A mother and son from South Florida are facing felony charges after police say they drained more than $620,000 from a Medley company to pay for a pretty lavish lifestyle. Their names are Maria Rodriguez, 60, and Miguel Antonio Perez, 34, and they were arrested on August 19, 2026, in Miami Beach.
The company involved is Iron Container Holdings, which makes metal containers and dumpsters. And here’s the thing, Rodriguez wasn’t just some random employee. She was the company’s president.
How She Allegedly Pulled It Off
According to police, Rodriguez had full access to the company’s financial accounts, credit cards, records, and payroll. That’s a lot of trust for one person to hold, and investigators say she used it to move company money toward personal expenses while writing the purchases off in the books as regular business costs.
The spending list is honestly wild. Police say the money went toward a Brickell condo, an elite gym membership, designer clothing from Saks Fifth Avenue, car insurance, and even legal fees. On top of that, there were rentals for a luxury yacht and a Mercedes-Benz S-Class thrown in too.
The Security Guard Job That Wasn’t
Here’s where her son comes in. Rodriguez allegedly hired Perez as a security guard for the company, starting him off at $42,000 a year. Later, she made the job remote and bumped his salary way up to $114,000.
Except, according to investigators, Perez never actually did any security work. The company didn’t even have office security guards to begin with. Detectives found his access card and computer login hadn’t been used since 2022, and they turned up 49 separate instances where Perez was checked into a gym at the same time he was supposedly on the clock working.
How the Investigation Started
This all came out of something called Operation Iron Illusion, which Medley Police launched back in April 2025 after the company reported financial fraud. The scheme itself is alleged to have run from 2020 to 2025, a full five-year stretch.
Detectives went through credit card statements, payroll records, and other company files to piece together the pattern. Once they had it mapped out, they moved in on the arrests.
Where the Case Stands
Rodriguez and Perez now face felony charges, including organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, and conspiracy to commit organized scheme to defraud. Both were held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with bond set at $30,000 each.
A Medley police spokesperson made a point of saying that fraud like this always leaves some kind of trail behind, and that those trails can be followed. Right now, the charges are still just allegations, nothing has been proven in court yet. But police say they plan to keep digging into similar cases involving local businesses going forward.