Miami men charged in over $1M multi-state sunglass theft – NBC 6 South Florida

Three Miami men were arrested in connection with a multi-state theft ring involving more than $1 million in stolen sunglasses and now police believe more arrests could be made.

Miami Police on Tuesday showed off the 3,500 pairs of designer sunglasses worth at least $1.2 million that were seized in the investigation.

Authorities said the eyewear was stolen from Sunglass Hut stores in Tennessee and South Carolina.

Last month, three Miami men – Alexander Trujillo Gomez, 48, Xavier Perez, 52, and Lazaro Salazar Hechavarria, 28 – were arrested in Tennessee on charges including burglary, theft of property valued at $250,000 and over, and vandalism.

Murfreesboro Police

Police said the stolen eyewear was intercepted after it was shipped to Miami.

“What our investigators discovered was that three men were taking a rental vehicle, driving to South Carolina and Tennessee, subsequently breaking into the Sunglass Hut and shipping the stolen merchandise,” Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales said Tuesday. “Through investigative means we were able to make contact with the connection that these three men had at that local address and were able to recover what you see here in front of you.”

Police said more people in Miami could be connected to the scheme and could eventually be arrested.

“People might think this just affects Sunglass Hut. It does not, this affects every single consumer that goes out trying to buy these items out there,” Morales said.

The three men were booked into a Tennessee jail, where they were each being held on a $1 million bond, officials said.