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A Cuban woman is facing multiple charges after paying a man to falsely confess to a violent robbery committed by her boyfriend at a store in Hialeah last November, authorities said.
Daiselys Barbosa, 31 years old and a resident of the same city, was arrested on Thursday, January 29, accused of three serious charges: concealment after a crime, tampering with evidence, and tampering with witnesses, according to a report from Local 10 News, citing official sources.
Barbosa attempted to cover for her boyfriend, Suniel Arzola, who was arrested for stealing from a grocery store in Hialeah and destroying his gaming machines in a fit of rage after losing $3,800 on November 30, 2025.
On January 24, nearly two months after the assault, Barbosa went to the Hialeah Police Department accompanied by a man, whom she reported as the true perpetrator of the armed robbery at RC La Atenas Market & Smoke Shop, located in a warehouse area at the corner of East 10th Avenue and 32nd Street.
According to the police report consulted by CiberCuba, the woman stated that the individual, identified as Francisco Ayala, “was drunk and had confessed to her that he committed the robbery and not her boyfriend.”
When the detectives took Mr. Ayala's statement, they asked him where the robbery had occurred, to which he replied, "I don't know, she will tell you," pointing to Barbosa.
Later, when questioned about whether he had committed the robbery, the man said yes while "repeatedly blinking one eye," a gesture that revealed his deceit.
Finally, he revealed that Barbosa had paid him $4,000 to "show up and take responsibility."
On January 29, the agents summoned Barbosa to the police station and arrested her. She was subsequently taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with a bond set at $10,000 USD.
Details of a robbery
Shortly after 11:45 p.m. on November 30, Suniel Arzola, 46, burst into the store with his face covered and armed with a sledgehammer; he "jumped over the counter," took the employee's mobile phone, and forced her into the bathroom.
After that, he destroyed at least four slot machines and took the money they contained; he robbed the cash area and the counter, and stole the employee's purse.
Surveillance cameras captured Arzola escaping the scene on a bicycle. During the getaway, he dropped an object in the parking lot.
Later, the moment was also captured on video when a woman -later identified as Barbosa- arrived at the scene driving a 2011 Dodge Ram truck, got out of the vehicle, and picked up the object, which was none other than the hammer with which Arzola had smashed the gaming machines during the heist.
That lead took investigators to a nearby warehouse, registered in Arzola's name. At the facility, they found the suspect and his girlfriend, and both were taken in for questioning.
The woman told the police that her partner had been absent from the store "for a few hours the night of the robbery and returned just before midnight."
He also noted that on that same night he had driven to the store where the robbery took place to play on the machines, when "he saw a hammer on the ground and picked it up." Then, he returned to the vehicle and disposed of the hammer, "according to her, for no apparent reason," the police report states.
When questioned, Arzola denied having participated in the robbery, but he admitted to losing $3,800 that same day in the gaming machines at the establishment.
With the information and evidence gathered, the police charged him with armed robbery, illegal detention with a deadly weapon, and property damage, according to court records from Miami-Dade County.
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