The security cameras at the Village Flea Market in Miami-Dade captured the exact moment when Felipe Llanos Colón, 59 years old, pretended to be a customer at the Franky Diamonds jewelry store, tried on a luxurious Rolex watch, and ran out with it.
This is one of the boldest robberies recorded recently in the area. So far, the nationality of the arrested person has not been revealed.
The stolen watch was an 18-carat gold Rolex Presidential with a black dial, valued at over $60,000 according to current market prices.
The owner of the establishment, known as Franky Diamonds, explained to the local press that it was “a black 18k presidential watch weighing 25 grams,” which he had purchased for $40,000 and intended to sell for $60,000.
What makes the case more intriguing is that the suspect did not act impulsively.
According to the owner, the individual had visited the establishment before: “My team saw him two days earlier, on Saturday”, which suggests that he scouted the area before carrying out the robbery.
The assault occurred on April 13, at around 1:05 p.m., at the location situated at 7900 NW 27 Ave., in the West Little River area.
The images show how, as soon as the employee handed him the watch to try on, the man took it and ran through the aisles of the market.
Pursuit and Escape
A worker from Franky Diamonds reacted immediately and chased him to the parking lot, where the suspect was already inside a U-Haul type truck.
In a desperate attempt to stop him, the employee jumped onto the hood of the vehicle and held on while the thief accelerated.
According to the report from the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Department, the suspect drove off the property through a gap in a fence onto Northwest 30th Avenue, continuing south while the victim remained clinging to the hood.
The employee was injured during the chase.
The man eventually stopped near Northwest 79th Street, abandoned the truck, and fled on foot towards the MetroRail area, managing to escape at first.
Identification and arrest
However, he made a critical mistake: he was not wearing a mask during the robbery.
The detectives sent video stills to the real-time operations center of the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Department, where facial recognition software was used to identify him.
Llanos Colón was arrested initially by Miami police last Friday at the address 1280 NW 60 St., in Liberty City, for a separate case.
Subsequently, Miami-Dade Sheriff's agents re-arrested him for the theft of the watch, and he was taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center (TGK).
On Saturday, April 19, he appeared before a judge, who ordered his house arrest with an electronic monitor and prohibited him from approaching the employee of Franky Diamonds.
The prosecutors filed two criminal cases against him/her.
In the first case, related to theft, he faces charges of second-degree grand theft and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, with a bail set at $20,000, under the jurisdiction of Circuit Judge Ariel Rodriguez.
In the second case, due to the arrest in Liberty City, he faces charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and driving with a suspended license, with a bail set at $500, under Judge Julie Nelson.
The watch, which has not yet been recovered, adds to a growing trend of luxury watch thefts in the Miami-Dade area, where the highly liquid secondary market for these pieces makes them frequent targets for thieves.
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