The police arrested five Cubans from Miami-Dade who were members of a gang that was dedicated to stealing from retail businesses in 13 Florida countiesin the last two years.
The suspects were identified as Maike Acosta of Guns47 years old; Lázaro Santiago Acosta de Armas45; Yusser Echemendia Rodriguez42; Elías Ramos Hernández, 48; and Honasi Diaz Santos47 years old, all from Miami-Dade County, as announced this Tuesday by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) in a statement.
According to the FDLE, the five detainees participated in a organized fraud scheme of theft in large-scale retail businesses.
Cubans face multiple serious crime chargesincluding organized scheme to defraud $50,000 or more and retail theft of multiple items within a 30-day span, at multiple locations.
The investigation began in July 2022, when Miami FDLE agents reviewed a complaint that led them to detect 53 robberies in 13 counties: Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Collier, Indian River, Lee, Martin, Miami-Dade, Orange, Palm Beach, Sarasota, St. Lucie y Volusia.
According to the FDLE statement, “the gang of organized thieves participated in a systematic scheme to defraud totaling more than $55,000 in losses for the company.”
Authorities explained that “the plan was to abuse the online wallet system and steal items that the suspects claimed to have already purchased online” and then “‘return’ the stolen merchandise to stores in different locations using Internet receipts.” ”.
The investigation of the events was carried out by the Miami Organized Crime Squad of the FDLE, with the help of the Retail Crime Squad of the Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD).
Attorney General Ashley Moody said: “This criminal group committed more than 53 robberies in 13 Florida counties, stealing thousands of dollars in merchandise in a systematic fraudulent scheme. In Florida we pursue organized retail thieves, and now this nefarious group, thanks to the work of our police collaborators, will have to answer for their crimes.”
The five suspects remain behind bars in different jails in Miami-Dade and Broward. It is known that, in previous years, several of them had already committed Similar crimes at South Florida retail stores.
The FDLE statement stated this Tuesday that Lázaro Santiago Acosta de Armas was arrested by Miami-Dade police earlier this year on unrelated charges and is booked into the Metro West Detention Center, without the right to bail.
Echemendía Rodríguez was arrested by the Broward Sheriff’s Office on March 25 and booked into the county jail, also without bail. In April 2023, the Cuban had been arrested by Miami-Dade police on charges related to fraudulent orders and refunds at more than 70 Home Depot stores in Florida and Illinois.
Maike Acosta de Armas, with a criminal history that includes multiple arrests in previous yearsand Ramos Hernández were arrested on March 27 and held at the Turner Guilford Knight Detention Center, also without bail.
Likewise, Díaz Santos is in the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections.
Last October, the Miami-Dade Police Department announced the arrest of more than a dozen people, accused of orchestrating an organized large-scale retail theft scheme in South Florida, which caused more than $20 million in losses to that sector in 2023 alone.
