Magdalena Estole faces charges of organized fraud, grand theft and money laundering for allegedly depositing over $700,000 from Miami-Dade County Public Schools to her bank account.
A woman is facing several fraud charges for allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Mimi-Dade County Public Schools, according to police.
An arrest report stated that Magdalena Estole, 69, of Cutler Bay, was arrested Tuesday for allegedly fraudulently depositing over $700,000 from the school district's bank account to her personal account. She made several deposits from March through August 2024.
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It started in March when Miami-Dade County Public Schools received several emails from its legitimate HVAC vendor requesting the district to change the banking account that gets the money for the work performed, police said.
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The district unwittingly changed the vendor's bank account information to what turned out to be Estole's personal TD Bank account, investigators said.
The investigation found that Estole visited several TD Bank branches and ATMs over several months to make cash withdrawals.
Estole faces charges of organized fraud, grand theft and money laundering. She appeared in bond court Friday, where a judge appointed her a public defender and set her bond to $45,000.
