Lazaro Echevarria, a suspect in a massive Home Depot retail theft ring, appears in Miami-Dade bond court.
It's that time of the year again when we say goodbye to 2024 and get ready to usher in 2025.
It's a time for nostalgia and reflection, but what's the New Year's holiday without a round-up of some of the most shocking schemes and thefts that happened in the Sunshine State this year?
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Here are five stories that shocked South Florida:
Home Depot loss prevention officer among 3 arrested in massive retail theft ring: MDPD
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A Home Depot loss prevention officer was among three suspects who were arrested in a massive retail theft ring in Miami-Dade, police said.
Back in April, Miami-Dade Police announced the arrests after a months-long investigation into a group accused of stealing items at Home Depot stores throughout the county before they allegedly re-sold the merchandise.
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According to an arrest report, 37-year-old Lazaro Dunier Echevarria, a loss prevention officer for Home Depot, helped steal "from the very stores that he is paid to protect."
Police said Echevarria would conceal merchandise in boxes intended for other items like vanities or garbage cans, which would allow 44-year-old Jose Bello-Valdez to leave the stores without paying.
The items were then sold to 44-year-old Yoannys Montano-Solano, who would resell them online at places like Facebook Marketplace and OfferUp for prices well below retail value, police said.
Read the full story here.
President of Turnberry on the Green condo association arrested in $1.5M theft
The president of a luxury condo association in Aventura was arrested for allegedly embezzling over $1.5 million from the association over a period of several years, authorities said.
Gregori Arzumanov, the president of the Turnberry On the Green Condominiums, a luxury high-rise overlooking the exclusive Turnberry Isle Country Club and across the street from Aventura Mall, was arrested in October, records showed.
Arzumanov was booked on charges including racketeering, organized fraud, money laundering, grand theft, and fraudulent use of a credit card.
According to the association's website, Arzumanov has lived at Turnberry on the Green since 2004 and was elected board president in 2008.
Read the full story here.
Miami man among 2 charged in $230 million cryptocurrency theft and laundering scam
A Miami man faced charges after authorities said he teamed up with a California man in a scam to steal and launder over $230 million in cryptocurrency.
Malone Lam, 20, and 21-year-old Jeandiel Serrano, of Los Angeles, were arrested by the FBI in September, The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said.
The arrest was apparently connected with an FBI raid of a waterfront home in the area of Northeast 83rd Street and N. Bayshore Drive.
Lam, who lives in Miami but is a citizen of Singapore and who goes by the online monikers "Anne Hathaway" and "$$$," and Serrano, who uses "VersaceGod" and "@SkidStar," had worked with others since at least August to carry out cryptocurrency thefts and to launder the stolen crypto currency through exchanges and mixing services, authorities said.
Read the full story here.
Broward woman pleads guilty in $190 million Ponzi scheme, sentenced to 20 years in prison
A South Florida woman will spend the next 20 years in prison for leading a nearly $200 million Ponzi scheme that defrauded several investors.
Earlier this month, a judge sentenced 41-year-old Johanna Garcia to 20 years in prison. Garcia, the former CEO of MJ Capital Funding, LLC pled guilty for her role in a $190,700,000 Ponzi scheme that defrauded several investors.
A Ponzi scheme often starts when a person offers to invest someone else's money, and investors are promised a consistent high return.
The scam pays early investors with money taken from later investors to create an illusion of big profits. The indictment says Garcia and her co-conspirators falsely promised returns of 120%.
Prosecutors said the scheme lasted from October 2020 through August 2021.
Read the full story here.
2nd suspect in $100K chicken theft also suspected in $400K meat heist: Police
A Hialeah man was a suspect arrested in connection with the theft of a tractor-trailer containing around $100,000 worth of poultry products, and police say he's a suspect in a separate $400,000 meat theft.
Jorge Lyen Blanco-Diaz, 38, was arrested in October on charges including grand theft of cargo, grand theft of a vehicle and unlawful use of a communications device, records show.
A second man, 49-year-old Raul Bello, was arrested on the same charges in connection with the chicken caper.
The theft happened back on Sept. 15 when the tractor-trailer was stolen near the driver's home in the area of Old State Road 9 and Northwest 155th Lane in Miami.
According to an arrest report, the driver said he'd been alerted by his sister that the truck, worth $60,000, and trailer, worth $80,000, were gone.
Inside was assorted frozen poultry valued at $100,000, the report said.
Read the full story here.
