Police said they rounded up a group of bike bandits, and a Miami Beach woman who had her expensive wheels stolen helped crack the case.
Gayle Durham’s secured condo bike room at the Flamingo Point along Bay Road apparently isn’t so secure.
In an interview provided exclusively to 7News, the theft victim showed where she believes the perpetrators broke into the building.
“This is where I think they got in,” she said. “They took my bike and another bike. I mean, look at this, there’s like 500 bikes here.”
Durham said the thieves made their move earlier this week, but she wasn’t about to just let these crooks get away with it.
The victim said told used a GPS tracking device, going into South Beach detective mode.
“Got a ping here, a ping there,” she said. “The police were really great. They came three times, when I got my pings all over the city.”
The pings eventually led her to an apartment building at 1450 Lenox Avenue.
“And I got my bike back,” said Durham
But that wasn’t all. Durham’s dogged efforts to hunt down her bike blew open what Miami Beach Police street crimes detectives called “Operation Rolling Wheels, a proactive initiative to remedy a spike in bicycle thefts in the city.”
Thursday’s police raid came days after Durham’s bike was stolen and her tracking mission.
A police report states detectives busted a “chop shop” at the property where Durham said she found and recovered her bike.
“One the guys had like a makeshift table in the alleyway. He had 10 gold watches and a bunch of other jewelry, and he’s sitting there, selling my bike and selling jewelry like he was at a bazaar,” she said.
The police report states, “Detectives became aware of a location known to have high traffic of bicycles, electric bicycles and standup scooters, 1450 Lenox Avenue.”
“My hair was on fire. I was so angry, I was screaming at them,” said Durham.
It wasn’t just regular bicycles like Durham’s that were recovered at the property, but fancy, expensive electric bikes.
Detectives said they recovered a $7,000 bicycle and another worth $12,000, as well as “other electric scooters, electric bicycles, and traditional bicycles that were disassembled.”
“Bicycles in the courtyard, scooters, people like working on them, painting them up,” said Durham.
Police on Thursday arrested Willian Alvarado, Brayan Alcantu and Andys Rodriguez del Toro for grand theft and other charges.
“Everyone says they’ve had a bike stolen,” said Durham,
When asked whether she thinks these thefts are an epidemic in Miami Beach, she replied, “Oh, yeah, for sure.”
The suspects face a list charges, including burglary and petty theft. They remain behind bars at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in West Miami-Dade.