MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A janitor working at Miami International Airport is accused of surreptitiously swiping two Rolexes from a passenger’s duty-free bag; police say while he went to a place where people couldn’t see him, the cameras were watching.
Alberto Rabanal, 57, of northwest Miami-Dade, is now facing two second-degree grand theft charges following his arrest on Monday.
Recommended Videos
Rabanal worked for a company contracted to do janitorial work at the airport, according to an arrest report.
Police said last Thursday, a passenger who arrived from Portugal set his duty-free bag down next to a door, leaving it briefly unattended.
Authorities said surveillance footage showed Rabanal approaching the bag and looking through it. The report states that he removed a sweater and found the black Rolex box containing the man’s watches, worth about $60,000.
Police said Rabanal took the watches out,
“Once done, he places the sweater back in the duty-free bag and puts the duty-free bag inside of a regular garbage bag,” police wrote. “(Rabanal) then throws the bag in the garbage can.”
On Monday, Miami-Dade police went to Rabanal’s home in the 1200 block of Northwest 103rd Street. Authorities said he led them to the watches, which were sitting atop his master bedroom dresser.
Police said he confessed to the crime.
Rabanal, a Cuban national, no longer appeared in Miami-Dade jail records as of Wednesday afternoon.