Police – NBC 6 South Florida
In the summer of 2021, NBC 6 received a tip about jerseys belonging to a Major League Baseball team being stolen from checked baggage at Miami International Airport. NBC 6 then submitted a public records request to the Miami-Dade Police Department in reference to reports of lost or stolen items within the time frame of June 1 to mid-August 2021.
After waiting more than a year, NBC 6 obtained those records in August 2022. The records revealed about 34 reports filed with MDPD of lost or stolen items. Of those, 26 reports detailed items lost or stolen from checked baggage.
The total losses listed within the 34 reports obtained by NBC 6 totaled in excess of about $300,000.
The records revealed that not just one MLB team had suffered missing jerseys after flying equipment into MIA, but three.
A woman who asked only to be called ‘Sarah’ out of concern for her safety tells NBC 6 she was one of the people to have detailed losses in the reports. She says it all started with a flight from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. Sarah tells NBC 6 she didn’t plan to check her carry on bag, but says she did so reluctantly after she was asked by an airline employee to do so as she boarded the plane.
“I hesitated because I thought it was awkward, and I wasn’t thinking, and basically handed him my bag because he said that the plane was leaving,” said Sarah. “So we either got on, checked my bag, or that was it.”
It wasn’t until she had already arrived in Miami and was unpacking her bags that she says she realized something was wrong.
“I opened the bag and my entire jewelry case was gone,” she said.
She says her jewelry, including a Cartier bracelet, a Rolex and her engagement ring were missing. Not only did she say the jewelry was missing, but so too were a Gucci purse, Christian Dior sandals and more. All of items Sarah reported stolen to MDPD, from the carry on bag she says she agreed to check, were worth a total of nearly $170,000.
“Having your engagement ring stolen, your wedding bands, things that you wanted to pass to your kids and just basically being violated like that, is heartbreaking. And it’s been quite a while now, and it still makes me uncomfortable to travel on commercial flights,” said Sarah.
Of the dozens of reports obtained by NBC 6, items reported lost or stolen included brands such as Off-White, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Jordan, Gucci and more. While some reports detailed the disappearance of expensive electronics, others reported thousands of dollars in cash as missing.
Among the most surprising items to have reportedly vanished from baggage at MIA were jerseys belonging to notable baseball players on MLB rosters in 2021. The New York Yankees were listed in a report as having had two jerseys go missing, while the New York Mets reported five jerseys as stolen and the San Diego Padres reported four jerseys as having disappeared. The total value of the 11 missing MLB jerseys was listed at about $11,000.
In the reports detailing the disappearance of jerseys from the Mets, Yankees and Padres, MDPD wrote, ‘… team equipment arrived at Miami International on a Delta Airlines flight. When the equipment arrived at loanDepot park … jerseys were missing from inventory.’
Delta had no comment about the teams’ jerseys, but did offer comment about Sarah’s flight.
“Last year, we fully investigated this matter and took corrective action with our vendor partner. We have no tolerance for pilferage of personal items and baggage while entrusted in our care,” said a Delta spokesperson.
A short time after Sarah’s items were stolen, two men were arrested and charged.
MDPD says Danny Rodriguez, who was a Delta baggage handler, and Carlos Collazo, who was an employee of a company subcontracted by Delta, were charged with felony grand theft and admitted to stealing Sarah’s items before pawning her Rolex.
Court records show the Rodriguez and Collazo pleaded guilty, and got ten years probation. Sarah says she hasn’t seen her belongings since they were stolen.
“Obviously everyone knew, even the people who took the items, how much they meant to me, and that was all I wanted was my things back,” she said.
NBC 6 interviewed MDPD spokesperson Alvaro Zabaleta about the role the agency plays at MIA and what’s being done to keep your items safe. MDPD is a lead agency tasked with investigating crimes at the airport.
“Well, I don’t think people need to be concerned. I think people need to pay attention and be a step ahead of the game. Understand, as a I mentioned before, you could possibly have one million people travel through that airport in one given day,” said Zabaleta.
So far this year, MDPD’s received about 64 reports of thefts linked to MIA. Of those reports in 2022, MDPD says 27 were confirmed to have happened at MIA while 37 were deemed ‘thefts in transit,’ meaning investigators were unable to determine whether the theft occurred at MIA or another airport.
In the same window of time in 2021, there were about 79 total reports filed with MDPD including 49 baggage thefts occurring at MIA, and 30 reports deemed as ‘thefts in transit.’ But police say they only made arrests in a fraction of those cases, including the airport employees in Sarah’s case.
No one has been arrested for stealing the jerseys.
“Nothing happens in a vacuum,” said Zabaleta. “These investigations can become very complex because of the fact that there are so many variables that are involved. A lot of these cases, we still have to determine where this occurred.”
Zabaleta encourages airport passengers to be on the lookout for unusual behavior, keep their most precious items in their carry on with them on the plane, and advised against traveling with large amounts of cash.
Police say they work around the clock with federal law enforcement to follow leads, conduct surveillance and monitor unusual activity at MIA. They say it’s a crime of opportunity, and it’s not unique to MIA. TSA data from 2017 revealed about 343 claims of lost or damaged property at MIA, in contrast to 239 at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, 489 at New York’s JFK Airport and 519 at Los Angeles International Airport,
The commonality of the problem is why Sarah says she’s sharing her story, hoping it spares someone else the pain she endured.
“You have to keep everything locked and everything secure and think and overthink, even when you’re busy and rushing,” she said. “Just really make sure that you have everything valuable to you on you, or you leave it at home, and don’t take it with you.”
Flyers rights advocate Paul Hudson spoke to NBC 6 virtually about the options you have to protect your belongings.
“This is far more common than most people expect. Some of the things that you can do to prevent it, of course, are not carry valuables or check luggage, but to put them in your carry on,” he said.
Hudson recommends having travel insurance, and said if you notice items have disappeared from your luggage, or your luggage itself is gone, you should alert the airline and TSA as soon as possible.
“If you’re traveling internationally, there are shrink wrap services that will wrap your checked baggage and make it very hard to break into. The problem is that domestically, those things are generally not allowed. And even if you have a lock on your baggage, it’s supposed to be one that is TSA compliant. In other words, [TSA] can open it,” said Hudson.
