MIAMI – A group of eight thieves targeted pawn shops for years in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties in search of jewelry to resell, according to federal prosecutors.
During their crime spree, two victims died, there were shootings in Pembroke Park, West Park, and Miami, and a high-speed chase in Hialeah, according to prosecutors.
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U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn sentenced three out of the eight — Jorge Aponte, 25; Eric Ortiz, 28; and Jonathan Cruz, 36, — to life in prison, federal prosecutors announced on Friday.
In November, a jury in Fort Lauderdale found the trio guilty of committing nine armed robberies and of killing a customer during a robbery in Little Havana. Cruz was also convicted of being a felon in possession of ammunition.
In March, a jury in Miami found Aponte guilty of carjacking resulting in death and discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. Investigators accused Aponte of shooting an Uber driver in the head in 2017 in Miami-Dade.
Investigators also accused Cruz of planning the robberies, providing the weapons and tools, and reselling the jewelry to distribute the cut.
To solve the cases, FBI special agents worked with detectives from the Broward Sheriff’s Office, and the Miami-Dade, Miami, Miami Gardens, Hialeah, Hollywood, Palm Springs, and Fort Lauderdale police departments.