PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. – Pedro Valdes said there were going to be many “grown men” crying on Friday during a visitation service at the Boyd Panciera Family Funeral Care in Pembroke Pines.
Alexey Aguilar, who served as an officer for the Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department, died on Sunday of complications with COVID-19. He was 42.
Through tears, Valdes said he was among the many who considered Aguilar “like a brother.” Officers Herminio Amil Jr. and Diego Cabrera described Aguilar as a true team player.
“He came to work proud and offered help to anyone who needed it,” Cabrera said.
Aguilar was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and lived in Hollywood. He was 35 when he joined the department on Nov. 24, 2014, as a correctional technician and he became an officer in 2015.
Aguilar had been assigned to the Pre-Trial Detention Center in Allapattah when he came to work feeling ill in March. He was admitted to the intensive care unit.
Officer Brandon Bailey said Aguilar, the father of three girls, also took pride in his role as a “great family man.”
“He was a consistent guy in and out of work,” Bailey said.
According to the department, Aguilar is the third Miami-Dade corrections officer to die of COVID-19. The other two were Jairo Bravo, 48, and Juan Llanes, 57.
The department also reported 1,883 inmates and 857 staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus during the pandemic.
“This is real. Don’t take this as a joke ... There is going to be a wife without a husband, daughters without a father,” Valdes said.
Aguilar is survived by his three daughters, Monica, Angelica, and Viviana; his wife, Claudia Nodal; his brother, Jorge Aguilar; and his parents, Martha and Jorge Aguilar.
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