MIAMI – Local 10 News has identified the woman posing as a WPLG employee and ripping people off as Cadence Bryant.
But when Local 10 News investigative reporter Jeff Weinsier confronted the 52-year-old outside of the Joseph Caleb Center, she claimed not to know what he was talking about.
"You have the wrong person, sir," Bryant said. "What are you talking about?"
But Lauderhill restaurant owner Marie Hyacinthe said the woman Weiniser confronted is the woman who ripped her off.
"That's her, 100 %," Hyacinthe said.
Hyacinthe and other restaurant owners and caterers said Bryant is posing as a Local 10 employee and persuading them to hand over food and cash.
Hyacinthe runs a small restaurant in Lauderhill called Buffet Creole and she's struggling. So when the telephone recently rang and the woman on the other end said she was "Sharon," who worked for Local 10, and wanted to hire her as the station's exclusive caterer, Hyacinthe thought she'd hit the jackpot.
During the phone conversation, Sharon told Hyacinthe she was planning to give her a huge deposit to cater the next party at Local 10.
"She was going to give me a down payment of $8,000," Hyacinthe said.
Sharon told Hyacinthe to bring the food and the $200 cash deposit to a woman named "Tiffany," who was shopping for party favors at a Liberty City 99¢ Store, and then come directly to Local 10 to be paid back. Sharon said Tiffany had run out of money for the party favors.
"I feel so stupid," Hyacinthe said.
Local 10 News has obtained surveillance video of Bryant with the food and money Hyacinthe gave her.
The surveillance video was obtained from the 99¢ Store.
Bryant is seen on the video buying lottery tickets, cigarettes and a black bag. On four separate occasions, people have shown up at Local 10 in Pembroke Park looking to get paid.
Their stories are similar.
"That's her," Bryant's sister, Ilya Williams, said. "You know, we weren't raised this way."
Court records show Bryant has been arrested, convicted and spent time in jail for theft and fraud in the past.
"Of course she should go to jail," Hyncinthe said. "Because not only she did it to me. What about the other people?"
Miami police have not been able to catch up with Bryant. Their investigation continues.
Bryant left the Joseph Caleb Center in a black Mercedes-Benz that drove away backwards.