Miami – April 1, 2025 – Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle and Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz announce the charging of 43-year-old Cedric Lee Pharr and 42-year-old Luis Maldonado after the Miami-Dade County State Attorney’s Office Public Corruption Task Force received a complaint from the Drug Court program about possible manipulation of the drug testing results presented to the court.

“When I helped create Miami-Dade County’s Drug Court program, the first therapeutic court program in America, the goal was to help low-level drug offenders kick their drug habits, come back to their families, and successfully remerge into our community. The criminal court’s oversight has helped thousands beat addiction,” said State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. “The alleged actions of Pharr and Maldonado deliberately undermined these goals, insulting our community’s goodwill and corrupting our criminal court processes just for a few measly dollars.”

In late August 2024, MDSO Public Corruption Section was informed that Pharr, a 6-month employee of the company that provides services for Drug Court, was manipulating the urine test process. Earlier in August, after a routine Drug Court urine test and court appearance, Maldonado was in court with his mother and his girlfriend. During the court hearing, Maldonado’s mother presented evidence to the Drug Court that Pharr was allegedly receiving payments from Maldonado, approximately $375 in small $20 or $30 amounts, for clean test results.

“The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office (MDSO) works to investigate allegations of corruption, misconduct, and criminal activities involving public officials and those in positions of trust,” said Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz. “These individuals’ actions are a betrayal of the trust placed on them by our community and specifically those seeking remedy from drug addiction. The collaboration of MDSO and the Miami-Dade State  Attorney’s Office leads to comprehensive investigations and the effective prosecution of public corruption cases. Public corruption of any kind will not be tolerated.”

In 12 drug tests, Pharr allegedly certified that Maldonado was negative for all tested substances despite the mother’s representation that Maldonado was still abusing drugs. Subpoenas indicated that both Pharr and Maldonado were verified on the CashApp money transfer application at the time of these transactions with 14 transactions made to Pharr’s personal CashApp account. Ten of these transactions occurred on the same day Maldonado was tested, and one occurred the day after a test. Per the records from CashApp, prior to the 3/25/2024 payment, there were no transactions between Pharr and Maldonado. Additionally, there is no record of any continued transactions after the
8/07/2024 payment.

Maldonado’s mother desperately wanted her son to stop using drugs, which he had not done. Maldonado needed to have negative drug test results to “graduate” from the program and have the criminal court loosen its jurisdiction.