The group home brings fear to the southern neighborhood of Miami-Dade County

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – The surveillance video shows a resident of a group’s house making his way to a neighbor’s house. Many in the southern neighborhood of Miami-Dade County said the group’s home poses security issues.

The video shows a man, who was trembling intensely, knocking on the front door of a house in the area southwest of 325th Street. Omar Chargui said his wife opened the door because she believed the man was there to deliver a package. He was a resident of a group house and he broke into his house.

“My wife starts screaming frantically. I get out of the shower. She enters the room and says, ‘There’s a man! There is a man! A stranger in the house! My heart is pounding, ”said Chargui. “All kinds of images come to mind. I open the bedroom door. I see the man right there. ”

Chargui, a correctional officer, said he decided to take up arms. He said he watched the intruder and realized he had mental health issues. The man asked Chargui to call the police. Chargui said he promised to help him and escorted him to the door.

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“He kept spitting, and then he ran away,” Chargui said.

Chargui said the man was hospitalized under Baker law, but days later he returned to the stable and the group’s home. Chargui later learned that among the residents of the group’s home were convicted sex predators and criminals.

The group’s home, which is licensed by the Florida Agency for Persons with Disabilities, is under investigation. An agency representative reported that four residents lived in the group’s home. According to the Florida Police Department, two of them are registered sex offenders.

Chargui isn’t the only one who has a story to tell. Other neighbors in the group’s home said the neighbors walk unattended, so parents have decided not to allow their children to play outside. Some of the neighbors said they live in fear.

Tyrome Burton said some neighbors were proactive and distributed and showed leaflets showing the background of the group’s home residents.

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“These guys were coming, knocking them down and they were crazy, and you see them coming looking for the steering wheels,” Burton said. “There’s no concern in this neighborhood other than that house.”

No one in the group’s home spoke to Local 10 News. Records show that Eartha Mays, also known as Eartha Fagan, is the owner / operator of the group’s home. Mays owns Angel Heart Support Services and is licensed for five group homes.

“I won’t answer anyone,” Mays wrote in an email.

According to a 2019 administrative complaint, the Florida Department of Children and Family found that Mays committed financial exploitation by misusing residents ’funds. An agreement was reached in this case. Judicial records show Mays facing an unlawful death lawsuit after a resident of one of his group homes was shot dead in 2019.

The Miami-Dade Department of Economic and Regulatory Resources determined that the group’s home meets the zoning and code requirements.