A woman paid a Florida lawyer $6,000 to get her mother from Cuba. He wasn’t a lawyer
A woman paid a Florida Keys man $6,000 because she needed his help as an immigration attorney with travel to Colombia and bringing her mother from Cuba, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said.
But Orlando Gonzalez Jr. isn’t an immigration attorney. He’s not an attorney at all.
He’s a career fraudster, a con man who has done four turns in Florida prisons for several convictions on grand theft from $300 to $20,000, check fraud and uttering forgery. The Marathon resident’s last stint lasted nine months in 2015 after being convicted of depositing a check with intent to defraud.
Gonzalez was arrested Monday on charges of fraud by impersonation, misrepresenting himself as qualified to practice law; and grand theft from $750 to $5,000. Online Monroe County arrest records say Gonzalez’s bond has been set at $60,000 He was still in the jail as of Tuesday afternoon.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said after Gonzalez fooled the woman, she called the agency in June 2021. She had received a letter from the federal government stating her legal paperwork was incomplete. When she tried to get her money back from Gonzalez, the sheriff’s office said, he kept it and blocked her phone calls.
A warrant for his arrest was issued in February.
Anyone wanting to check the status of a possible attorney can go to the Florida Bar website, insert the person’s name and find out whether the person is an attorney in good standing.
This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 4:10 PM.
