Woman charged with stealing real estate from elderly boss

MIAMI – A woman from Tallahassee faces charges for stealing real estate from her 81-year-old boss.

Gladys Smith, 61, tricked the victim into signing over power to control deeds to two rental homes worth more than $750,000, according to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.

The way it happened led to other charges.

Smith faces felony charges for exploitation, grand theft and organizing a scheme to defraud someone of $50,000 or more, according to court records.

Miriam Fernandez, 81, has an eye disease that robbed her of enough vision that Fernandez cannot drive, according to prosecutors. Police took her license two years ago.  Fernandez has no children or living relatives, which led to exploitation, investigators said.

Smith befriended the victim late last year, investigators said. At the time, Fernandez was losing her apartment in Hialeah, had no state identification and needed a place to stay, prosecutors said.  Smith allowed Fernandez to stay in a home in Margate where the suspect became the victim’s caretaker for medical appointments, according to court records.

In the process, Smith convinced Fernandez to sign a power of attorney letter, prosecutors said.  Fernandez made it clear she did not want her bank account or properties involved in the move, investigators said. 

However, Smith posed as the victim’s daughter and took control of deeds for two rental properties Fernandez owned in Miami-Dade County, according to court documents.  Smith then secured an $80,000 mortgage on one of the homes, investigators said. 

Those properties provided the victim a livelihood and carry a combined value of more than $750,000, Fernandez Rundle said. 

In March, Fernandez’s friend Sylvia, who accompanied the victim to the state attorney press conference, asked authorities to do a welfare check on the victim, prosecutors said.  Authorities found Fernandez left in a dark room surrounded by the smell of urine and feces in Smith’s house in Margate, according to court records.

“It’s the dark soul of humanity when someone takes advantage of our elderly,” Chief George Fuente of the Hialeah Police Department, whose detective assigned to the county Elder and Vulnerable Adult Exploitation Task Force said.  “So it’s one of those that I encourage everyone that knows something or thinks that there’s something going on with another individual please let us know.”

“We won here,” Fernandez Rundle said.  “(The victim) went through a lot but she’s sitting here a victorious lady because of caring friends, watchful friends, eyes and ears saying something’s wrong with my friend.”

The state of Florida Department of Elder Affairs estimates 17% percent of Miami-Dade County residents are over 65 years old and that 22% of them live alone.

Fernandez Rundle said those with deteriorating health issues who own homes without outstanding mortgages are targets and their properties “are like buried treasure” to scammers.

“We will not tolerate this crime in our community,” she said.

Since its creation in May 2022, the Miami-Dade EVA Task Force has filed 78 criminal cases and assisted 185 vulnerable adults. 

Police in Tallahassee arrested Smith Monday.  She will be brought back to Miami for arraignment on criminal charges.