Woman accused of defrauding Miami-Dade real estate clients while unlicensed, police say

DORAL, Fla. – A foreign couple signed up with a company that promised to help them have their baby in Miami and a company rep recommended a woman who pretended to be a licensed real estate agent to defraud them in Doral, according to the Doral Police Department.

The couple paid about $8,090 to Claudia Escalona Perdomo via Zelle, a digital payment service, to rent an apartment, but after she picked them up from the airport she told them that the apartment was no longer available, and she was driving them to another, records show.

Later, the couple found themselves homeless after the property manager evicted them because the apartment owner’s tenant had sublet the property to Escalona Perdomo, who had then sublet it to them — which was not allowed, according to the arrest report.

They were not Escalona Perdomo’s only victims, police said. The 50-year-old Kendale Lakes resident associated with CV Home Solutions was at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Friday night facing charges for three criminal cases in Miami-Dade County court.

Records show another alleged victim paid Escalona Perdomo $11,500 via Zelle as part of a 90-day rental from October to January at the Provident Grand, at 5350 NW 84 Ave., in Doral. She told them she owned it, but they later learned she was lying, police said.

The actual owner of the Provident Grand apartment told a Doral detective that Escalona Perdomo was his tenant, but she had yet to pay him, according to the arrest report. As of Wednesday, Escalona Perdomo had a license application pending for a broker/sales associate, but she was not licensed, according to police.

In another case, a foreigner trusted Escalona Perdomo to help him rent an apartment and a car, and he paid her about $4,840, according to police. When she told him that he had to stay at another apartment than the one that they had agreed to, he requested a refund, but he never received it, according to police.

Escalona Perdomo had a pending warrant on charges of defrauding an innkeeper, and second-degree grand theft. Detectives arrested her at about 7:30 p.m., on Thursday, in front of her Kendale Lakes home, and she refused to answer their questions at the station, records show.

In two other pending cases, Escalona Perdomo was facing two counts of third-degree grand theft and two counts of operating as a broker or sales associate without a license. Records show there was a Nebbia hold so the court can inquire about where the funds used to post bail come from.