Man accused of taking deposit, never replacing gate as promised at west Miami-Dade home

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A 35-year-old man was arrested Wednesday on accusations that he took a $1,000 deposit from a homeowner in west Miami-Dade to replace the victim’s gate, but never even started the job.

According to his arrest report, Alejandro Garcia-Diaz, of Miami, was hired by the victim on June 14 to replace the gate to his home in the 11800 block of Southwest 11th Street.

The victim told police the duo came to a verbal agreement that day, but he requested his deposit back after July 24 rolled around and Garcia-Diaz hadn’t even begun work on the gate.

Miami-Dade police said Garcia-Diaz initially acknowledged the victim’s request for his deposit to be returned either in person or via Zelle, but eventually stopped returning the victim’s phone calls and texts.

Police said the victim identified Garcia-Diaz to detectives in a photo on Aug. 23.

According to the arrest report, police located Garcia-Diaz on Wednesday and took him into custody.

Police said he did provide a statement to detectives, however his statement was redacted from the publicly released report.

Garcia-Diaz faces charges of third-degree grand theft and contracting without a license.

As of Thursday morning, he was no longer showing up in the Miami-Dade jail database.