Miami man posed as an FBI agent to pry money out of elderly victims. He’s now in prison
Reinaldo Miralles Gonzalez was a con man pretending to be a G-man.
In his role playing an FBI special agent, Miralles orchestrated a scam to pry money out of several elderly people by accusing them of providing financial support for terrorists, U.S. authorities say.
Miralles, borrowing the name of an actual FBI agent in the Miami field office, then threatened the victims with legal action, arrest and in one instance deportation if they didn’t send him blank money orders to local addresses associated with him, authorities say.
His total take: $123,398.
This week, Miralles, 52, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and ordered to repay his victims by U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore in Miami federal court. Miralles pleaded guilty to a mail-fraud conspiracy last year. While other associates were involved in his ring, he was the only suspect to be prosecuted, according to court records.
Starting in the fall of 2017, Miralles and his associates targeted certain people on social media platforms, accused them of transferring money via Western Union to support terrorist activities, and then while posing as FBI agents coerced them into meeting their financial demands by threatening criminal consequences, according to prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Miralles himself was held responsible for fleecing seven people from New York, California, Ohio, Colorado, Tennessee and Montana, according to court records.
“The victims were alI told that they were being investigated for their involvement and support of terrorist activities,” according to a factual statement filed with the defendant’s plea agreement. “They were all told that they were in serious trouble and in order to avoid imminent arrest, they had to send blank United States Postal money orders to addresses which included ones associated with the defendant.”
Those addresses included Miralles’ company in Hialeah, Centro De Rehabilitacion Nueva Vida Corporation, another business in Miami, Caribbean S.A. Corp., and his personal address on Brickell Avenue, the statement says. After receiving the money orders via Federal Express, Miralles deposited the money in his corporate and personal bank accounts.
Miralles’ scheme didn’t just involve himself and others posing as FBI imposters. In some instances, the victims were called by people pretending to be lawyers who said they could assist them with their court cases for additional fees.
“All the victims reported that they felt threatened and intimidated by the calls and paid the funds so that they could resolve the purported investigation as quickly as possible,” says the factual statement, which was signed by Miralles, his lawyer and prosecutors.
Some told FBI investigators that they had to withdraw funds from their retirement accounts to pay Miralles.
This story was originally published May 11, 2023 at 12:48 PM.
