To elderly Cuban exiles desperate to get loved ones out of Cuba, Maria Elena Lorenzo seemed to be a miracle worker who used political contacts, personal savvy and a lot of their hard-earned cash to work speedy family reunions.

Yet after more than a year -- and with some $60,000 in personal savings unaccounted for -- not a single relative has been brought to the United States.

On Tuesday, Miami-Dade police arrested Lorenzo, 47, of 3072 NW 16th St., on organized fraud charges. She spent Christmas in the Dade County Jail before posting $34,000 in bail.

Lorenzo could not be reached for comment Friday, but her daughter Maria Quintanal said her mother did nothing wrong.

``Here we don't do anything that is illegitimate,'' she said.

Police say the smooth-talking Lorenzo claimed to run an immigration center out of her former home in Hialeah, 859 E. 39th Pl. Lorenzo had several stories, telling some people she worked for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service while others were led to believe that her success was based on cozy government contacts.

``A very nice person,'' said Eumelia Fernandez, 63. ``She was very diplomatic. For me she was a very religious person because she had a statue of Saint Barbara in the living room.''

Fernandez said she hired Lorenzo in fall 1995 to get her three sons out of Cuba on the recommendation of a friend who believed he was getting good results through her services.

Lorenzo pledged to get the three men out of Cuba in a month. Her fee: $7,500. Fernandez scraped together $7,300 from her husband's disability checks and promised to pay the balance when her sons arrived.

But after more than a year of waiting and several encounters with other dissatisfied customers at Lorenzo's home, Fernandez began to lose hope.

She turned to an attorney for help, paying $175 for three letters demanding a refund. Lorenzo agreed to pay and issued a check -- but the checks she gave to Fernandez and other unhappy customers all bounced.

Since then, one of Fernandez's sons has arrived in Florida through legal means and another son has just been awarded a visa.

Police have identified six scam victims -- three in unincorporated Miami-Dade, one in the city of Miami and two others in New Jersey. But they believe there are more.

``They are obviously very sad,'' said Detective Frank Carollo of Miami-Dade Police. ``They have lost the hope that they had of having their family members here in the states, and second of all, they feel defrauded of their money which they worked very hard for.''