The Orange County Criminal Lawyer Blog
Two PortMiami employees are facing several charges after they were allegedly caught on camera stealing art pieces worth over $50,000 from their job site.
According to reports, public artwork made of marble and crafted into mosaics with depictions of different marine life in the center decorated the walls in PortMiami’s Terminal G. On May 12, some of the mosaics began to go missing. Eleven days later, someone notified the authorities about the situation, and the Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation.
The terminal has security cameras, and on May 27, deputies started looking through the footage. They reported that an individual was seen taking the art off the walls, and it appeared as if they hid the pieces until they were later able to put them in a vehicle and take them from the premises. The deputies believed the suspect was an employee who works as a custodian at the port, and that the car the items were loaded into belonged to one of his coworkers. They searched the man’s home and reported that they found 12 of the pieces, and added that both suspects allegedly admitted they took the mosaics.
Both parties were taken into custody and booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. The man is facing preliminary charges of second-degree grand theft over $20,000 and under $100,000, and criminal mischief of $1,000 or more, and the woman is accused of second-degree grand theft over $20,000 and under $$100,000. According to facility records, at the time this was written, they were both still incarcerated.
It was reported that 24 art pieces with an estimated total value of over $50,000 were removed, and half of them were broken and/or damaged during the alleged attempted theft.
If you or someone you love is suspected of a theft offense, contact Orange County criminal defense lawyer Staycie R. Sena at (949) 477-8088 for a consultation now.