The Polk County Sheriff’s Office in Florida announced that it busted five illegal aliens tied to the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Sheriff Grady Judd detailed the arrests during a Friday press briefing, explaining that two of the suspects were confirmed TDA members and the other three were identified as “associates.”
‘PCSO detectives obtained arrest warrants charging all five with robbery, which is upgraded to a first degree felony due to their gang status.’
The men, who are reportedly all in the U.S. illegally, were accused of a string of liquor store robberies in Florida.
The sheriff’s office stated that the illegal aliens attempted to steal $3,200 worth of “high-end liquor” from a Sam’s Club in March. When a store employee tried to stop the robbery, the men rammed her with the shopping cart, injuring her hand, Judd said.
The illegal aliens reportedly disabled their getaway vehicle after driving over a concrete curb in the store’s parking lot. They left the car behind and fled in an Uber, according to the sheriff’s office.
“Two of the suspects were positively identified and detectives determined they were incarcerated in Osceola County for a different robbery,” a press release from the sheriff’s office read. “Those suspects are Samuel Oglis David Anthony Charle, 25, and Ildemaro Miguel Escalona Mendoza, 26. Once the three other suspects were identified – Alexis Jose Rodriguez-Benavides, 27, Darwins Smith Vasquez Leon, 28, and Ramon Jesus Carpintero-Luna, 26 – PCSO detectives obtained arrest warrants charging all five with robbery, which is upgraded to a first degree felony due to their gang status.”
The men have been tied to “over three dozen retail thefts” across the state. The total losses from their theft reportedly reached over $30,000, the sheriff’s office estimated.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed detainers against all five of the suspects. They remain in local custody while facing first-degree felony charges. Grady noted that more charges are expected.
During the press briefing, Grady closed his remarks by urging President Donald Trump to take executive action to speed up the deportation process.
“We’ve got to have policy change to make an appreciable difference. We got the same old clunky system that’s ineffective at best and horribly broken in reality. And to try to move it along, it is just slow,” Grady stated. “The feds are helping and working hard on the local level. They don’t have the policy change that allows this to speed up, and the word’s got to get to the president.”
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