MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A southwest Miami-Dade caretaker is facing serious charges after deputies say she orchestrated a home invasion that resulted in the theft of $10,000 from a victim last year.
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Deputies with the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office said Yamilet Ravelo Ramentol, 48, was arrested Monday following an investigation linking her to the Jan. 2, 2024, robbery at an apartment near the 17000 block of Southwest 104th Street in the county’s Hammocks neighborhood.
Jail records show she is facing one count each of home invasion robbery without a firearm or weapon, conspiracy to commit home invasion robbery, battery on a person 65 or older, and burglary with assault or battery.
According to an arrest report, the victim, who is the daughter of the couple Ravelo Ramentol is responsible for caring for, was in her bedroom when two men dressed in black and wearing surgical masks entered the unlocked apartment.
After breaking open the bedroom door of the home, deputies said one of the men restrained the victim in a chair while the other rifled through a dresser drawer. The intruders then grabbed a travel bag containing approximately $10,000 in cash before fleeing in a waiting vehicle, according to the report.
Authorities said Ravelo Ramentol had worked as a caretaker for the victim’s elderly parents for five years, giving her unsupervised access to the home. They said she was familiar with the home’s layout, the location of valuables, and the fact that the front door was often left unlocked.
The 75-year-old owner of the apartment that she wants her money back after speaking to Local 10′s Rosh Lowe.
“This was a nightmare,” she said. “I have a bruise. Everything is broken.”
Surveillance footage from the apartment complex placed her at the scene shortly before the robbery. Deputies said surveillance video showed her arriving around 7:55 a.m., nearly three hours earlier than she told the victim she would be there.
Just six minutes after her arrival, deputies said a newer-model Mustang Mach-E with no license plate entered the complex. Investigators said the vehicles were parked near each other for over an hour, at which time Ravelo Ramentol never exited her car.
Additional surveillance video captured one of the masked suspects getting into her vehicle and sitting inside for three minutes before walking toward the victim’s apartment with the second suspect, authorities said.
Detectives said they tied Ravelo Ramentol to the crime through her cellphone records. A cell-site warrant confirmed her phone was near the victim’s apartment at the time of the robbery, which was consistent with surveillance footage, according to investigators.
Authorities also discovered she had been in contact with a pre-paid “burner” phone both before and after the break-in.
Deputies said a search warrant on the burner phone revealed it was also present at the victim’s apartment during the robbery. Investigators believe one of the masked suspects was using it.
The MDSO Robbery Bureau said detectives tracked down Ravelo Ramentol in Doral and took her into custody. Authorities said she provided a statement, but it was redacted in the publicly released report.
The victim told Local 10 News that Ravelo Ramentol had worked for her for more than a year even after the incident was reported.
Authorities have not yet identified the two men involved in the break-in.
As of Tuesday, Ravelo Ramentol was being held without bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Anyone with information on the case is urged to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.
