MIAMI – The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office on Monday filed charges against a couple accused in a vendor overbilling scheme.
Jorge Maquilon, 54, and Ivy Evans-Maquilon, 54, were charged with organized scheme to defraud, first-degree grand theft, and second-degree grand theft.
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According to investigators, Ivy Evans-Maquilon, a former employee at the Miami International Airport Hotel, faked bids so her husband's company, Decomax, won contracts.
Ivy Evans-Maquilon used her unmarried name while running the scheme, said prosecutors.
Nestor Aznar, the hotel maintenance supervisor, pleaded guilty to receiving money from the scheme.
"The greatest horror for any business is to learn that a trusted employee has committed a theft," said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. "Miami Dade County's business of running an airport hotel relied entirely on having a competent management team in place. Sadly, that competency appears to have been lacking. This detailed investigation by the Office of the Inspector General and the Dade State Attorney's Office unraveled some complicated financial shenanigans and supplied the evidence necessary to build our strong criminal case."
"The Miami International Airport is not an open pocketbook to benefit some dishonest employee or vendor," said Interim Inspector General Patra Liu. "The Miami-Dade County OIG, with our law enforcement partners at the State Attorney's Office, remain fully committed to rooting out fraud at all levels of county government. I believe that Evans-Maquilon and Maquilon have gotten that message."