MIAMI – A group of men identified by a ringleader as “goons” were plotting through a messaging app to kidnap a Miami jeweler and rob him of $2 million in cryptocurrency. But they didn’t know an informant was also in their group chat.
That’s all according to court documents obtained by Local 10 News on Wednesday, following the arrests of Zacary Briggs, 22; Aaron Hammond, 21; Tre’von Neal, 20; and Evan Puckett, 18, on multiple federal felonies.
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Authorities said they nabbed the group in Broward County on Monday as they met up ahead of the planned kidnapping.
The alleged plot
A federal criminal complaint authored by an FBI agent states that a “confidential source” informed authorities on Jan. 6 that a person named “Jack” was assembling “a group of people to kidnap a jeweler who worked out of the Seybold Building,” a well-known hub of jewelers at 36 NE First St. in downtown Miami.
The source told investigators that “Jack” had been in contact with the victim online and “was seeking to exchange a large amount of cryptocurrency for cash,” authorities said.
The next day, “Jack” told the informant that he would put him in a group chat with the “goons,” members of the kidnapping group, the complaint states. “Jack,” authorities say, also sent the source a screenshot of the victim’s digital wallet, showing he had about $2 million worth of crypto.
In the following days, “Jack” began a group chat via the Telegram app called “Play.” In it were “Jack,” along with participants identified as “Dot,” “Swipey” and “Tim.”
The informant was known as “D” or “Big D.” While the complaint doesn’t state who “Jack,” “Tim” and “Dot” were, agents said they were later able to identify “Swipey” as Puckett.
“Jack” would later tell the group chat, “(S)o I told them not to hurt or do shi (sic) to him. We just need to get him,” the complaint states,
“Jack” and his partner “Tim” ultimately agreed to provide the other members of the group $3,500 before the kidnapping.
Read the complaint:
Authorities said the group discussed plans to hold the jeweler until a crypto ransom was paid and it was decided that “Tim” would provide a vehicle for the kidnapping. The complaint states that “Dot” “later stated that they would be carrying firearms, including Mac-10s and .223 assault-style rifles for the kidnapping.”
The informant told agents that members of the group had asked him to provide a car prior to Monday, the planned date of the kidnapping, ”so they could drive around the area where the kidnapping would occur and scope it out beforehand.”
Authorities said “Tim” arranged to send the informant, “D” to meet with Puckett “near or around Palm Beach County” to pick up the car.
But instead of “D,” the complaint states that investigators sent an undercover agent posing as the informant to meet Puckett. He brought a black, 2023 Chevy Tahoe which was, unbeknownst to the crooks, outfitted with wires, authorities said.
After Puckett met with the agent and got the SUV, he told the group chat, “Big D was cool,” the complaint states. He was later heard, after moving the SUV to a Broward home, saying, “Oh, he’s not getting this back,” referring to the Tahoe.
Authorities said on Monday, they tracked Neal’s cellphone from central Florida as he and the other suspect headed from Ocala to Davie to meet with Puckett to commit the kidnapping.
The complaint states that on a recorded call, Puckett was heard telling “Jack” and the informant that he had a “convoy of (N-words) doing this s--- for nothing.” He would later send the group photos of “a handgun and an AR-Style pistol” that he had procured, agents said.
In another recorded call, three members of the kidnapping group were heard talking about the plot, the complaint states.
Authorities said a male voice is heard saying that “one knock” and “one good bop should do it” but that they did not want to give the victim “brain damage.”
“Another male voice can then be heard saying ‘I don’t want this (n-word) to stab me or f---ing shoot me,’ to which a third male voice then replies ‘Tre’von, I would kill that n---- dawg,’” investigators wrote in the complaint.
Authorities said they intercepted the men as they parked ahead of the kidnapping. They said they immediately captured Briggs, Hammond and Puckett and said they arrested Neal a short time later after he ran toward a nearby business.
Agents interview suspects
Authorities said they interviewed the suspects after taking them into custody.
Neal, they said, told investigators that “he was supposed to act as ‘security’ for the (group) and would protect the crew if (the victim) tried to defend himself with a weapon.”
Neal, who had a knife on him, said he “did not intend” to use it in the kidnapping and said “he had changed his mind about participating in the robbery and wanted to leave,” the complaint states.
Puckett, investigators said, admitted that the group intended to rob the victim for crypto and “admitted that he brought the guns the group members would possess during the robbery; however, he claimed that he intended to use them only in the event that he needed to defend himself.”
Investigators said Briggs first claimed that Neal had “hired him to drive him around and that he was going to get paid $500 a day” but that “he was asleep during the trip” and said that Puckett was “known to scam people for cryptocurrency.”
Briggs, the complaint states, “eventually admitted he was aware that the (group) was driving down” to South Florida “to participate in the kidnapping and robbery,” but “he only agreed to act as the ‘driver’ and he did not plan on getting involved in the violence against (the victim).”
It states he “also told law enforcement that if anyone threatened his safety during the robbery, he would have run them over with the truck” and said that the plan was for Puckett to meet with the jeweler “and pretend that he was going to give him a couple of watches in exchange for cryptocurrency.”
Hammond also admitted to the plot, agents said, and said the group’s “plan was to lure the jeweler to the car, rob him and then let him go.”
Investigators said he told them that “he was supposed to be the ‘jump out guy,’ which meant he would “bonk” the victim on the head and put him in the SUV.
They said Hammond told them when he arrived in Broward, he “saw the rifle in the vehicle and became worried because he was on ‘probation.’”
Charges and court dates
The men were initially booked into Broward Sheriff’s Office jail facilities following their arrests.
They are facing federal charges of kidnapping conspiracy, attempted conspiracy, Hobbs Act robbery and attempted Hobbs Act extortion.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the kidnapping conspiracy charge carries a potential life sentence.
Online records show that Briggs and Hammond were scheduled to appear in federal court on Friday for detention hearings.
Detention hearings for Neal and Puckett were scheduled for the following Tuesday.