GPS Leads Police to Suspects in Miami-Dade Jewelry Store Burglary

Burglars carved a hole through the neighboring business into a jewelry store and dismantled the alarm system. The suspects ransacked the room and then attached a hook and steel cable to the store safe, which attached to a stolen tow truck parked right outside the front door. The burglars pulled the safe through the front door, and sped away with the safe.

The owner of the tow truck had a GPS device on the truck and alerted the police to t he location of the truck near a warehouse in Hialeah Gardens. When police arrived, they saw the truck backing into a garage.

Four men ran, but police were able to arrest two, one of whom, Ariel Hernandez, 37, is pictured above, and the other, Michel Avila Delanuez, was taken to a local hospital.

There have been five other recent cases in South Florida in which burglars have used flat bed or tow trucks to remove or attempt to remove safes from jewelry stores, two of which were previously featured in JSA Crime Alerts dated 09/22/23 and 08/18/23. If you have information, contact JSA at 212-687-0328 or jsa2@jewelerssecurity.org.