MIAMI – A recent dispute among roommates over a stolen credit card prompted a confrontation that devolved into arrests for kidnapping and drug possession in Miami-Dade County, according to police.
Cristina Arrojo, Marcelo Asenjo Garcia, and Amir Dalit Akbarnia were roommates at a house in Miami-Dade’s University Park neighborhood near Florida International University, according to police.
Arrojo, 29, believed Akbarnia, 33, had stolen a credit card from her at the house, just north of the intersection of Southwest 103 Avenue and 16 Street, also known as Dr. Antonio Jorge Way, according to police.
“[Akbarnia] received a call,” Detective Alvaro Zabaleta, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department, wrote in a statement released on Friday.
Arrojo asked Akbarnia where he was on Thursday and he told her he was at the Walmart Supercenter, at 9191 W. Flagler St., in the Fontainebleau area, so she offered him a ride, according to police.
Akbarnia and Nigel Burkes met Arrojo and Asenjo Garcia, 52, who were in a rental U-Haul moving truck in the parking lot of the Walmart, according to police.
“During the conversation with [Arrojo], [Asenjo Garcia] assaulted [Akbarnia] and forced him into a rental box truck,” Zabaleta wrote in a statement.
Burkes, 35, told police that he willingly left with them in the U-Haul truck. To recover the stolen credit card, the four ended up at Akbarnia’s father’s house in the Fontainebleau area, and when no one was home, they left, according to the arrest report.
Asenjo Garcia struck Akbarnia several times during the ride and pulled over at the McDonald’s along West Flagler Street near Southwest 107 Avenue, in Sweetwater, where Akbarnia walked to the restroom — and asked a restaurant employee to call the police, according to the arrest report.
“The employee called 911,” Zabaleta wrote.
Akbarnia was holding his cell phone when Arrojo snatched it — and bit him during a struggle to take his wallet — according to the arrest report. Arrojo left the restaurant with Burkes and Asenjo Garcia. Officers with the Sweetwater Police Department searched for them.
“The success to all of this was, you know, the smart thinking of the victim ... the employee taking fast action,” Zabaleta said.
Police officers found them at Southwest Sixth Street and 97 Avenue and arrested them, according to the arrest report. During the investigation, they considered Burkes a witness to the kidnapping but arrested him because they found him in possession of crystal meth.
During questioning, Arrojo “admitted to responding to Walmart” to pick up Akbarnia and Burkes, but she denied taking him by force, according to the arrest form.
Miami-Dade correctional officers booked Arrojo shortly after 2:10 a.m., on Friday, at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, county inmate records show.
Arrojo is facing charges in four cases. One case is for kidnapping. Another is for robbery by sudden snatching. The other two are for burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, dealing in stolen property, organized scheme to defraud, and petit theft.
Arrojo’s co-defendant Asenjo Garcia, also known as Marcelo Julian Asenjogarcia, has a criminal record in Miami-Dade and was out on probation when he was arrested Thursday.
Records show Miami Gardens police officers accused Asejon Garcia of grand theft last year in January and petit theft in February. In 2021, Miami police officers accused him of battery and Miami-Dade police officers of battery by detainee, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Correctional officers booked Asenjo Garcia shortly before 1:25 a.m., on Friday, at TGKCC, county inmate records show. He is facing a kidnapping charge and a probation violation for the case of possession of a controlled substance.
Burkes is facing a charge of possession of a controlled substance.
Detectives were asking anyone with information about the case to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.
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