A former employee of a Pembroke Park business has been arrested in connection with a "large-scale" $1.1 million theft scheme, authorities said.
Byron Duran, 28, was arrested Thursday on grand theft and obtaining property by fraud charges, Broward jail records showed.
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According to police, they learned that a local shipping and e-commerce business, Cortex USA, had been alerted by an Amazon representative that a local company named "Miami Vibes" was undercutting their prices and generating significant sales in South Florida.
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Cortex USA learned that Miami Vibes was associated with Duran, their former warehouse manager who'd been employed since 2022, police said.
An internal investigation by the company revealed that Duran was stealing inventory from Cortex USA, relabeling the items as Miami Vibes, and using Cortex USA's FedEx shipping account to fulfill orders, police said.
Investigators found the scheme resulted in over $1.1 million in losses since 2022 and over $667,000 in losses in 2024 alone.
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The company confronted Duran, who admitted to the theft and agreed to repay a portion of the lost inventory, police said.
He also admitted to the scheme to police, saying he deposited the proceeds into his Wells Fargo bank account and sent some to his family in Nicaragua, police said.
Duran was booked into jail where his bond was set at $75,000. Attorney information wasn't available.
