Hialeah Council candidate once accused of ripping off restaurant where he worked

When Elias Montes de Oca launched his campaign in July to unseat Hialeah Council President Monica Perez, he was practically an unknown political candidate. But now his candidacy is a recurring topic in the City of Progress, where an old police file documenting an ex-employer’s fraud accusation has come to light.

Police reports provided by the Hialeah Police Department to el Nuevo Herald state that Montes de Oca “washed” the front of a check from La Fresa Francesa restaurant in 2018 to add more than $1,000 in value and make it out to himself. The case was opened that December after a routine review of the Hialeah restaurant’s financial records revealed that the check had been altered and then deposited in an account belonging to the former employee.

According to police, manager Cleiser Calcines explained that Montes de Oca had somehow acquired and deposited check #3877. She said the check was originally made out in August of 2018 to Bush Brothers, a butcher shop that provides supplies to the restaurant, in the amount of $699.12 — but was deposited months later with a value of $1,750 into a JP Morgan Chase bank account belonging to Montes de Oca.

Montes de Oca, now 24, was 19 years old at the time. Calcines said he was “a good but troubled employee and was ultimately let go” that April after working at the establishment for 22 months.

Montes de Oca was neither charged nor arrested: The dispute was resolved after he repaid the stolen money, according to the report.

La Fresa Francesa stands out in Hialeah’s gastronomic ecosystem because it serves French food in the most Cuban-American city in the country, without offering rice and beans. Sandra Sanchez, one of the owners of the restaurant, told el Nuevo Herald that “of all the people in the world, I would never have thought that he would do this.”

“I felt disappointed and hurt when I found out,” she said.

El Nuevo Herald contacted Montes de Oca, who declined to comment specifically about the police file but provided a statement in a text message.

“While some choose to smear and discredit, I focus on the real issues that matter to our voters,” he said, “like the cost of water and sewer, property taxes and insurance, streets and sidewalks, the traffic.”

Montes de Oca’s explanation

Police say Montes de Oca discussed the case with a detective in early 2019 during an interview at the police station.

The police file indicates that, “after being let go,” Montes de Oca “began to engage in gay online chats and social media outlets advertising himself as a “sugar [baby]” looking for his “sugar daddy.” According to the police, the young man explained that he made extra money “by sending pornographic images of himself” and by engaging in “pornographic sexual conversation in exchange for money from the sugar daddies.”

According to the statement Montes de Oca gave to police, the check was deposited into his account after he provided his banking information to a man named “Abraham” so that he could receive payment for “engaging in the activity required of a sugar [baby].” He told police that it was Abraham who deposited the check from La Fresa Francesa and then withdrew it, according to the report.

Police wrote that Montes de Oca told them he didn’t report what happened because the bank closed his account due to “fraudulent activity.”

Avoiding arrest

The police report explains that the case was closed in early 2019 without Montes de Oca’s arrest because he and Sanchez reached a civil agreement in which he would quickly pay back the $1,750. Sanchez signed a non-prosecution form and Montes de Oca repaid the money at the Hialeah Police Station on Feb. 5, 2019 in the presence of a detective.

In an interview with el Nuevo Herald, Sanchez explained that she did not want to press charges against Montes de Oca because “he promised to return the money to me, and he did.”

“I didn’t want to harm his life. He is just a young man who made a bad choice,” she said. “I thought of him as if he were my son and I was his mentor.”

Montes de Oca has more records in Hialeah

According to public records that the Hialeah Police Department provided to el Nuevo Herald, Montes de Oca has at least 16 files, including the one alleging fraud. Among them:

▪ A verbal altercation with his mother over religion, on Oct. 18, 2020.

▪ Operating a motor vehicle or using a mobile home with an expired registration, on Aug. 28 and Nov. 20, 2019.

▪ Operating a vehicle with a suspended driver’s license on Aug. 28 and Nov. 20, 2019.

▪ No proof of driving insurance, on Aug. 28 and Nov. 20, 2019

▪ Failure to display vehicle registration, on Aug. 28 and Nov. 20, 2019

▪ A fine of $277 for violation of a traffic control device, on Aug. 11, 2022

▪ A fine of $129 for having an expired tag, on July 29, 2023.

Regarding these incidents, Montes de Oca refused to comment to el Nuevo Herald.

Montes de Oca aspires to defeat Perez, the council president, in the elections. Perez, 41, works as a mathematics and science teacher at West Hialeah Gardens Elementary School.

Of the seven Council seats in Hialeah, four were at stake in this election cycle. Two were decided without an election, as there was no opposition to councilmembers Jaqueline García-Roves (Group III) and Jesús Tundidor (II).

Perez is currently campaigning for reelection against Montes de Oca for Group I. Councilwoman Vivian Casáls-Muñoz is running in Group IV against Angelica Pacheco. The two faced each other for that position in a special election last year.

The primary election will be held on Nov. 7.