Former Hialeah Police Chief Arrested on Fraud, Theft Charges

After years of skating past scandal, former Hialeah Police Chief Sergio Velazquez faces charges of structuring transactions to evade reporting or registration requirements, organized fraud, and grand theft — all first-degree felonies. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) arrested Velazquez on Monday.

Velazquez, 61, was the police chief for the City of Hialeah Police Department from 2012 until 2021.

"Officers of the law are held to a higher standard of character and integrity. They are expected to uphold the trust that the public has placed in them. FDLE Miami special agent in charge John Vecchio said in a public media release. "This case revealed that Velazquez violated the trust and integrity expected of him as police chief."

Vecchio and State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle held a press conference about Valazquez's arrest on Monday.

FDLE launched its investigation into Velazquez in November 2021, after FDLE agents received a tip from Hialeah Police Department officials regarding potentially misallocated department funds.

According to the FDLE release, the investigation found that between May and October 2021, around $560,000 in Hialeah Police Department petty cash and seized funds had gone missing. FDLE agents and analysts reviewed bank accounts linked to Velazquez and identified 62 cash deposits totaling over $140,000. None of the deposits exceeded $10,000 in any of the accounts examined.

The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office released to New Times a redacted copy of Velazquez's 44-page arrest warrant (attached below) Tuesday. The warrant describes his three first-degree felony charges in detail, including $1 million in "petty cash" mysteriously missing from narcotics-related seizures and subsequent civil forfeitures between 2016 and 2021.

Between 2015 and 2021, roughly 100 "petty cash" checks totaling more than $2.8 million were cashed to fund investigations by the Hialeah Police Department and the Office of Statewide Investigative Services (OSIS). Only about $209,000 — just 7.3 percent — was documented as legitimate OSIS spending, leaving nearly $2.6 million unaccounted for.

"All told," the warrant reads, "over $1.1 million in currency is missing and/or unaccounted for from HPD in 2021 alone."

Records obtained by New Times from the State Attorney's Office (SAO) reveal that the State of Florida charged Velazquez with money laundering and structuring financial transactions to evade reporting requirements involving more than $100,000; organized fraud for allegedly orchestrating a scheme to defraud the City of Hialeah and the Hialeah Police Department out of $50,000; and grand theft for stealing or attempting to steal at least $100,000.

According to FDLE special agent Christopher Vastine, Velazquez allegedly misused funds and engaged in a scheme to conceal financial transactions, defrauding the city and taxpayers in the process.

"When any serving police officer violates the law, he betrays the community whom he was sworn to serve," Fernandez Rundle said in the media release. "But when a police chief is alleged to have stolen from the city and department he has led, this unique betrayal deeply damages the very soul of the community. I congratulate the FDLE agents and analysts, who working together with my Public Corruption prosecutors on this complex investigation, have worked to bring this matter before our criminal courts."

Velazquez is no stranger to controversy. He was accused of becoming romantically involved with a woman brought to the station for driving under the influence and took heat for reinstating officer Jesus Menocal Jr., who later pleaded guilty to coercing women into sex while on duty. At least one of Menocal's alleged victims was underage.

Velazquez also survived an 18-month FDLE investigation into alleged criminal misconduct, including accusations that he set fire to a car owned by a man dating his ex-girlfriend. No charges were filed.

Hialeah Mayor Jacqueline Garcia-Roves did not return a message from New Times seeking comment.

Since leaving the chief gig, Velazquez reportedly worked as an electrician — because naturally, when you're done overseeing a police force, rewiring light fixtures is the next logical move.

On Monday, FDLE transported the former police chief, whose bond is set at $30,000, to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. The SAO, Eleventh Judicial Circuit, is prosecuting the case.