Charge dropped against woman accused of extorting dental hygienist who performed out-of-office work

HIALEAH, Fla. – An extortion charge has been dropped against a South Florida woman who was accused of extorting a dental hygienist who performed out-of-office work for her, Local 10 News learned this week.

According to a court document, the charge was dropped against Mariela Zaldivar, 55, on Jan. 21.

It’s unclear why the charge was dropped. The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office confirmed to Local 10 News Thursday that the case had been closed, but a closeout memo was not completed.

According to an arrest report, sometime last year, the victim agreed to perform dental work for Zaldivar out of the office for $570 because Zaldivar does not have dental insurance.

But the victim told Hialeah police that Zaldivar called her a week later, saying she wanted her money back or she would report the woman to police for “practicing without a license.”

Police said the victim gave Zaldivar the money back because she didn’t want any problems, but Zaldivar then continued to call her and harass her for two months, demanding more money and threatening to call the police and ruin the victim’s life.

According to the report, the victim initially blocked Zaldivar’s phone number, but she would call from different numbers, so she finally agreed to meet up with her to come to an agreement on how much Zaldivar wanted to be paid to leave her alone.

Police said the two women met up the night of Dec. 9, 2024, in a bathroom inside of the Macy’s department store at the Westland Mall and Zaldivar demanded $2,000 from the victim in order to leave her alone.

During the confrontation, Zaldivar became loud while threatening the victim and an officer broke up the verbal altercation and told the women to follow him out of the store, authorities said.

According to the arrest report, the victim showed the officer a Zelle transaction, proving that she had sent the money to Zaldivar. She also showed the officer multiple text messages supporting her statements, the report stated.

Police said Zaldivar invoked her right to not speak with officers.