MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz and State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced the arrests Wednesday of two county inspectors accused of extorting local businesses for cash.
“They felt like they were being robbed,” Fernandez Rundle said.
Charles Bryant and Craig Bethel face multiple charges, including organized fraud and unlawful compensation.
Both Bryant and Bethel worked for the Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources. Investigators say they took more than $14,000 from local restaurants and businesses.
Local 10 News first reported on Bryant in May 2024, after a tip from Shinju Japanese Buffet at 8800 SW 72nd St. in Miami led investigators to Bryant. He was arrested then and is now back in jail as of Wednesday.
“They lied and said there were violations and then the extortion occurred,” Cordero-Stutz said.
Restaurant owners told investigators Bryant claimed they had a leaky grease trap and would fine them $50,000 unless they paid Bryant $2,000 to make it go away.
“The threat was made in a similar fashion to all of these businesses,” Cordero-Stutz said.
Deputies say Bryant did something similar at neighboring Jamaica Kitchen.
Investigators say the resulting operation, known as Operation Grease Trap, linked Bryant to four more local restaurants and unearthed alleged crimes by fellow inspector Bethel, accused of shakedowns at eight local eateries.
“What we’re looking for are more potential victims and also other potential corrupt inspectors,” Rundle said.
Officials fear this scheme could go even further.
“That’s why it’s so important for the community to understand that if you have that information to come forward,” Cordero-Stutz said.
A top county official responded to the arrests in public statement Thursday:
“At Miami-Dade County, we hold our employees to the highest standard as they perform important work on behalf of the public. As soon as the Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources (RER) learned last year that a former employee was allegedly extorting businesses, we acted immediately to launch an investigation and report to law enforcement. Our cooperation with the then-Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) and later the Sheriff’s office resulted in the successful arrest of two former inspectors that were engaging in the same criminal behavior. And as a result of our internal investigation, the inspectors are no longer employed with Miami-Dade County.
“Additionally, we have taken several steps to prevent any criminal behavior in the future, including working to outfit all inspection staff in RER-DERM with body cameras and standardizing RER’s vehicle tracking system operations across the entire department to improve monitoring (RER requires that all vehicles have location trackers installed).
“We are grateful to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office for their diligence in arresting these bad actors and are committed to continuing our collaboration with them.”
Chief Utilities and Regulatory Services Officer Roy Coley
Business owners who believe they’ve been victimized are asked to call the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Public Corruption Hotline at 305-599-3121 or the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office Corruption Hotline at 305-547-3300.