MIAMI – A former official with the county-owned Jackson Health System is facing a criminal charge after Miami-Dade prosecutors said he awarded contracts to a vendor in exchange for cash and gifts.
Heriberto Martinez, JHS’s former associate director of engineering, was charged with unlawful compensation, officials with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office said in a news release Tuesday.
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Martinez, 36, was responsible for assessing smaller construction projects and executing contracts for them, prosecutors said.
Authorities said the investigation into Martinez began after an internal audit “aroused serious concerns.”
He’s accused of accepting “cash payments and gifts from a specific vendor” and awarding JHS contracts to “several companies that were owned or allegedly being operated by this vendor.”
“The investigation allegedly revealed that Martinez would initially advise this vendor of a contract opening at JHS,” officials said. “The vendor would then submit multiple bids to Martinez from the various so-called ‘independent’ businesses that the vendor owned/operated, all bidding for the same contract. This approach helped ensure that the vendor would be awarded the contract.”
In exchange, the vendor would give Martinez cash, football tickets and airline tickets. Authorities said an investigation into his checking account in 2020 and 2021 revealed at least 19 “large cash deposits” totaling $65,610.
The vendor, which prosecutors did not publicly identify, “is cooperating with criminal investigators in this case,” officials said.
In a statement, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said Martinez’s actions were “sadly disappointing.”
“These alleged gifts ultimately come from the pockets of Miami-Dade County taxpayers. Such actions are not mistakes or errors in judgment, they are crimes,” she said in the news release. “I applaud the actions of the Jackson Health System in uncovering this crime and working closely with the Miami-Dade police and State Attorney’s Office Public Corruption Division prosecutors to ensure that such actions are not repeated.”
Meanwhile, JHS CEO Carlos A. Migoya said the former employee’s actions “undermine our commitment to being good stewards of public dollars,” stating in the news release that the system has a “zero-tolerance policy for this type of egregious misconduct.”
“Our internal audit process detected this issue, which is a testament to the strong controls we have in place to ensure that our team members are upholding the highest standards of integrity and accountability,” he said.
Broward Sheriff’s Office records show that Martinez was arrested by Fort Lauderdale police on Tuesday and booked into the agency’s Main Jail, pending extradition to Miami-Dade County.