Heck, I hope it doesn’t come as a surprise to any of you, but, scam master Oscar Rivero is today’s Monday Moron. It just so happens that he’s had this award coming for quite sometime, however, in doing some preliminary background research on him through google and Miami-Dade property records a few weeks ago, I lacked some of the solid evidence presented in the recent herald article and thus did not want to make any “unjust” accusations. />
In the affordable housing circus, Rivero is the ring leader and star. He duped us out of over a Million dollars and yet only managed to build us, well, nothing. All we’re left with is a half constructed multi million dollar house he is building for himself in South Miami Coral Gables some swath of land between the two cities. Although I am glad he’s finally locked up, I can’t help but worry about the additional expenses taxpayers will face as we now have to pay for his housing at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as well. It’s like a double whammy with this guy.
Prosecutors charged Rivero, a 36-year-old lawyer and civic leader, with two first-degree felonies: grand theft and committing an organized scheme to defraud. If convicted, he would serve a minimum of 21 months in state prison.
Civic leader? Perhaps I am using the wrong definition of what a civic leader is, but, I typically don’t think that a thief and con artist could possibly qualify as one, but, then again this is Miami-Dade County; a place where we usually let inmates run the asylum to begin with. Speaking of inmates, does anyone else think that 21 months seems a little to short considering how many lives he impacted?
Rivero’s attorney, Lilly Ann Sanchez, said in a written statement, “Mr. Rivero is an outstanding member of the community whose hard work earned him the respect of his peers, the public and even Florida’s governor.”
I figured since lawyers get to write all these fun, made-up statements, I would compound the story a little too: Then, he decided to get the respect he worked so hard to attain and decided to use it as a litter box for his cat, McClatchy. Hence, allowing McClatchy to urine all over his hard work, credibility, and legitimate business. Hey, look at that, making stuff up is fun…
Sanchez added that Rivero has so far returned $1.5 million of the public’s money, including the money that was supposed to go to the Little Havana affordable housing project. Prosecutors, however, say the return of public money does not absolve fraudulent acts.
I assume his role model is Juwan Howard; the basketball player who stole some glasses in Miami Beach recently and offered to pay for them after the fact. I wonder if we can get the $10,000-$49,999 he donated to UM, assuming that it was our money too…
Rivero spent Saturday night in jail and is expected to spend tonight there as well. He is scheduled to appear before a judge Monday morning for a bail hearing.
Look, considering that the judge is requiring him to prove that the money used to post $1 million bail was not obtained fraudulently, I don’t think he’s going to be getting out of there anytime soon…
Technorati Tags: Miami, Affordable Housing, Oscar Rivero, Development, Urban Planning
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