MIAMI – Another case of a fine wine bandit at a family-owned Miami market that has seen thousands of dollars of wine being stolen. The first incident happened in April at Milam’s Market, located at 3050 SW 37th Ave., just off Douglas Road. Now, Milam’s reports that another man hit its stores in Coconut Grove and Pinecrest, and in the same day.
Surveillance video shows the man hiding three bottles of wine down his pants. He visited the Coconut Grove location five times in one day with back-to-back visits stuffing the wine in his pants. Milam’s says that on his last attempt, he was caught by a store employee. But after he left the Coconut Grove store he headed to Pinecrest and stole more wine in the same way.
Milam’s owners say that he was able to get away with more than $1,000 worth of fine wine.
On the video from the first bandit, that thief had a different way of getting the goods. He picked the locks of cases where high-priced wines and champagne bottles that cost up to $100 each were stored. He then could be seen crouching behind packs of water while transferring the bottles to a bag.
After the store decided to reposition the surveillance cameras, the man was seen returning to the market in June and stuffing the “bubbly” in a bag.
“It hurts the store. It hurts the public. We’re out of the products (customers) want,”' said Chad Milam, the owner of the store.
Police are urging anyone with information about both thieves to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.