Previous Miami Beach setting up officers accepts plea offer
Former Miami Seaside constructing official Mariano Fernández won’t be going to jail for illegally accepting totally free lodge stays and items from a Spanish lodge corporation.
In a plea deal struck with Miami-Dade prosecutors before this 7 days, Fernández accepted two years of home arrest, to be adopted by two years of probation. He also gained a withhold of adjudication, which means he will not technically have a felony on his file. He approved the plea offer on a cost of unlawful compensation.
Fernández, 67, had been awaiting trial due to the fact his arrest in February 2018.
Prosecutors said Fernández blatantly traded his affect and function for luxury rooms in South Beach, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. The stays came from RIU Motels & Resorts, which owns far more than 100 resorts in 19 countries, including a vacation resort on South Seaside that needed constructing permits from Fernández’s division.
His defense lawyer, Jeffrey Weiner, reported the protection of buildings in Miami Seaside were never compromised and that Fernández did not understand that his friendship with RIU executives crossed the line.
“It was very poor judgment on his portion, wanting back again, and he knows it,” Weiner reported.
As the major building official at Metropolis Hall, Fernández had sizeable electrical power in excess of inspections and allowing for building and renovation tasks in the resort metropolis — very important features that figure out the timeline for completion of major initiatives. Between Oct 2013 and June 2016, RIU wanted permits for a key renovation to its South Seashore home.
Prosecutors claimed Fernández consistently solicited totally free and comped rooms for himself and his staff, even assisting to organize “team-building” office retreats at deeply discounted rates. In all, at least 5 of Fernández’s workers got outright cost-free stays by way of Fernández, and dozens far more obtained discounted rates, amounting to above 200 nights.
One particular of individuals “team-building” excursions was in September 2015 to the RIU Palace Bavaro All-Inclusive Resort in Punta Cana. There, Fernández and his spouse got a free of charge suite — and a birthday bottle of Johnny Walker Black Scotch in their room, additionally a VIP night time at the Coco-Bongo nightclub.
Town setting up departments throughout South Florida have been in the news due to the fact the June 24 collapse of the Champlain Towers South making in Surfside. The town’s previous building formal, Ross Prieto, who advised apartment people the tower was in excellent shape in spite of a 2018 report detailing structural hurt, applied to do the job for the city of Miami Seashore.
Fernandez was employed at Miami Seashore in 2013, and was fired soon in advance of his arrest.
The Miami-Dade Point out Attorney’s Office also charged Luis Riu Guell Jr., RIU’s proprietor, as well as the enterprise itself, together with RIU’s regional vice president, Alejandro Sanchez del Arco.
In February, the case was dismissed against Guell, when the firm itself was put on probation and experienced to fork out approximately $500,000 in fines and donations, and acquire a program aimed at ensuring compliance for workforce in upcoming making issues. Sanchez del Arco also received two yrs of probation and had to shell out 30 days underneath house arrest.
The community corruption situation also indirectly ensnared Fernandez’s previous spouse, Miami-Dade County Choose Maria Fernández.
In 2019, the Florida Supreme Courtroom ordered her suspended since she failed to report the free resort stays although the two have been married. She also agreed to pay a $5,000 high-quality and accept a general public reprimand.
