At least three people have been arrested in recent days amid a crackdown on disabled parking permit fraud in Miami-Dade, authorities said.
The arrests are part of an ongoing investigation by the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office Public Corruption Section and an audit by the Miami-Dade Tax Collector’s Office.
Etian Vila, 56, was arrested Wednesday after fraudulently obtaining a disabled parking permit last year, an arrest report said.
According to the report, Vila submitted an application for the permit that was apparently signed by a physician who had died before the form was completed.
The signature on the form was different than the one on the physician’s driver’s license, the report said.
Two other suspects – 30-year-old Lianne Quintero and 31-year-old Juan Camilo Aristazabal – were arrested Thursday on similar charges involving submitting a form with the allegedly forged signature of a physician who had died, arrest reports said.
Miami-Dade Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez announced in December that his office was working with the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to audit every disabled parking permit and temporary disabled parking permit application filed within the last 24 months.
As a result, thousands of permits have been canceled to date, Fernandez said.