HIALEAH, Fla. – The labels were well-known: Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Dior — and Yanet Herrera told women that she could hook them up with handbags from these luxury brands at a bargain, police say.
But, according to authorities, the women soon found out the 35-year-old sold them phony purses and demanded their money back to no avail. That led Hialeah cops to arrest Herrera on multiple felony charges Monday.
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An arrest report from the Hialeah Police Department states that a private investigator alerted Hialeah police to the scheme in late September on behalf of two of his clients who said Herrera ripped them off.
After one of the victims reported what happened, another woman came forward and said she was a victim too, according to police.
The initial victim had paid $800 in cash and sent $300 on Zelle for what she thought were a Louis Vuitton pink twist lock bag worth $4,450 and a Louis Vuitton backpack worth $3,250, police said. But they weren’t designer at all.
According to the report, the other woman “had been purchasing handbags from (Herrera) over several months under the assumption that the items were genuine” and said Herrera “claimed to have acquired four Louis Vuitton purses, two Dior purses, and one Gucci purse from a friend who worked for the brands and sold them to her at a reduced price.”
According to the report, the private investigator provided detectives video clips of Herrera “displaying her merchandise to both victims” and “delivering purses to the victims.”
All of the items turned out to be counterfeit copies, police said.
Police said both victims’ attempts to contact Herrera and get their money back failed as she had blocked their numbers.
An agent with Homeland Security Investigations later found that since 2019, Herrera, who lives just outside of the Hialeah city limits, had received nearly 90 shipments to her home from a South Carolina logistics company, “containing purses, wallets and other women’s apparel,” the arrest report states. Detectives said she took in $13,700 as part of the “systematic” fraud scheme.
The arrest report states Herrera hung up on detectives three times when they tried to speak to her about the case.
Authorities put out a be-on-the-lookout notice Monday afternoon and officers bagged her while at her son’s boxing class in Hialeah Gardens, police said.
Herrera was arrested on two charges each of first-degree grand theft, selling counterfeit goods and organized scheme to defraud. She was no longer listed in Miami-Dade jail records as of Tuesday.