Man arrested days after Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes’ city truck vandalized

MIAMI – A 25-year-old homeless man was arrested Wednesday, two days after City of Miami Commissioner Manolo Reyes’ city-issued truck was vandalized outside his Coral Way district office, authorities confirmed.

According to the suspect’s arrest report, surveillance video captured Christian Cabello-Diaz, of Miami, outside the commissioner’s office around 4:30 a.m. Monday.

Police said the building is secured by locked gates and a fence, but Cabello-Diaz was able to get to the door of the commissioner’s office, which he unsuccessfully tried to open.

According to the arrest report, Cabello-Diaz then grabbed a shovel from the back of the commissioner’s truck and tried to use it as a prying tool, jamming it into the window of the driver’s side of the truck, causing damage to the seal and window.

After being unable to get inside the vehicle, he is seen tossing the shovel by a garbage container and leaving the area, authorities said.

Police said fingerprints collected at the scene matched those of Cabello-Diaz, who has been arrested by Miami police before.

Authorities said an officer who reviewed the surveillance footage also recognized Cabello-Diaz, and he was taken into custody Wednesday in the area of Northwest 17th Avenue and South River Drive.

According to his arrest report, he did provide a statement to detectives, however the statement was redacted from the publicly released report.

A motive for the incident was not released.

Cabello-Diaz was arrested on charges of burglary and criminal mischief.

“It is just not fair what you are saying. I need to defend myself, and will speak only the truth,” he said in Spanish during an appearance in bond court Thursday.

Cabello-Diaz was ultimately ordered held in lieu of a $5,500 bond.

Police have not linked Cabello-Diaz to last week’s break-in at the commissioner’s office at City Hall, which was ransacked.

“As of right now, detectives are still investigating the other incident as a separate investigation. At this time, they are not connecting the two to each other,” Officer Kiara Delva, who is also a spokeswoman for the police department, said.

The incident inspired a Reyes-sponsored resolution on Thursday’s city commission agenda, directing the city manager to have the police chief produce an updated security plan “to implement additional surveillance Amerasian to the exterior and interior of City Hall, at all entry and exit points, and integrate all cameras into the Miami Police Department’s real time crime center within 30 days.”

The resolution was passed by commissioners Thursday.

“People have the right to know who comes in and who comes out of any of the elected officials’ offices or any of the other city offices in there,” Reyes previously told Local 10 News. “Let’s see who is against it.”

The city manager will direct the police chief to examine current security measures at City Hall and prepare an updated security plan.

“It is a safety measure for everybody who comes into this building, public building, that belongs to the public, and that is why I want the public to know who comes in and who comes out,” Reyes said.

It is expected that the security plan would be presented to the city commission after it is completed.

Anyone with information about the break-in at City Hall is asked to call the City of Miami Police Department or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.