAR STAFF

Justice Secretary Lourdes Gómez Torres announced Thursday that the agency’s Economic Crimes Division has filed criminal charges against 16 individuals involved in a scheme to misappropriate $30,000 in insurance checks belonging to apartment owners in Plaza del Palmar Condominium in Guaynabo.

According to the investigation, the condominium administrators, Víctor Emanuel Vázquez Ortiz and Yessika Delimar Mártir Irizarry, devised the scheme and altered 16 checks issued to condominium owners as insurance payments for damages caused by Hurricane Maria.

The fraud involved the defendants adding the names of 14 other people to the checks so they could cash them. The events occurred between July and September 2021, according to the investigation by Jessica I. Pizarro Cruz, a police officer assigned to the Robbery, Extortion, Property Crimes, Assault, and Missing Persons Investigations Division of the Criminal Investigations Corps of the Police in Bayamón.

Prosecutor Teresita del Rosario Morales Arteaga filed a total of 78 charges for fraud, aggravated misappropriation, possession, and falsification of documents under the Puerto Rico Penal Code. Vázquez Ortiz faces 16 charges, while Mártir Irizarry faces 32 charges. In addition, the prosecutor filed 30 charges against Hilda Hernández Rosa, José Miguel Rivera Hernández, Kitchell Marie Vargas Rodríguez, Sasha Maylin Fernández Cruz, Angelie Noemí Febus Figueroa, Bernardo Joshua Rodríguez Parrilla, Juan José Reyes Hernaiz, Juan José Correa Colón, Alexander Dimas Díaz Pérez, Rafael Acosta Rodríguez, Daniel Luna Osorio, Carlos Pantoja Mendoza, Alex Joel Pedraza Padilla and Rafael Izaac Rivera Luna.

“Taking advantage of funds intended to compensate people who had already suffered the devastating consequences of a hurricane is reprehensible conduct,” the justice secretary said. “It is even more serious when this purpose is carried out through a fraud scheme designed to falsify documents, divert resources, and illegally appropriate other people’s money. At the Department of Justice, through our Economic Crimes Division, we rigorously investigate and prosecute these types of crimes so that those who resort to deception and forgery to enrich themselves at the expense of others are held accountable before the law.”

Judge Rafael Parés Quiñones of the Bayamón Court of First Instance found probable cause on all charges brought by the prosecution against the defendants and set a total bail of $704,000.

It should be noted that charges against five of the 16 defendants had to be filed in absentia, as they failed to appear in court despite being summoned in accordance with due process of law. Consequently, the judge ordered the arrest of Mártir Irizarry, Acosta Rodríguez, Luna Osorio, Pantoja Mendoza and Rivera Luna.

The preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 14.