Miami cargo-theft ring stole trucks loaded with furniture, Coke, Advil, even grits
When his tractor-trailer truck, with a load of seven cars attached on a carrier, got stolen in Miami in January, a driver posted photos on Facebook pleading for help find the vehicles.
By chance, a good Samaritan saw the post — and spotted the stolen truck on the Palmetto Expressway.
He called 911. Police officers quickly recovered the rig and some of the cars. The wide-ranging investigation that followed, prosecutors say, uncovered a prolific ring of Miami cargo thieves who targeted trailers throughout Florida and Georgia.
Among their cargo haul over the past couple of years, police say: Z-Gallery furniture, Coca-Cola products, Advil, shoes, tires, Husky trash bags, knickknacks from Home Goods, Home Depot merchandise and even a load of Quaker rolled oats and grits.
Prosecutors on Monday charged 14 people in connection with the cargo thefts. The case was made by Miami-Dade police’s cargo-theft task force, along with detectives from Jacksonville, Lee and Charlotte counties and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, at an afternoon press conference, called the ring “an incredibly organized group.”
The case was made, in part, with cooperation from Roberto Macaya-Gonzalez, a member of the ring arrested in the January theft of the tractor-trailer spotted because of the Facebook post. According to an arrest warrant, Macaya-Gonzalez was arrested after he showed up to spy on police processing the tractor-trailer, which had been abandoned on the side of the road after the tipster called 911.
He led police to other members of the ring, which targeted tractor-trailers parked behind stores and in lots, the warrant said. Authorities also charged four “fences,” men who bought the stolen products for resale on the black market.
Among those charged is the suspected ringleader, Marcos Gonzalez-Bernal, and his lieutenant, Alexis Simon-Quintero.
Assistant Miami-Dade Police Director Alfredo Ramirez said seven of those charged are already in jail on unrelated crimes. More than $5 million in property has been stolen, of which cops have recovered $2.2 million worth, he said.
“There are multiple arrest warrants out now,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez said there were likely buyers in wait for most of the items, which were sold through underground networks or on the black market.
Among the evidence obtained by detectives: receipts from tow yards used to park the stolen tractor-trailers, and cellphone records placing the members of the group at the scenes of the thefts.
The ring also stole cars along the way, prosecutors said, including a 1966 Ford Mustang and an antique Chevy Camaro.
This story was originally published October 22, 2018 at 10:06 AM.