Another arrest has been made in connection with a years-long investigation into the alleged enormous theft of monies from the Hammocks Home Owners Association, and two previously arrested individuals have pled guilty and are cooperating, according to authorities. Ivan Dario Diez, 58, was detained on Thursday and charged with grand theft, organized fraud, forging physical evidence, and perjury, according to Miami-Dade jail records.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced the arrest at a news conference Thursday afternoon. Diez’s arrest marks at least the sixth involving Hammocks HOA board members and their relatives since 2022. Five people were arrested in November 2022 on charges of stealing millions of dollars from the HOA over several years.
Marglli Gallego, the HOA’s former president and treasurer, was arrested first. According to Fernandez Rundle, Gallego was the ringleader and is facing racketeering charges and organized fraud in two distinct cases. Gallego’s husband, Jose Gonzalez, and cousin, Kevin Leonardo Alzate, were detained alongside board member and former treasurer Myriam Rodgers and Yoleidis Lopez.
Monica Ghilardi, the board’s president after Gallego, was arrested and charged with racketeering and grand theft, and according to Fernandez Rundle, board members, and family used shell businesses to transfer HOA monies under the pretense of vendor payments.
Fernandez Rundle said the phony merchants were compensated for doing little or no labor. Diez, who Fernandez Rundle said is connected to Gallego by marriage, is accused of purchasing the rights to an existing corporation for a few thousand dollars just weeks before it began charging the HOA.
From June 15, 2022, to November 9, 2022, Diez’s company collected about $172,000 from a Hammocks HOA account intended to pay vendors to Fernandez Rundle. According to Fernandez Rundle, the company sent the HOA bogus bills for hurricane cleanup for a hurricane that did not materialize and Christmas lights that were put up and taken down on the same day.
Ghilardi, whom Fernandez Rundle described as a “puppet president” for Gallego, accepted a plea agreement and is collaborating with prosecutors. She surrendered on Thursday and pled guilty to grand theft and perjury charges, according to Fernandez Rundle. She will serve a year and a day in state prison, followed by 12 years of probation, and pay nearly $291,000 in restitution to the HOA as part of the arrangement.
Rodgers also accepted a plea agreement, agreeing to cooperate in exchange for pleading guilty to grand theft, serving five years on probation, and paying $1,700 in restitution. Fernandez Rundle stated that approximately $6 million has been recovered from diverted funds through waste, fraud, and abuse, but millions of dollars in more questionable spending are being probed. “We are going to continue this investigation,” Fernandez Rundle stated. “It has been a methodical, passionate dedication to those homeowners to hold those accountable for putting them through so much angst and stealing from them.”
The Hammocks HOA manages around 40 neighborhoods with over 6,500 units and approximately 18,000 residents. It is one of the most significant homeowners associations in the state and the largest in Miami-Dade. The HOA theft incident prompted the creation of a new state law designed to safeguard homeowners.
