22 arrested in Miami-Dade car tag fraud investigation, sheriff’s office says
The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office announced the arrests of almost two dozen car-tag agency employees who, investigators say, obtained personal information from a state database to fraudulently fill out vehicle-transaction paperwork.
The arrests came after a six-month investigation, which is ongoing and includes the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office and the county’s Tax Collector’s Office after the latter agency detected red flags in some of the auto-tag agency paperwork that it audited, officials said during a press conference Friday.
The government entities dubbed the investigation “Operation Ghost Writer.”
During the probe, investigators discovered clerks working for several tag agencies illegally accessed drivers’ personal and confidential information from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said.
Collaborating with car dealers, the clerks used the information to falsify signatures to process transactions without the power of attorney of the people whose names they used., according to the sheriff’s office.
What the defendants had to gain financially from the alleged forgery is still under investigation, said Detective Peguero Rivera, a sheriff’s office spokesman. Detectives are also investigating if there was a conspiracy among the clerks to obtain and misuse the illegally-obtained information.
“There’s still more to it,” Peguero told the Miami Herald. “This is the initial start of the investigation.”
Codero-Stutz said the clerks “exposed residents to potential identity theft, financial loss and significant legal consequences.”
The defendants face several charges, including official misconduct, providing false information on a public record, forgery, evidence tampering and uttering forged instruments, according to the sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office said all the defendants are individuals and not the tag agencies or car dealers themselves. But Cordero-Stutz said that could change.
“This is still an ongoing investigation, so it’s quite possible, and probable, that there will be further charges as we dig into this scheme further,” she said.
The people arrested are:
- Graciela Valdez, 63
- Belkis Escobar Navarro, 31
- Angelica Sanchez, 36
- Martha Gonzalez-Rosa, 48
- Emma Castillo, 69
- Alba Vallecillo-Martinez, 39
- Jose Daza-Espinosa, 56
- Yoan Lopez-Perez, 41
- Naomi Marquez-Gonzalez, 34
- Jesus Campos-Ricardo, 37
- Hugo Rodriguez, 60
- Lourdes Valdes, 58
- Ronaldo Morales Maldonado, 45
- Marvin Codio, 37
- Joan Alfonso, 29
- Frank Martinez, 48
- Lindon Donoso, 54
- Giana Donoso, 21
- Ricardo Castillo, 74
- Yurilexis Munoz, 50
- Jorge Jaimeson, 60
- Jose Menendez-Mederos, 42
Scott Kotler, attorney for Belkis Escobar Navarro and Graciela Valdez, said Friday that he is still waiting to receive evidence and discovery in the case before commenting, but noted his clients have pleaded not guilty. The Miami-Dade Clerk of the Court erroneously listed Kotler as the attorney for the rest of the defendants. Information about their legal representation was not immediately available.
The sheriff’s office urges anyone with information about this case or other official misconduct to contact its public-corruption unit online at the agency’s website or by calling 305-599-3121.
This report was updated to reflect which defendants are represented by Scott Kotler.
This story was originally published February 20, 2026 at 4:20 PM.
