A former receptionist at the Trump International Beach Resort in Sunny Isles Beach was arrested on grand theft and other charges in an alleged guest payment scheme, authorities said.
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Lukas Nicolas Varela-Torres, 23, was arrested Wednesday on charges of grand theft, organized scheme to defraud, offenses against computer users, and unlawful use of a communications device, Miami-Dade jail records showed.
According to an arrest report, Varela-Torres worked as a front desk receptionist at the resort, where an investigation was launched last week after hotel management reported irregularities involving guest payment transactions.
The investigation found guests paid for lodging and other services in cash, but Varela-Torres later voided, reversed, cancelled or modified the cash transactions and replaced them with his own card-based payments, the report said.
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Varela-Torres allegedly conducted the scheme on multiple occasions, costing the hotel credit card processing fees, the report said.
The total losses from the scheme were just over $3,100, the report said.
“I guess he worked at a hotel and he was taking the cash and voiding the transactions, and then he had an application where he was using these transactions I think to accumulate credit card points,” a prosecutor said during Varela-Torres’ bond court appearance on Thursday.
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The judge set his bond at $6,000 but noted that he has an immigration hold.