$1 million worth of medical gloves meant for hospitals were stolen. Then police got a tip
Just days after Medley detectives recovered a portion of $1 million worth of stolen medical gloves and made two arrests, police say they have found the rest of the missing PPE.
Officer Deglys Chavarria, a Medley police spokesman, said the rest of the stolen gloves were found at a warehouse Wednesday after a search warrant was issued. The warehouse was a few blocks away from where the first batch of stolen gloves were found.
The warehouse where the second batch of gloves were found, 12301 NW 116th Ave., is more than 30 miles from the Medgluv warehouse in Coral Springs, where the gloves were stolen last week. Medgluv is a medical glove supplier.
About five million medical gloves were stolen, Medgluv’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing Richard Grimes told the Miami Herald last week. He said the gloves were meant for hospitals across Florida, Ohio and Illinois.
Surveillance cameras recorded the theft, which took only minutes.
A tip led police detectives to a warehouse in Medley on Friday, where they found 11 pallets of the stolen gloves valued at $219,000, police said. They then returned to the warehouse Monday afternoon and arrested Tabit Lejardi, 39, and Michael Henao, 36, on a charge of dealing in stolen property, according to Medley police.
Detectives said the two were involved in selling the stolen gloves, and additional charges may be coming, Chavarria said. Detectives are still trying to figure out if they were involved in the actual theft.
Police say the stolen gloves found Friday and Wednesday, when combined, are worth about $1 million. All of the gloves have been returned to Medgluv.
“This is a great example of the community working with police through “see something, say something,” Chavarria said. “Without the original tip, we would have never gotten these gloves to the medical doctors that need them.”
Medley police said the investigation is far from over and that additional arrests and charges are expected. The FBI is also involved because the gloves were federally registered.
Anyone with information that can help detectives is asked to call Medley police at 305-883-2047 or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.
Miami Herald staff writer Devoun Cetoute contributed to this report.
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 4:07 PM.
