Former Miami-Dade Home Depot manager accused of scheme causing the company to lose over $4 million, police say

A former Home Depot manager is accused of running a fraud scheme at the two stores he worked for in Miami, leading the company to lose over four million dollars, prosecutors say.

Mauricio Jimenez, 48, is facing organized fraud and first-degree grand theft charges for allegedly running this scheme for 28 months, from December 2023 until April 2026, according to his arrest report.

The arrest report alleges that he was marking down multiple items and stacking them on orders for the accounts that he would repeatedly personally deal with.

The store first noticed it when Jimenez was working at a location in Hialeah, but it took a dramatic upturn after he moved to his current store in Flagler, the report alleges.

Jimenez appeared in bond court on Wednesday, with his attorney telling the court that he was not stealing.

"Your honor, there's nothing that says that he is receiving any kickbacks, like he was getting any benefit from this," Melissa Ramos, his defense attorney, said.

Prosecutors, on the other hand, argued that it was more than just discounts.

"By increasing his sales using those discounts, he was compensated with larger bonuses. So I believe that there would be probable cause on both counts," the prosecutor said.

In the arrest form, it said that the markdowns created a "negative sales margin of about $4.3 million for these accounts." Detectives say this "indicates that not only was no money made on these sales, but it cost the Home Depot over 4 million dollars to sell to these accounts."

Judge Mindy Glazer found probable cause, stating, "he was compensated by Home Depot with larger bonuses because of higher sales."

She set his bond at $15,000 and ordered him to stay away from Home Depot. He has since bonded out of jail and was released from custody.