Cops bust ‘sophisticated’ GPS theft ring that spanned the state, Florida Keys sheriff says

Police from multiple jurisdictions on Wednesday arrested 10 men in Miami-Dade County who law enforcement said are part of a “well-organized and sophisticated” GPS device theft ring that operated statewide — until Florida Keys deputies found that they stole millions of dollars in merchandise.

Authorities are dubbing the criminal scheme, “Operation Garmin,” because only Garmin global position satellite devices have been taken.

The thieves have been targeting marinas and stealing the devices from mostly large boats, Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay said at a Wednesday news briefing about the arrests in the Keys.

“This is a long case. The case is not over, but we’re at a critical point where we made a massive amount of arrests,” Ramsay told reporters at the sheriff’s office station in the Upper Keys. He was joined by brass of other agencies, including the Miami-Dade County Police Department.

Ramsay described the operation of being top-down, with those at the top instructing other “worker bees” who did most of the actual stealing.

Detectives obtained text messages from members of the ring that detailed which areas of the state had more law enforcement presence at any given time, Ramsey added, telling each other which counties they should avoid and which were safe to hit.

“They’re sending messages out to their field troops, where to go, where not to go, what’s hot and what’s not. Again, very well organized,” Ramsay said.

It’s not immediately clear how many devices have been stolen since the operation was first noticed by Monroe deputies in April and March, but Ramsay said the low end of the value of electronics stolen is about $2.5 million.

Garmin GPS devices are on the high-end of the price range among other brands, retailing for up to $5,000, according to Ramsay, and most of the targeted boats have two onboard.

“We started seeing around March and April that the burglaries were occurring, and they were occurring at marinas and marine storage lots where no one is around,” Ramsay said. “They were cutting away fences, coming in behind fences, and they had all day to go into the boats because there was no security, no one around.”

Ramsay said his detectives notified colleagues in other areas of the state, who told them they too were seeing an increase in marine equipment thefts.

“We started seeing this pattern. Almost every week. We communicate with other agencies. Miami-Dade County Police, Collier, started to see a big uptick in marine-related thefts statewide, not just here, but abroad,” added Ramsay.

Multi-agency task forces were put together, and cops began learning how the ring operated, Ramsay said. The leadership assembled “teams and associates” who would steal the gear and bring in back in return for a percentage of money.

“There was almost a pyramid scheme, where if they brought more people in, they would get more of a percentage,” Ramsay said.

The suspects were arrested in Miami-Dade County, with up to 70 officers from that agency taking part in serving warrants. Those arrested will answer for the charges in Monroe County.

“We feel pretty confident we’re going to get some prison time for these guys,” Monroe County State Attorney Dennis Ward told the Miami Herald. “The bonds that set are very high, and we’re happy about that. The only income they have is stealing. I don’t know where they’re going to get money from, because they’re going to be locked up here.”

Monroe County Circuit Judge Luis Garcia set the highest bonds at $1.08 million each for Juan Felipe Villegas, 19, and 22-year-old Lazaro Arturo Gonzales Munos. The bonds for the eight others arrested range from $50,000 to $465,000.

Together, all 10 suspects face a total of 122 charges, and Ramsay noted some could get as much as 20 years in prison.

“They’re going to jail for a long time. They’re looking at a million-plus-dollar fines. That’s unheard of. You kill someone, you get less of a bond,” Ramsay said.

One of the people in the group remains at large, according to the sheriff’s office — 53-year-old Milton Horney Gonzalez Gil.

The other people arrested are: Paul Moises Balbino Crespo, 23, Denzel Varona, 18, Jonathan Richard Lopez, 33, Anthony Manuel Guerra, 23, Walfrido William Garcia, 22, Carlos Mederos, 45, Oscar Sahori Medina, 24, and Alfredo Sanchez, 29.

For now, the members of the group only face charges in Monroe County, but Ramsay said they are suspected with hitting 194 other locations in 16 other counties — from Bay to St. Johns.

Monroe police will be working with cops and prosecutors in those counties and more charges could be forthcoming.

“Criminals are not territorial to one geographic area. Our stance is look, we don’t care who puts the bad people in jail, we just want just want them in jail, to stop crime, to stop people from being victimized,” Ramsay said. “It just happens today, we’re the ones who got the warrants.”