A pair of accused jewel thieves were caught lounging at a four-star Miami Beach hotel just days after police said they walked off with $1.7 million in valuables from a Tennessee retailer.
Orlando Valdes Hernandez, 34, and Milleni Garcia, 38, were picked up at the Grand Beach Hotel on Sunday and charged in the Oct. 23 heist at Dubai Jewelry in Nashville, where cameras caught the pair wearing flimsy disguises, the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department said in a press release Tuesday.
Police said they’re still looking for a third man believed to be involved in the robbery, who was photographed wearing a wool hat, sunglasses and dreadlocks, the department said.
“The investigation shows that the two entered the store and began asking about rings,” the release said. “A few minutes later, their unidentified accomplice arrived. Moments later, Valdes Hernandez jumped the counter, pepper sprayed one of the employees and then forced that person into the back room where another employee was working.
“Valdes-Hernandez pulled a pistol and demanded that both employees get on the ground and not move. As he held the victims at gunpoint, Garcia and the other man stole jewelry and gold from the display cases. Valdes-Hernandez is accused of helping himself to additional jewelry in the store.”
Police said Nashville detectives conducted “extensive social media research” to identify the two suspects, and tracked them down to the ritzy waterfront hotel.
They notified the Miami Beach Police Department, who picked them up.
Cops said some of the jewelry and a blonde wig believed to be the same one Garcia is seen wearing in surveillance footage were found inside the hotel room.
Both are being held without bail in Miami pending extradition back to Tennessee on robbery, theft, assault and aggravated kidnapping charges.
Police ask anyone with information on the third suspect to call Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463.
