A Hialeah man has been arrested after authorities said he exploited his 95-year-old mother out of tens of thousands of dollars, leaving her unable to pay her rent.
Manuel C. Diaz Hernandez, 72, is facing charges including exploitation of an elderly person in an amount over $50,000, grand theft of a person over 65, organized scheme to defraud and unlawful use of a two-way communications device, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office said Wednesday.
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Authorities said the victim had been living alone in her Miami apartment following the death of her 92-year-old husband after 40 years of marriage and had collected more than $57,000 from a settlement related to his death.
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The victim had asked her deceased husband's adopted son to help her with the settlement money, and he came to Miami to assist her in opening a bank account.
Meanwhile, Diaz Hernandez, who hadn't had significant contact with his mother until her husband's death, began taking an interest in her and convinced her he was better able to assist her since he was a "blood relative," authorities said.
Diaz Hernandez was added to his mother's bank account, then helped her move $50,000 of the settlement money to a joint account, prosecutors said.
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After the money was moved, $7,000 disappeared, and between March and August of 2022, the balance dropped to zero, leaving the elderly mother with no way to pay her rent.
"All the money was gone. And the little bitty fortune that her husband left was basically gone," the victim's stepson, Andres Ramos Jr., told NBC6.
The State Attorney's Office was able to find emergency housing for the woman.
“It is always inconceivably sad when a son, or a daughter, or another family member sees an elderly relative as an exploitable target," State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement. "Too many of our older residents are vulnerable to exploitation. In this case, our Elder and Vulnerable Adult Unit was able to intervene to keep the victim housed. Today’s arrest is another strong statement by my office and our law enforcement community that we will not tolerate the victimization of our elder and vulnerable residents."
Diaz Hernandez was booked into jail. Attorney information wasn't available.
