Miami-Dade

Robbery suspect forgets a key piece of evidence at the scene: his own glove

 

Officials apprehended Carlos Caballero, accused of breaking in to a home and molesting one of its residents, a minor.

 

Carlos Caballero
Carlos Caballero

abolivar@MiamiHerald.com

The robbery suspect remembered to take some of his victims’ cellphones and managed to escape under the tracks of police.

But he left behind one of his gloves and some of the loot.

Police found it, swabbed it for DNA — and now Carlos Caballero, 46, is charged with armed burglary with assault, lewd and lascivious molestation, false imprisonment and wearing a mask or disguise.

He is being held at Miami-Dade County Jail. If convicted, he could face 10 years in prison.

Police found Caballero at his home, Northwest 20th Avenue and Seventh Street, and arrested him Saturday.

According to police, an armed Caballero did more than just break in and steal from a house at Northwest 44th Avenue and 11th Street. He also sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl, according to the arrest affidavit.

This is how police described what happened at 2:40 a.m. May 11:

Caballero — in gloves and mask and carrying a silver revolver — entered the home through a sliding glass door. He proceeded to a bedroom where he found a man sleeping.

Speaking in Spanish, he told the 42-year-old father to roll over and lie face down on the bed. Caballero bound the man’s hands and feet with a necktie and covered his face before plundering the room.

Next, police said, Caballero went to the other bedroom where two siblings slept in a bunk bed — a 14-year-old girl on the bottom bunk, her 12-year-old brother on the top. In Spanish, Caballero told the girl to turn around and cover her face with a pillow. He reached to the top of the bunk and tied up the boy with a cord. As he did so, the girl tried to use her cellphone.

When he noticed, Caballero snatched it away.

When the girl started screaming, police said Caballero pointed his gun at her with one hand and covered her mouth with the other. He told her to be quiet. Caballero took off a glove and began groping the girl through her clothing and put his hand under her pants.

Meanwhile, the father managed to free himself and confronted Caballero, who then ran outside at around 3:30 a.m., leaving with two cellphones belonging to the siblings. He put the father’s cellphone and the house phone into a pot of water in the kitchen sink, police said.

His glove remained at the house.

That piece of evidence — taken to a Miami-Dade County lab for further examination — allowed investigators to identify Caballero using his DNA and previous arrest records, said Miami Police spokesman Sgt. Freddie Cruz.

Besides the glove, the suspect also left behind a duffle bag filled with the loot he plucked from the house.

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