MIAMI – A husband and wife pleaded guilty Tuesday to fraud charges involving the Miami International Airport Hotel.
In a letter to county officials sent by Inspector General Mary T. Cagle, Cagle said Ivy Evans-Maquilon, a former executive assistant at the hotel, and her husband, Jorge Maquilon, a vendor who supplied materials to the hotel, defrauded the county and Miami-Dade Aviation Department of more than $200,000.
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Cagle said the couple organized a scheme in which Jorge Maquilon overbilled the MIA Hotel for goods that it received or billed it for goods that were never delivered.
Cagle said the wife was able to get the paperwork processed and approved because of her position at the hotel.
The couple was sentenced to two years in state prison followed by 20 years of probation. They were immediately taken into custody Tuesday to begin their sentences.
A judge ordered Jorge Maquilon to pay the Aviation Department about $100,000 in restitution and ordered Ivy Evans-Maquilon to pay about $125,000 in restitution.
"I am extremely pleased with the sentencing today of Ivy and Jorge Maquilon, a former H.I. Development Corporation employee and her husband who defrauded and overbilled the Miami-Dade Aviation Department out of more than $215,000 in services that were never provided at the Miami International Airport Hotel," said Miami-Dade Aviation Director Emilio T. González. "The sentence handed down today should send a strong message that the Aviation Department is keeping a watchful eye for any illegal activity at MIA, and anyone involved in these types of crimes will be pursued to the fullest extent the law permits."
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