Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office arrested six people accused of stealing more than $5.8 million from five condo associations.

Six people are facing charges after Miami-Dade sheriff's investigators say they ran a scheme that drained more than $5.8 million from five condominium associations over two years. The boards targeted were largely made up of elderly, Spanish-speaking residents.

Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz announced the arrests Thursday, calling the operation a "brazen criminal enterprise" built around Juan Awais, 60, who investigators say used his property management companies to gain access to association bank accounts and reserve funds. Awais allegedly cultivated relationships with condo board members, many of whom spoke only Spanish, before using a network of affiliated companies to siphon money out of the associations' accounts.

Arrested alongside Awais were Michael Irizarry, Delma Alonso, Johana Barrios Perez-Tapia, Juliet Ramos and Cynthea Louise Waltz. Records show the group faces charges that include grand theft, organized fraud, money laundering and racketeering.

According to investigators, the scheme worked through several methods: invoices sent to associations for vendor services that had already been paid, and bills submitted for repair work that was never actually done. In one instance, the sheriff's office says one of the suspects kept hundreds of thousands of dollars from an insurance payout that was supposed to fund hurricane repairs after Hurricane Irma.

The five associations identified as targets are Mira Villa Condo Association, Los Suenos Condo, Samari Lake East Condo Association, Lago Grande and Country Lake Manors. Cordero-Stutz said the $5.8 million figure reflects what investigators have confirmed so far and that the total taken from residents could turn out to be higher once the full scope of the case is worked out.

"This affected hundreds of families across Miami-Dade County," Cordero-Stutz said at Thursday's news conference. "Our hope is that there will be more arrests, the investigation continues. Like I said, $5.8 million is the dollar amount we have today, but we suspect that it is higher."

The case is the product of a two-year sheriff's office investigation into missing funds at the five associations. Cordero-Stutz said her office is not done looking into the matter and left open the possibility that other property managers, board members or vendors connected to the associations could still face charges.

Condo and homeowner association boards in South Florida rely heavily on property management firms to handle day-to-day finances, including collecting monthly dues and paying contractors and insurers. That gives management companies direct control of association bank accounts, reserve funds and vendor payments, control that depends on boards trusting the companies they hire to keep accurate books. Cordero-Stutz said the suspects in this case exploited that trust, specifically targeting boards where members had limited English proficiency and were less likely to catch discrepancies in invoices or contracts.

The arrests come at a time when condo associations across Miami-Dade are already under financial strain. State law passed after the 2021 Surfside condominium collapse now requires many buildings to complete structural inspections and fund reserve accounts for major repairs, pushing up monthly fees and special assessments for owners. Cordero-Stutz referenced that pressure directly when addressing condo and HOA residents in the county.

"Let me speak directly to everyone who lives in a condominium or an HOA community in Miami-Dade County," she said. "Your monthly association fees and special assessments are your hard-earned money. You have every right to know where that money is going."

The sheriff's office has not said how the alleged theft was discovered or which agency or resident first flagged the missing funds to investigators. It's also not yet clear how much, if any, of the $5.8 million has been recovered, or whether the affected associations will be able to pursue civil claims against the suspects or their companies separate from the criminal case.

Cordero-Stutz said the investigation is continuing and that additional arrests are possible as detectives comb through financial records tied to Awais's property management companies and the other suspects' business dealings. For now, the six defendants face charges that carry the potential for lengthy prison sentences given the scale of the alleged theft and the racketeering counts attached to the case. No court dates were announced at Thursday's news conference.