A suspect was arrested in Coral Gables this week after police said he was accused of stealing a motorcycle from a victim on Tuesday.
According to an Instagram post from the Coral Gables Police Department, Lazaro Fabian Marino Fortes is facing one count of grand theft auto.
Police said Fortes was caught on camera stealing a 2022 blue Yamaha motorcycle after it was parked near the 2200 block of Ponce De Leon Boulevard.
Authorities said Fortes used an electric saw to cut the motorcycle’s lock before boosting it and fleeing the scene.
Jail records show Fortes was arrested around 9 p.m. by the Coral Gables Police Department’s property crimes unit.
Local 10 News has reported on bike thefts being reported throughout Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
In a gated community, with cameras all around, police are working yet another case of crooks ‘boosting bikes’ and residents are upset.
“That bike (has) been one of my dreams since I was a kid,” said Shane Powell. “Riding a bike was my dream since a kid and I have been working on it every day.”
Powell has many questions, including how the crooks managed to drive off with his Suzuki GSXR 600.
Shane Powell told Local 10 News got a call from his neighbor early Tuesday morning, whose own bike cover had been tampered with. That’s when Powell looked outside and realized his bike was missing altogether.
“They been seen on the camera at least 10 times just circling, circling, circling,” said the neighbor, who didn’t want to be identified.
That neighbor’s camera captured at least two people roaming the complex for hours. A black Mercedes would follow them around as they appeared to eye the bikes and look up into the camera. The neighbor said the security gates were open at the complex near University Drive and West Atlantic Boulevard.
Powell said he didn’t have bike locks, but his SunPass clocked the thief heading south on the Florida Turnpike, appearing to get off on Hollywood Boulevard at 1:43 a.m. Wednesday.
Fortes did not appear in the Miami-Dade Correctional Rehabilitation’s ‘inmate search’ as of Saturday evening.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call Coral Springs police at 954-344-1800 or Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477.
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