{"id":198002,"date":"2026-03-19T17:09:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T17:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/198002\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T17:09:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T17:09:06","slug":"man-defrauds-84-year-old-hialeah-woman-while-pretending-to-be-licensed-contractor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/198002\/","title":{"rendered":"Man defrauds 84-year-old Hialeah woman while pretending to be licensed contractor"},"content":{"rendered":"

HIALEAH, Fla. \u2014 An 84-\u00adyear\u00ad-old woman in Hialeah trusted Lazaro Marquetti, gave him $11,500, and police officers, prosecutors, and state investigators had to get involved after she realized he had lied, records show. <\/p>\n

Leer en espa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/p>\n

The victim first gave Marquetti, 31, a $3,500 deposit on Oct. 28, 2024, and he committed to begin \u201cthe process of demolition and permit applications,\u201d according to a Hialeah police officer\u2019s arrest report.<\/p>\n

The 84-year-old victim used checks to pay Marquetti\u2019s construction company<\/a> $3,500 more on Nov. 28, 2024, and $4,500 more on March 2, 2025, according to the police officer\u2019s arrest report. <\/p>\n

\u201cChecks referenced demolition services and preparation of plans for construction work at the residence,\u201d a police officer wrote, according to an arrest report.<\/p>\n

The victim\u2019s daughter started to suspect Marquetti, an unlicensed<\/a> contractor, had defrauded her mother after a visit to City Hall to check on the status of the permit application on April 2, according to police. <\/p>\n

Miguel Valecillos, operating under VPG Construction Management<\/a>, had submitted a permit application on behalf of Marquetti, and there was \u201ca permit fee request dated Jan. 21, 2025, but it \u201cremained unpaid,\u201d so \u201cthe permit process was not completed,\u201d a police officer wrote, according to the arrest report. <\/p>\n

The victim\u2019s daughter asked Marquetti for a refund. <\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Marquetti offered to return $7,000 from a total of $11,500 previously provided, on condition they sign a legal document stating they would not pursue civil action against him,\u201d a police officer wrote, according to the arrest report. <\/p>\n

The victim\u2019s daughter went to the Hialeah Police Department\u2019s station, filed a fraud report on April 15, 2025, and reported Marquetti \u201cmay have engaged in similar conduct previously with other victims,\u201d according to the police arrest report. <\/p>\n

The victim\u2019s caretaker also filed a complaint with the Department of Business and Professional Regulation after learning that Marquetti was not a licensed contractor, according to police. <\/p>\n

\u201cI received the case file from DBPR investigator Mark Terrill, where he provided all the documentation, he received during the course of his investigation, which was authored on March 2,\u201d a detective wrote, according to the police report. \u201cThis case file was provided approximately 11 months after the initial report.\u201d<\/p>\n

The detective reported Marquetti used online advertising to promote home renovations, demolition services, and roofing services, according to a police report. <\/p>\n

The detective reported detaining Marquetti on Wednesday afternoon at his home and questioning him at the Hialeah Police Department\u2019s headquarters. <\/p>\n

\u201cMarquetti began to state it was his business partner\u2019s fault,\u201d a detective wrote, according to the arrest report, adding, \u201cThis is the second time Mr. Marquetti has been arrested within the past six months for contracting without a license.\u201d<\/p>\n

The detective cited a case with the Monroe County Sheriff\u2019s Office. Court records show Monroe prosecutors filed a case against Marquetti on Oct. 22 on a first violation of engaging in contracting business without certification, and a jury found him not guilty on Feb. 24. <\/p>\n

In Miami-Dade County, Marquetti faced a new felony charge of organized scheme to defraud and a misdemeanor charge of unlicensed contracting. His bond was $3,000. <\/p>\n

Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Zachary N. James was set to preside over the case. <\/p>\n

Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HIALEAH, Fla. \u2014 An 84-\u00adyear\u00ad-old woman in Hialeah trusted Lazaro Marquetti, gave him $11,500, and police officers, prosecutors,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-198002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}