A Cuban man has been arrested by police for allegedly committing robberies at Home Depot stores throughout Miami-Dade County for eight consecutive days.
According to police reports referenced by NBC6 South Florida, Ruben Enrique Gutierrez Jimenez, 33, a suspected serial thief, was arrested last Friday for his crimes at businesses located in Hialeah and Hialeah Gardens.
The police investigation revealed that beginning on March 7, Gutierrez stole numerous power tools valued at thousands of dollars from Home Depot stores in two South Florida cities.
In the first robbery, the defendant entered the store located at 950 Southeast 12th Street in Hialeah and left with two grinders valued at $328, which he did not purchase, loaded into a shopping cart.
The next day, he returned to the store and stole two grinders and a heat gun, valued at $417, without paying the bill. On March 8, he also visited the Home Depot located at 13895 W. Okeechobee Road in Hialeah Gardens, where he stole two drills and a hammer drill, valued at $447.
On the 9th, Gutierrez resumed his shoplifting activities at the same Hialeah Gardens store, where he took a drill, an impact wrench, and a circular saw, collectively valued at $597.
On the 11th, he stole several instruments valued at $756 from the branch located on Southeast 12th Street in Hialeah.
Upon returning to that store on March 14, an investigator from that retail chain recognized her car, a gray 2021 Hyundai Elantra, parked outside.
Gutierrez left the Home Depot pushing a cart full of power tools valued at $996. As he walked to his vehicle, officers stopped him.
Investigators discovered that the defendant had conducted seven pawn transactions in Hialeah, posing as the owner of the stolen property.
Police records indicate that Gutierrez has been charged with crimes including theft, trafficking in stolen goods, and providing evidence of fraudulent ownership or using a falsified or altered identification.
