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A man identified as Néstor Olivares was arrested and charged with defrauding St. Kevin Catholic School in Tamiami by obtaining over 223,000 dollars for construction work that he never performed, according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office.
Olivares -50 years old and originally from Venezuela- operated under the name of a company called Creed Metal and was hired in September 2024 to install 13 aluminum roof structures at the educational institution, located at 4001 SW 127th Ave., in the southwest of the county.
According to the arrest report -cited by local media- the accused failed to comply with the terms of the agreement, ceasing to provide the agreed materials or perform the work as stipulated.
Authorities emphasize that there is no evidence that the work ever began at any point, despite the school having disbursed over $223,000.
The case took a more serious turn when, in February of this year, Olivares promised the institution a full refund by the 25th of that month, but never paid.
Instead of completing the refund, he presented supposedly false bank statements, which, after being verified, were found to be fake, claiming to have initiated an electronic transfer that never took place.
After his arrest, Olivares told investigators that he was unable to repay the full amount all at once.
The authorities also determined that the accused did not have a valid contractor's license either in the state of Florida or in Miami-Dade County at the time of taking on the project.
Olivares was arrested in his own home on Southwest 126th Avenue, located about half a mile from the school where he was allegedly supposed to work.
Facing three charges: first-degree grand theft for amounts exceeding $100,000, forgery of documents, and violation of county ordinance for conducting business without a license.
In Florida, operating as an unlicensed contractor violates the Chapter 489 of the State Statutes and may constitute a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison and fines of up to $5,000.
When the amount stolen exceeds 100,000 dollars, the charge for grand theft is in the first degree, with substantially harsher penalties.
The judge set a bail of $30,150 with the condition that Olivares demonstrates the money comes from a legitimate source before being released.
The fraud of unlicensed contractors is on the rise in South Florida
The case of Olivares fits into a documented pattern of frauds by unlicensed contractors in South Florida.
In December 2025, Carlos Cabrera, a 34-year-old resident of Hialeah, was arrested for cheating an 85-year-old woman out of more than $39,000 for a renovation that he never completed.
In March of this year, Lazaro Marquetti, 31 years old, was also arrested in Hialeah for scamming 11,500 dollars from an 84-year-old woman by posing as a licensed contractor.
At the time this information was reported, Olivares remained detained at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami-Dade, awaiting the resolution of his legal situation.
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