TAVERNIER – A massive bust out of South Florida, as the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office joined forces with Miami-Dade Law enforcement to arrest 10 guys they say are linked to a substantial theft ring.
“In this crime spree, we have billed 122 prison fees in Monroe by yourself, mentioned Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay.
Deputies say they ended up tipped off about many Garmin maritime GPS thefts back again in March and kicked off their formal investigation in May well.
They say various marinas across 17 counties have been qualified.
Deputies decided that 19-yr-previous Juan Felipe Villegas and 22-12 months-old Lazaro Gonzalez Munos have been the leaders of the ring and say that at the very least a person of them was out on bond for a identical criminal offense when they have been taken into custody.
“This is a well-organized group that is not going to take no for an remedy, you should not care about remaining arrested and our on bond — the up coming night, they are doing it again,” stated Sheriff Ramsay.
Law enforcement say the suspects would sneak into marinas and steal the GPS’s, believed to be truly worth about $5,000 each, then sell them.
They say the suspects stole a lot more than $2.5 million value of GPS’s.
By their investigation, police acquired text messages from Villegas instructing his associates to stay away from places he highlighted in red on a Florida map, stating they ended up police sizzling spots, while declaring regions circled blue have been safer to target.
“This is sending messages out to their area troops about where by to go, exactly where not to go. What is sizzling, what is not. Again, quite very well structured,” mentioned Sheriff Ramsay.
In the long run, the ring leaders were being apprehended in Collier County with the help of their sheriff’s office.
Law enforcement are nonetheless looking for just one suspect, 53-yr-aged Milton Gonzalez Gil and are asking anyone who understands his whereabouts to come ahead.
