A 76-year-old Miami-Dade woman was allegedly confined to a home that reached 112 degrees earlier this month after her own son and son-in-law remotely locked the thermostat, restricted her access to food, and threatened to evict her from a house she once owned. Federico Caso, 45, and Peter Sevastopoulos, 44, now face felony elder abuse charges tied to the alleged scheme.
According to WPLG Local 10, investigators said the two men intentionally committed acts reasonably expected to cause the woman physical or psychological injury. Caso is described as the victim’s son, while Sevastopoulos is her son-in-law and Caso’s brother-in-law, and both men lived with her in the Miami-Dade home. The outlet reported that home temperatures reached as high as 112 degrees on August 21, during hours investigators say spanned 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Thermostat Locked Remotely as Heat Advisory Stretched Across the County
Investigators say Caso and Sevastopoulos placed a remote lock on the thermostat that prevented the woman from lowering the temperature herself, and that they set the air conditioning to 80 degrees before leaving for work. The station’s report notes that surveillance cameras in the home were monitored by the two men, and that the woman feared leaving her bedroom. She reportedly does not have a vehicle or the ability to drive, limiting her options to escape the heat on her own.
The alleged conditions unfolded as the National Weather Service issued an advisory for Miami-Dade County during a stretch of extreme heat. Hoodline reported that same week that the region’s heat index climbed toward 112 degrees, part of a broader mid-August heatwave in which the National Weather Service issued consecutive daily Heat Advisories across Miami-Dade and Broward counties as peak heat index values reached 108°F to 112°F. Since 2023, the National Weather Service’s Miami office has used a lower local threshold for the county, triggering Heat Advisories at a 105-degree heat index and Excessive Heat Warnings at 110, a standard meant to protect the region’s dense, vulnerable population.
Food Restrictions and Threats to Evict
Beyond the thermostat, the woman was reportedly not allowed to use the refrigerator, microwave, stove, or oven in the home, and was limited to a small mini refrigerator and a bedroom-closet shelf for dry food. Per the arrest report cited by the outlet, she was scolded and cursed at when the men saw her doing something they did not allow, and Caso and Sevastopoulos allegedly threatened to evict her if she did not begin paying rent. The living arrangement had no legal lease, and the home had once been owned by the victim herself…