‘Twice Crime!’ Virginia Authorities Jail Miami-Dade Residents In Connection With Massive Cigarette, Box Truck Theft
Miami-Dade County, Florida – Two males from Miami-Dade were apprehended in South Florida and are being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center pending their extradition to Virginia.
That state’s police said on Monday that they were part of a big cigarette theft utilizing a pilfered box truck, which sparked an interstate probe.
Alberto Rico Perez, 31, of Miami Gardens, and Ramon Izquierdo, 57, of Hialeah, are both charged with several crimes.
According to the police, the theft took place at a wholesaler on March 23 in Culpeper, a northern Virginia town located about 1.5 hours west of Washington, D.C.
Five masked individuals broke into the establishment at around nine o’clock at night, stole a substantial quantity of cigarette cartons, and then took off using a hired box truck, according to the Culpeper Police Department.
Following an investigation, law officers from Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and South Carolina, as well as the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, joined Virginia and Florida officials, according to a press statement.
The box truck was eventually located and recovered, according to police.
Izquierdo and Rico Perez were reportedly apprehended by Doral police on Friday, with assistance from the Miami-Dade County Fugitive Task Force, according to authorities.
In the news release, Culpeper police Chief Chris Settle stated that the culprits were identified through the use of “emerging technology and dogged investigative determination” by the authorities.
The two South Florida males are scheduled to appear in court in Virginia on two counts of felony grand larceny each, in addition to allegations of burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary.
Izquierdo was on probation in South Florida following convictions for money laundering and cocaine trafficking in 2022, according to documents from Miami-Dade jail and the Florida Department of Corrections.