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Natacha Maria Lezcano, 63 years old, and her son Daniel Romero, 33, both residents of Miami, appeared before a federal court charged with financially exploiting an elderly woman for at least three years, according to an official statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.
According to the charges, Lezcano -also known as Maria Margarita Lezcano- became the victim's resident caregiver in 2020.
Once settled in the home, she obtained permission for her husband and her son Romero to also move into the elderly woman's residence.
From that moment until 2023, Daniel Romero is said to have used the victim's personal information to open fraudulent credit cards, make unauthorized purchases, transfer funds for his own benefit, and submit false credit applications.
Furthermore, according to the accusation, Romero allegedly impersonated the elderly woman to financial institutions and executed unauthorized electronic transfers from her bank accounts.
Lezcano, for her part, is accused of having knowledge of her son's actions without reporting them to the authorities, which, under the U.S. legal system, constitutes the crime of concealment of a felony.
Romero faces charges of electronic fraud, bank fraud, access device fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
The maximum penalties amount to 20 years in prison for each charge of electronic and banking fraud, up to ten years for access device fraud, and a mandatory minimum of two consecutive years for aggravated identity theft.
Lezcano, for his part, could face up to three years in prison if found guilty.
The nationality of origin of the accused has not been publicly disclosed.
The appearance took place on April 27, during the National Week of Victims' Rights, a coincidence that the prosecutor's office took advantage of to emphasize its commitment to the protection of vulnerable individuals.
The federal prosecutor Jason A. Reding Quiñones described the case as "a cruel betrayal of trust," and specified that "the victim, an elderly woman, opened her home to these defendants and, in return, they exploited her age, her trust, and her identity for financial gain."
The case fits into a concerning pattern in South Florida.
Florida ranks second in the U.S. for complaints about financial fraud against seniors, with estimated losses of $2.5 billion nationwide just in 2023.
According to statistics from 2025, two-thirds of elder abuse cases involve family members or close acquaintances, and only 7% of these cases are reported to the authorities, suggesting that the actual scale of the problem is significantly greater.
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