Carlos Vazquez and Odalys Delisle of Miami, Florida were are charged with official misconduct Thursday after they allegedly accepted a bribe in exchange for allowing a non-homeless person to live in a homeless shelter, a report from the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office says. Vasquez and Delisle are charged with official misconduct, bribery, and unlawful compensation. It is unclear whether the defendants were arrested. It is also unclear if they have retained a criminal defense attorney..
According to reports, Vazquez is an employee of a City of Miami Homeless Assistance Outreach Program that helps place the city's homeless into shelters. The outreach program began in 1991 and currently employs 30 formerly homeless workers. It is unclear whether a spokesperson from the program commented on these recent charges. It remains to be seen whether the charges will affect Vazquez's position with the program.
Reports say a woman, who reports did not identify, offered Vasquez $5,000 in exchange for a place to live in a homeless shelter. It is currently unclear exactly why the woman wanted to spend so much to live in a homeless shelter; however, Vazquez reportedly told her that she could live at the shelter for the duration of her life, as opposed to the standard three months offered to typical homeless take-ins.
As part of the alleged misconduct, Delisle met with the woman and accepted the $5,000 payment, reports say. Sources did not say how detectives learned of the scheme or if the woman took up residence at the shelter for any amount of time. It is also unclear whether this type of activity took place before.
"The real victims of this fraud are needy homeless individuals who lose out on housing while some greedy individuals put money in their own pockets," a state attorney spokesperson said. "I know that I speak for our entire law enforcement community when I say that this will stop."
Vazquez and Delisle are not the only ones accused of taking advantage of shelter victims recently. Police in Wilton Manors say they are searching for a suspect who sexually assaulted two teen girls at a shelter for neglected and abused children. Police have released a description of the offender but have not made an arrest. The suspect does not appear to have worked at the shelter.