Local10.com, Chris Gothner, September 13, 2023
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Miami-Dade police made a big beef bust in the rural Redland area Tuesday, taking a man into custody accused of stealing $200,000 worth of red meat from the Orlando area, according to arrest reports.
It wasn’t the suspect’s first run-in with authorities and said he used technology in an ill-fated attempt to evade capture.
In Tuesday’s incident, police received a report about a stolen chassis and container filled with beef in Orange County. Investigators utilized GPS technology to trace it to a facility located at 17425 SW 172nd St., around noon, according to an arrest report.
At the facility, police said they witnessed the beef being unloaded into a 52-foot trailer and also observed Lazaro Izquierdo Crespo, 39, of Hialeah, exiting the stolen chassis and getting into a Ram 2500 pickup truck.
Police said Izquierdo took off after noticing officers. According to an arrest report, he crashed into a Miami-Dade police pickup truck trying to flee.
Izquierdo later hit a deep rut on Southwest 152nd Street, near 167th Avenue, broke his rim, lost control and came to a stop, the report states. Police said he got out of the truck and threw a black leather bag and belongings into a dirt field.
Authorities said the bag had suspected methamphetamines in it. They said Izquierdo tried to thwart officers using a frequency jammer, which police said made it difficult for them to communicate over the radio.
Officers later took him into custody.
Prior to Tuesday’s arrest, authorities had been looking for Izquierdo in connection with a separate incident that happened less than two months earlier. They said the suspect not only had a taste for stealing beef, but German luxury cars.
According to an arrest report, a July 20 cargo theft investigation at a truck yard at 15545 NW 122nd Ave. led detectives to a stolen Audi.
Police said detectives saw Izquierdo get into the vehicle and approached it in order to detain him; instead, he took off, hitting one detective in the right arm and clipping the other in the leg, authorities said.
They said Izquierdo then crashed into the front gate of the truck yard and got away, causing roughly $4,000 in damage.
He would evade capture until Tuesday, when police arrested him on more than a dozen charges in connection to both incidents.
As a result of both incidents, a judge found probable cause to charge the Cuban national with three counts of grand theft, three counts of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, two counts of resisting an officer with violence and individual counts of fleeing and eluding, possession of a controlled substance, depriving an officer of means of communication, unauthorized transmission on a police radio, attempted evidence tampering and criminal mischief.
Izquierdo was given a $56,000 bond, but remained at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center Wednesday on a magistrate hold.
Izquierdo’s no stranger to this kind of arrest. Back in March 2022, Collier County deputies accused him of stealing a tractor-trailer truck worth $80,000 and crashing it on Interstate 75.
News article: Where’s the beef? Cops say Hialeah man stole $200K worth of it (local10.com)