Meat heist: $400,000 worth of stolen beef found at Florida veggie farm; arrests made

www.wfla.com, Sara Filips, October 18, 2023

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Two of four men accused of stealing a truck containing more than $400,000 worth of beef have been arrested, according to NBC affiliate WTVJ.

Authorities said the 53-foot-trailer and a container holding beef were reported stolen to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office on Sept. 12.

A GPS attached to the container placed it at KB Farm, a vegetable farm in Miami-Dade.

When Miami-Dade police arrived at the farm, they found the suspects unloading the beef from the container. The suspects ran away, leaving behind the tractor-trailer.

“So I guess in Miami-Dade they were transferring the stolen beef into another container,” a Miami judge said in court.

Police used security camera video to track down and arrest 38-year-old Jorge Lyen Blanco Diaz.

The report said Lazaro Izquierdo, 39, was also arrested, but two other suspects, Leandro Respo, 38, and Christian Garcia, 25, are still at large.

Blanco Diaz and Izquierdo are facing charges of grand theft of cargo greater than $50,000, resisting an officer without violence, and a hold for magistrate, according to the report.

Blanco Diaz’s bond was set to $25,000, WTVJ reported.

News article: Meat heist: $400,000 worth of stolen beef found at Florida veggie farm; arrests made | WFLA