ALLAPATTAH, Fla. — Three years ago, when a convicted felon’s 84-year-old mother vanished in Miami, he did not attend a news conference to ask the public for help and did not ask a detective for updates, according to police.
Eduardo Lopez Hernandez reported his mother, Edis Lopez Collazo, who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, vanished on April 6, 2023, from their home near Northwest 24 Avenue and 29 Street in Allapattah, according to police.
Miami Fire Rescue personnel had responded to the home on April 4, 2023, after Lopez Collazo fell and suffered minor head injuries, and Lopez Hernandez lied about his whereabouts, according to an arrest warrant.
On March 28, 2024, a detective visited Lopez Hernandez at home, and he reported that a man had told him his mother traveled to Cuba, but records showed the last time she was on the island was 2004, according to the warrant.
On May 8, 2024, a detective visited Lopez Hernandez at home again, and he called the same man who told him the “Santos” had told him his mother was in Cuba, referring to deities in Santería, an Afro-Cuban religion, according to the warrant.
Detectives reviewed the missing person’s financial records, found 2024 transactions at a supermarket, and surveillance video that showed Lopez Hernandez was illegally using his mother’s card, according to the arrest warrant.
Detectives estimated “the total losses” at nearly $18,600, records show. On Thursday, detectives arrested Lopez Hernandez at 11 a.m. at a gas station at Northwest 27th Avenue and 36th Street in Allapattah, according to a police officer’s arrest report.
During questioning, Lopez Hernandez, 66, confessed to disconnecting his mother’s phone, using her government benefits to pay for bills, and said he failed to provide her with “proper care or assistance” when they lived together, according to the arrest report.
Miami-Dade corrections booked Lopez Hernandez shortly after 10:10 p.m. on Thursday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, and he appeared in bond court on Friday, records show.
Lopez Hernandez faced a new charge of aggravated abuse of an elderly person or disabled adult. He also faced a warrant case on charges of organized fraud, theft from the elderly, identification fraud, and public assistance fraud, records show. His bond was $62,500.
Lopez Hernandez was released from prison on July 25, 2005, after he was sentenced to five years in prison in 2001 for a burglary of an unoccupied structure, cocaine possession, and using a counterfeit license plate, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.
Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 to remain anonymous.
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