MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — A southwest Miami-Dade woman is facing two felony charges after sheriff’s deputies said she stole nearly $90,000 from her employer in a scheme involving the use of Zelle.
Investigators said customers who thought they were using the digital payment system to send money to South Florida Inspectors, based at 16650 N. Kendall Drive, were unknowingly filling up the coffers of employee Andreina Monserratte.
Deputies said Monserratte, 42, began the scam in January 2024 ― just one month after the company hired her.
According to a Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office arrest report, she switched out the company’s existing email address registered to its Zelle account to her own email and phone number linked to her personal and business bank accounts.
Monserratte pocketed $89,438.67 from the scheme through this July, investigators said.
Deputies went to her home in the 18100 block of Southwest 153rd Place, in the unincorporated Richmond West area, to arrest her on Wednesday. She “refused to provide a statement,” the report states.
Facing charges of grand theft and organized scheme to defraud, Monserratte was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $15,000 bond as of Thursday morning, online records show.
The victim sent a statement to Local 10 News to share details of the incident following Monserratt’s arrest, which you can read here:
“This situation did not occur due to negligence or a lack of attention on my part. At the time these events took place, my family was facing an extraordinary personal crisis. My father was seriously ill, and I stepped back from daily operations to care for him. Shortly thereafter, my father tragically took his own life. I was at one of the darkest and most vulnerable periods of my life.
The individual involved was not just an employee — she was a well-respected, industry-praised real estate business consultant and someone I trusted deeply and considered family. That trust was exploited during a time of profound grief. As soon as financial irregularities were discovered, I took immediate action, documented everything, and cooperated fully with law enforcement, which ultimately led to the arrest reported in your article.”
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