MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Surveillance cameras were rolling as a thief was seen snooping around the Tires Land auto shop in Brownsville, near Northwest 53rd Street and Northwest 32nd Avenue, early Sunday.
In the video, the thief can be seen rummaging through a vehicle and searching for anything he can find.
“Happens all the time," Orlando Cruz, a mechanic at the auto shop, said. "There’s people that go into cars just to steal change.”
Cruz said the owner, Luis Correa, received an alert on his phone while the thief was still on the property. That’s when Correa raced over to his business to track down the crook.
According to police, the owner spotted the thief about a block away and grabbed him. He was able to keep the man in the area until police arrived.
Cruz said it was not the first time the thief has targeted the business.
“The guy has been here a few times already to steal, and eventually the owner, you know, he caught him,” Cruz said.
Miami-Dade police arrested Christian Hernandez, 21, and quickly learned officers arrested him earlier this month on suspicion of breaking into Correa’s business, along with his clients’ vehicles, on two separate occasions. The break-ins were enough to push one owner to take matters into his own hands.
“He chased him down and called the police and they picked him up,” Cruz said.
Hernandez remains in jail facing a number of charges that include burglary and grand theft. He is now being held without bond.