Rosendo “Ross” Prieto, who previously served as a municipal official in Florida and once told Champlain Towers South board members that their building was in “very good shape,” has left his new job.
A Doral spokesman confirmed Prieto is presently on a leave of absence from a contracting business position that offers services to the city. Prieto assured Champlain Towers South board members in 2018 that their property was solid, a claim which followed an engineering company’s warning that it possessed structural deficiencies. The firm said sizeable repairs were needed to fix the building’s various issues.
Efforts to reach Prieto by telephone and email since the Surfside condominium collapsed last week have not been successful. He left his Surfside job in November.
The Champlain Towers South collapse has left at least 16 people confirmed dead and 147 still unaccounted for.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.