A mother who served as president of a Medley waste-equipment manufacturer and her son, a security guard who worked remotely, are accused of siphoning more than $620,000 from the company over roughly five years to bankroll designer clothing, a luxury yacht party, and a rented Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Maria Rodriguez and Miguel Antonio Perez were arrested following a 15-month investigation into fraud and embezzlement at Iron Container, the Medley-based commercial waste equipment manufacturer where Rodriguez held the company's top financial and operational trust.
According to the Miami Herald, Rodriguez was entrusted with Iron Container's financial accounts, credit cards, records, and payroll. Police say she hired her son as a security guard and then manually entered his time punches, allegedly allowing him to collect pay for hours he never worked while stationed away from the company site. Investigators say his salary climbed from $42,000 to $114,000 per year during the scheme, and police estimate his payroll accounted for around $454,540 of the total misappropriated funds.
Gym Check-Ins While Records Showed Him Working
Investigators found that Perez checked into his gym on 49 separate occasions during hours when company time records showed him working, per the Herald's report. Medley police officers first responded to Iron Container in April 2025 after the department received a financial fraud allegation, kicking off the 15-month probe that led to Wednesday's arrests.
The alleged spending went well beyond payroll manipulation. Certified Saks Fifth Avenue records showed purchases of thousands of dollars in men's designer clothing, and Rodriguez is accused of using the Iron Container corporate Visa to buy Alexander McQueen sneakers and an Amiri cashmere sweater. The pair are also accused of charging condo rent, a luxury yacht party, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class rental, crash-related expenses, gym dues, and personal auto insurance to company accounts, then disguising the charges as miscellaneous business expenses. Once the fraud investigation was underway, the two allegedly used corporate funds to cover their own criminal-defense legal fees.
Charges Carry Steep Statutory Exposure
Rodriguez and Perez each face charges of grand theft of $100,000 or more, organized scheme to defraud of $50,000 or more, and conspiracy to commit organized scheme to defraud of $50,000 or more. Under Florida Statute § 812.014, grand theft at that dollar threshold is a first-degree felony carrying up to 30 years in state prison and fines up to $10,000, according to Demmery Law, PLLC. Florida's Communications Fraud Act, codified at Florida Statute § 817.034, similarly classifies an organized scheme to defraud $50,000 or more as a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years, per an analysis published by the Florida Senate.
Because Florida appellate case law treats grand theft as a lesser included offense of organized fraud under double jeopardy principles, according to the Sammis Law Firm, prosecutors typically cannot convict or punish the defendants for both grand theft and organized fraud arising from the same transactions. The five-year span over which the alleged theft occurred lines up with the five-year statute of limitations that generally governs Florida fraud prosecutions under § 817.034, per a legal analysis of scheme-to-defraud statutes.
As of Wednesday afternoon, neither Rodriguez nor Perez appeared in Miami-Dade court or jail records, and neither had an attorney listed, the Herald reported. The Medley Police Department announced the arrests and allegations in a statement issued Wednesday. “We will not tolerate individuals in positions of trust exploiting that trust for personal gain at the expense of local businesses, their employees and our community,” the department said.
A Company Restructuring Amid the Probe
Iron Container manufactures commercial steel waste containers, roll-off dumpsters, front-load boxes, and custom truck bodies as an associate member of the Florida Waste Haulers & Recyclers Coalition. The alleged embezzlement was unfolding as the company navigated a major real estate shift: in May 2025, Iron Container restructured and signed a new 10-year lease for its 80,000-square-foot facility at 8505 NW 74th Street in Medley after the building sold for $31 million to Simi Capital, according to Traded. That same 10.5-acre site had sold for just $1.6 million in 1998, reflecting the sharp rise in industrial land values along the Northwest 74th Street corridor.
Medley, a heavily industrial Miami-Dade municipality, had a resident population of just 1,056 as of the 2020 Census despite hosting more than 1,800 commercial businesses and roughly 10,000 daytime workers, according to SEC filings cited in the dossier. That imbalance helps explain why white-collar commercial fraud remains a persistent focus for local police even in a town with so few residents. Jack Young was sworn in as Medley's police chief in June 2026, bringing more than 32 years of service to the department as it wrapped up the long-running Iron Container investigation.
The case fits a broader pattern of commercial breach-of-trust enforcement in Medley's industrial corridors. Hoodline previously reported on a Medley FedEx driver accused of stealing Apple products using internal access, and on a warehouse investigation that authorities said concealed a chop shop. Medley police have said they maintain zero tolerance for employees who exploit positions of trust against local businesses.
