Rafael Evelio Barceló, 67 years old and a resident of Hialeah, was arrested on Wednesday in Miami-Dade on first-degree felony charges for allegedly stealing 86,000 dollars from the bank accounts of his own parents, a couple of elderly individuals aged 90 and 88, according to the local press.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney, Katherine Fernández Rundle, presented the case alongside the county mayor, Daniella Levine Cava.
Barceló -whose nationality has not been disclosed- faces three charges: exploitation of a senior citizen for over 50,000 dollars; grand theft from a person over 65 years old; and an organized scheme to defraud.
How did the alleged fraud occur?
After the pandemic, the couple granted their daughter a power of attorney for medical decisions, while Barceló took control of their finances and access to their bank accounts.
In December 2024, the father suffered a fall that fractured his left shoulder and triggered a decline in both physical and mental health.
It was then that, according to the prosecution, Barceló began to withdraw funds from the accounts in two movements:
1- In January 2025, he issued a check for 34,000 dollars in his son's name, with the note "a gift."
2- One month later, he withdrew another 52,000 dollars using a cashier's check.
The family discovered the alleged irregularities when the daughter took her parents to the bank to review the accounts.
By then, a lifetime of savings had almost completely vanished.
“Very distressed. The victims immediately withdrew the only thing they had left, $7,000 from their savings account. [He] left them $70 in their checking account”, reported Fernández Rundle.
Authorities are also investigating the alleged attempt by Barceló to place his parents in a care facility without their consent, contrary to the couple's wish to remain in the home where they had lived together since 1972.
The father passed away in November 2025, nine months after the family discovered the embezzlement of the money.
The prosecutor accuses the son of abusing his position of trust
"Rafael Barceló allegedly used his trusted position as the son of the victims and a partial caregiver to exploit them, enriching himself and another family member, specifically his son, by withdrawing that $86,000, which was everything that couple had," Fernández Rundle stated.
Barceló's son, the recipient of the $34,000 check, declined to comment.
The accused's bail has been set at $22,500 and they remain detained at the Turner Guilford Knight (TGK) center in Miami-Dade.
"These are our parents, our grandparents, our friends, our neighbors, and they deserve to age with dignity, to feel safe, and to know where they can turn when they need help," concluded Mayor Levine Cava.
A growing problem in Florida
The arrest of Barceló is the twelfth made by the Unit for the Exploitation of Elderly Persons and Vulnerable Individuals of the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office in four years of operations.
Florida ranks second nationally in victims of fraud among those over 60 years old: in 2025, there were 17,147 victims with losses of 709.8 million dollars, an 83% increase compared to the previous year, according to FBI data.
Miami-Dade has the largest population of residents aged 65 and older in the state, with approximately 472,000 people, of which nearly 106,000 live alone.
In recent months, Miami-Dade has recorded similar cases of financial exploitation of the elderly, including that of Alejandro Díaz Torriente, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in August 2026 for taking possession of the home and savings of a 94-year-old woman.
Also notable is the case of a mother and her son who faced charges for exploiting an elderly woman for at least three years.
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