Paulette Cecilia Padilla, 31, of Miami, Florida, United States has been arrested. She was charged with organized scheme to defraud, trafficking cannabis and possession of substances with the purpose of trafficking.
Padilla lives in an apartment in Kendall, Miami-Dade County, Florida. On April 13, 2021, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents raided the apartment and found 170 pounds of marijuana stuffed in suitcases hidden in the bathroom, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
In an unrelated case, Padilla is accused of being part of a scam that targets elderly victims. She allegedly had two victims who are a woman, 86, from Chicago, Illinois, USA and another elderly woman from New York, USA.
The victim from New York received a call asking her to send $22,000 to help a family member who had been involved in an accident. Padilla received the amount on January 12, 2020.
On January 29, 2020, Padilla’s Bank of America account had $1,778.17. On January 31, 2021, $20,000 was transferred to the account from a Fifth Third Bank account.
According to the victim from Chicago, a caller told her that a family member had been involved in an accident so she had to wire $20,000. She did send the amount, which ended up in Padilla’s Bank of America account.
From the account, Padilla withdrew $1,500 on January 31, 2021, another $1,500 on February 1, 2021 and $10,000 on February 3, 2020. When a senior financial investigator with Bank of America called Padilla asked her about the $20,000 she recently received, she explained that she received it from a friend as payment for a Super Bowl party that she was organizing.
The investigator told Padilla that the wire was fraudulent. She responded, “How is that my problem?”
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Padilla earned her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in nursing from Barry University in Miami Shores, Miami-Dade County. Before working at Nu You Wellness Center, she worked as a registered nurse in a medical/surgical unit at Baptist Hospital in Kendall for eight years.
As a board-certified nurse practitioner, Padilla works at Nu You Wellness Center in Coral Gables, Miami-Dade County. She specializes in aesthetics and anti-aging medicine, including Botox injections.
CONAN Daily 