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

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

The video shows a man, who was shaking profusely, knocking on the front door of a house in the Southwest 325th Street area. Omar Chargui said his wife opened the door because she believed the man was there to deliver a package. He was a resident of the house, and he entered their house.

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

Chargui, a correction officer, said he decided to grab his gun. He said he noticed the intruder and realized he had mental health problems. The man asked Chargui to call the police. Chargui said he promised to help them escort him to the door.

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“He continued to spit and then ran away,” Chargui said.

Chargui said the man was hospitalized behind the Baker Act, but a few days later returned to the block and the group’s home. Chargui later learned that the group’s occupants included convicted sex offenders 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 live in the group’s home. According to the Florida Law Enforcement Department, two of them are registered sex offenders.

Chargui is not the only one with a story to tell. Other neighbors of the group’s house said the residents were walking unattended, so the parents decided not to allow the children to play outside. Some of the neighbors said they lived in fear.

Tyrome Burton said some neighbors were proactive and distributed and displayed flyers showing the background of the group’s residents.

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“These guys were coming and tearing them apart and they were crazy and you could see them coming and looking for butterflies,” Burton said. “There are no worries in this neighborhood other than that house.”

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

“I will not answer anyone,” Mays wrote in an email.

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

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