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A elaborate deception, false identities, and an operation that at times seemed perfectly calculated ended with an arrest and an intense police search in South Florida.
The authorities in Doral arrested one of the alleged individuals responsible for the theft of nearly two million dollars in iPhones, while his accomplice remains at large.
The case, which has drawn attention due to its audacity, occurred on March 17 at a FedEx facility in Doral, where those involved managed to take dozens of boxes filled with high-end devices after posing as employees of a logistics company.
A well-constructed deception
According to the investigation -cited by local media- the plan began before the suspects set foot in the warehouse.
The authorities indicated that those involved previously contacted FedEx posing as representatives of the company that owns the shipment.
"The suspects called Fedex claiming that they were representatives of the company Unión Logistic, stating that the business could not receive packages and that a worker would come to pick up the shipment,” police sources revealed."
Days later, one of them, identified as Robert Rashawn Soto, went to the facility with forged documents and managed to convince the staff.
"He was able to gain a person's trust and then gain access to the delivery area," explained Edwin López, the head of the Doral Police Department, at a press conference.
Access, loading, and escape
Once inside, the operation proceeded quickly. Soto and his accomplice, Jeffery Moore, 61 years old, began to remove the merchandise with the help of FedEx employees, who were unaware of the fraud.
At that moment, they began loading the merchandise onto a rented U-Haul truck. In total, they loaded 38 boxes containing nearly 1,800 iPhone 17 Pro Max, with an estimated value of $1,896,674.
However, the authorities believe that the blow could have been much greater.
"They could have been 138 boxes... it would have been much more money," the police chief warned.
The plan began to unravel when the actual manager of the logistics company arrived on-site and detected irregularities.
“I had suspicions that something was off because the delivery didn't go through, and that was not normal,” López recounted.
Although they tried to stop them, the suspects managed to escape with the cargo already loaded onto the truck.
The Fall: Technology and Tracking
The escape didn't last long. Authorities used tracking technology to follow the truck's route along Interstate 75.
The investigators used AirTags, license plate readers, and other technological means to locate the vehicle.
The U-Haul truck was finally intercepted near Gainesville, in Alachua County.
Moore, who was driving, was arrested on the spot, and all the merchandise was recovered.
"The suspect was arrested in almost record time by the authorities after tracking his movements with a tracking device," local reports indicated.
A fugitive and an open investigation
While Moore faces charges of grand theft, conspiracy, and involvement in an organized scheme to defraud -with bail set at 2.5 million dollars- his alleged accomplice remains unaccounted for.
The police have identified Soto, 49 years old, as a well-known figure in the community and have requested citizen collaboration.
"This person is known in this community in South Florida. There is someone who knows him… this person must be behind bars," insisted López.
The authorities do not rule out the possibility of some sort of internal complicity and keep the investigation open to clarify all the details of the case.
Meanwhile, the search for the second suspect continues, and authorities insist that any information could be crucial to resolving one of the most notable tech thefts recently recorded in Miami-Dade.
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