Miami A former employee of the county-owned Jackson Health System is facing criminal charges after Miami-Dade County prosecutors say he awarded contracts to vendors in exchange for cash and gifts.
Officials with the Miami-Dade County Prosecutor’s Office announced in a news release Tuesday that Heriberto Martinez, a former assistant director of engineering at JHS, has been indicted on charges of illegal compensation.
Prosecutors said Martinez, 36, was responsible for evaluating and fulfilling contracts for small construction projects.
Authorities said the investigation into Martinez was launched after an internal audit “raised serious concerns.”
He is accused of receiving “cash payments and gifts from certain vendors” and awarding JHS contracts to “several companies allegedly owned or operated by this vendor.”
“The investigation revealed that Mr. Martinez initially advised this vendor to enter into a contract with JHS,” officials said. “The vendor then submitted multiple bids to Mr. Martinez from various so-called ‘independent’ companies that it owned and operated to bid on the same contract. This approach ensured that the vendor would be awarded the contract.”
In exchange, the sellers gave Martinez cash, football tickets and airline tickets. Authorities say an examination of his checking account in 2020 and 2021 revealed at least 19 “large cash deposits” totaling $65,610.
The contractor, whose name prosecutors did not release, is “cooperating with the criminal investigation in this case,” the official said.
Miami-Dade County Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement that Martinez’s actions were “unfortunate and regrettable.”
“These alleged gifts ultimately came out of Miami-Dade County taxpayers’ pockets. This type of conduct is not a mistake or error of judgment — it is a crime,” she said in a news release. “I commend Jackson Health System for its actions in uncovering this crime and working closely with Miami-Dade Police and prosecutors from the State Attorney’s Office Corruption Unit to ensure this type of conduct does not occur again.”
JHS CEO Carlos A. Migoya, meanwhile, said the former employee’s actions “undermine our commitment to be good stewards of public funds” and said in a news release that the system has a “zero tolerance policy toward this type of egregious misconduct.”
“This issue was discovered during our internal audit process and is a testament to the strong controls we have in place to ensure our team members adhere to the highest standards of integrity and accountability,” he said.
Martinez is not listed in Miami-Dade County Jail records, and an arrest photograph from his arrest was not available as of late Tuesday morning.
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