MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle is holding a press conference Thursday to announce the most recent arrest in the ongoing investigation into the Hammocks Community Association.
Authorities booked Kevin Leonardo Alzate, 32, the cousin of former homeowners association president Marglli Gallego, into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center last December. He’s facing charges of perjury by contradictory statements, fabricating physical evidence and resisting an officer without violence.
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Gallego, along with Monica Ghilardi, Jose Antonio Gonzalez, Myriam Rodgers and Yoleidis Lopez, were previously arrested in the case. They’re accused of stealing more than $1 million and were past or present board members at the time of their arrests.
Residents had expressed outrage about the southwest Miami-Dade HOA for years and the issue got the attention of Cuban singer Willy Chirino, who, in 2022, called for an investigation into the HOA after questions were raised about elections, the arrest of its former president for theft, and a notable increase in fees.
Alzate was an “integral part” of a scheme to create “several years of legal delays” that were “designed to avoid producing the required financial documents necessary to facilitate the criminal investigation despite judicial orders to do so,” a news release from the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office states.
Prosecutors accuse Alzate of providing notarized affidavits demanding money from law enforcement, which he then used to justify not cooperating with legal requests from law enforcement; the HOA supported the expenses of producing the documents by submitting sworn, notarized affidavits.
Ivan Diaz is a vendor that is related to Gellego and
In a statement, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle called Alzate’s actions a “deliberate slap in the face” to the court system and judges and allowed the HOA board members to “continue their thefts.”
Watch the press conference in the video below.
Local 10 Digital Journalist Chris Gothner contributed to this story.