CORAL GABLES, Fla. — A 43-year-old woman with a record of accusations of theft going back to more than nine years was living in Georgia and working as a clerk when she faced yet another felony case in Miami-Dade County, records show.
Juanitrianne Fernandez surrendered at the Coral Gables Police Department on Monday and spent the night at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional before she appeared in court on Tuesday.
Fernandez’s troubles in Coral Gables followed a Sweetwater case.
Sweetwater police officers had arrested her on Jan. 14, 2016, for grand theft, and the case was still pending when she started working for a Coral Gables dentist that year.
The 2016 grand theft case closed in 2018 without action. In 2020, Fernandez used a stolen identity to rent an apartment and started to steal from the dentist months later, according to a Coral Gables detective.
About three years later, Dr. Lawrence Lesperance reported Fernandez, the manager of his South Gables Dental office, to police after a third-party system notified him of fraudulent refunds on Sept. 8, 2023, records show.
While embezzling money for years, Fernandez used nearly $150,000 to pay rent for an apartment, and sent about $76,000 to family and friends, according to a CGPD detective’s request for an arrest warrant.
Miami-Dade prosecutors charged Fernandez with second-degree felony grand theft in 2022. A judge found Fernandez guilty but chose not to formally convict her and instead placed her on probation.
On Friday, Miami-Dade prosecutors filed a new CGPD case against her for organized fraud of $50,000 or more, fraudulent use of personal identification information, and fraudulent use or possession of an identification. Her bond was $22,500.
Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 to remain anonymous.
Local 10 News Assignment Editor Mercedes Cevallos contributed to this report.
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