HIALEAH, Fla. – Former Hialeah Police Chief Sergio Velazquez was arrested Monday morning on multiple charges, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office announced.
Jail records show the 61-year-old was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center Monday on charges of money laundering, organized fraud and first-degree grand theft.
His bond was listed as $30,000.
According to an arrest warrant, after Velazquez, who was appointed police chief in 2012, was relieved of duty in 2021, the Hialeah Police Department “was unable to account for large amounts of ‘petty cash’ utilized by the HPD Special Investigations Section (SIS) for narcotics investigations that was disbursed during Velazquez’s tenure.”
Detectives said that between 2015-2021, about 100 “petty cash” checks were cashed, totaling over $2.8 million to fund HPD-SIS investigations, but only about $209,000 (or 7.3%) was ever documented as legitimate SIS expenditures.
That leaves nearly $2.6 million that was unaccounted for.
According to the warrant, another $1 million from 20 court-awarded civil forfeitures from between 2016-2021 was also missing.
“This currency was never submitted to the HPD property unit” and instead was “held in a safe within Velazquez’s administrative suite pending culmination of the forfeiture proceedings,” the warrant stated.
According to the warrant, during the same time frame, large amounts of money were deposited into bank accounts controlled by the former police chief, but the money was deposited in amounts less than $10,000 each time “to avoid currency reporting requirements.”
Detectives say during that time frame, 153 cash deposits were made into bank accounts controlled by Velazquez, totaling over $293,000. About $265,000 was then used to pay off credit cards and other creditors, the warrant stated.
According to the warrant, Velazquez had no other significant cash deposit activity in his bank accounts after Oct. 29, 2021, about 10 days prior to him being relieved of duty as chief of police.
As of Monday afternoon, Velazquez remained held at TGK.
View the arrest warrant for Velazquez below: