Miami-Dade County authorities arrested three men of Cuban origin accused of carrying out several robberies at Home Depot stores to later sell the items at a lower price.
The arrest was the result of a joint operation between the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Organized Retail Crime Squad and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The subjects were identified as Lázaro Dunier Echevarría, 37 years old, José Bello-Valdés and Yoannys Montano-Solano, both 44 years old and residents of Miami.
According to the local media America TeVéLázaro Dunier Echevarría was a loss prevention employee at several Home Depot locations, and had been facilitating the thefts since November of last year.
The authorities’ report indicates that the employee made the thieves’ work easier by hiding the merchandise in boxes intended for other cheaper items, which allowed them to leave the store without paying the corresponding amount.
Investigators concluded that Bello-Valdés, with the help of an unidentified accomplice, stole merchandise and passed through checkouts without paying.
One of the documented incidents occurred on Nov. 3 of last year, when Bello-Valdes was at a Home Depot in Kendall. There, he took several Dewalt and Milwaukee brand tools and hid them in an empty box inside a flatbed truck, leaving without paying.
His actions were seen by an elderly man who was in the store, who alerted some Home Depot workers. They filed a complaint, which reached Echeverría. For his part, Bello-Valdés noticed the presence of an off-duty police officer, so he fled to a nearby shopping center, abandoning his vehicle.
On that occasion, Bello-Valdés managed to evade arrest by the authorities, but Echevarría, who was present during the incident, did not report the event to the police, which made him suspicious. The store managed to recover the stolen merchandise, which was valued at about $6,250.
The incident sparked an investigation, and detectives noticed a pattern among several similar robberies at Home Depot stores throughout Florida.
After months of investigation, on April 11, 2024, authorities detained Bello-Valdés as he tried to leave a store with stolen Milwaukee power tools.
Detectives determined that Bello-Valdes was selling the stolen tools to Yoannys Montano-Solano, who, in turn, was selling them online at a price well below their value.
Additionally, investigations revealed that Echeverría made a series of fraudulent returns that represented losses of almost $50,000 for the store.
Authorities searched two locations, recovering 1,240 items that were valued at more than $260,000, with some items still in their original packaging.
The three suspects are being held at the Miami-Dade County Correctional Facility, where they were charged with organized fraud valued at $50,000 or more, grand larceny in the third degree, trafficking in stolen property.
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