An employee of a contractor at Miami International Airport was arrested on Thursday, accused of seizing and selling a luxury watch that a passenger accidentally left on board an airplane, according to authorities.
The detained person is Carlos Elky Penton, 45 years old and a resident of Hialeah, who worked for Eulen, a contracting company responsible for servicing aircraft after passengers disembark.
It all began on June 8, when the victim arrived in Miami on an American Airlines flight from North Carolina and left behind a black leather crossbody bag on the plane that contained approximately $12,377 in valuables, including a Cartier Santos watch and a set of AirPods.
In the following days, the passenger managed to track his AirPods using an app near the airport, until the signal stopped updating.
On July 1, the victim discovered what they believed to be their watch advertised for sale on a vintage watch website based in New York.
The identification was possible thanks to a distinctive mark on the upper left part of the watch bezel, which the passenger was able to verify with their own photographs.
The detectives from the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office then traced the chain of custody of the watch through subpoenas, tracking its journey through various intermediaries: from a jewelry store in Miami it went to a local broker, then to another intermediary, and finally to the New York website where it was found.
The records from Vera Jewelry, located on Eighth Street in Miami, revealed that Penton had sold the watch just three days after the incident for $1,500, a figure substantially lower than its actual market value, which ranges between $5,900 and $7,500 for steel versions, and can exceed $12,000 for two-tone models.
Agents located Penton on Thursday behind a residence in Hialeah and proceeded to arrest him.
After renouncing his rights, Miranda, the suspect, assured investigators that he was not working the day the bag went missing and that another Eulen employee had given him the watch.
However, the arrest report states that "the defendant admitted that he does not own the watch and that he did not know who the owner was," and that "he made a personal profit by selling the watch."
Penton faces a charge of trafficking in stolen property and has been transferred to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center for processing, with bail set at $7,500.
Miami International Airport reminded, in light of the case, that "all items found on its premises must be turned over to the Miami-Dade Aviation lost and found department."
This case adds to a series of thefts committed by employees and contractors at the airport: earlier this month, two other men were arrested for stealing $27,000 worth of luggage at the same terminal, and last December, a serial thief was apprehended facing five charges of grand theft.
As of the time of the report's publication, it was unclear whether the watch had been returned to its owner.
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