POLK COUNTY, Fla. – The Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrested five men for organized theft crimes that they say also had ties to the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua and were in the country illegally, according to the sheriff.
The sheriff’s office said Alexis Jose Rodriguez-Benavides, 27; Darwins Smith Vasquez-Leon, 28; Ildemaro Miguel Escalona Mendoza, 26; Ramon Jesus Carpintero-Luna, 26; and Samuel Oglis David Anthony Charle, 25, are all accused of trying to steal about $3,200 in liquor from a Sam’s Club store in north Lakeland last month.
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Deputies say the men tried to leave the store with 14 cases of liquor without paying, and when an employee tried to stop them, they rammed the cart into her. Then they grabbed two of the cases and fled.
However, the Ford Focus they were in went over a concrete curb in the parking lot and became disabled, so they all ran off and eventually got an Uber, the sheriff’s office said.
A search of the Focus yielded cell phones and a passport, which helped investigators track down the suspects.
Charle and Mendoza were already in the Osceola County Jail, accused of committing another robbery.
The sheriff’s office said they captured Rodriguez-Benavides, Leon and Carpintero-Luna Thursday night in Osceola County.
All of the men are linked to over three dozen retail thefts across the area, according to the sheriff’s office.
The robbery charges have been upgraded to a first-degree felony because the sheriff’s office says two of the men are known members of the Tren De Aragua gang, and the other three are associates.
The sheriff’s office also says all five men have had ICE detainers put on them, and the agency is working with a statewide prosecutor and the Department of Homeland Security to make sure they are properly charged.