Miami man charged in 2023 theft of trailer with $200K worth of beef inside
A Miami man is at least the third person who’s now facing charges in the 2023 theft of a truck and trailer containing $200,000 worth of beef, authorities said.
Leandro Darian Crespo, 40, was charged Monday with grand theft a vehicle, grand theft of cargo, and grand theft, Miami-Dade jail records showed.
Two other men, 41-year-old Lazaro Izquierdo and 40-year-old Jorge Blanco, were previously arrested in connection with the theft.
According to arrest reports, the investigation into the theft began on Aug. 4, 2023 after a Kenworth truck was reported stolen to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
On Sept. 12, 2023, a trailer containing the $200,000 worth of beef was reported stolen to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
The trailer was equipped with a GPS which pinged at an address on Southwest 172nd Street in Miami, the reports said.
Later that day, a Miami-Dade Sheriff’s deputy responded to the area and found the trailer, which was attached to a truck and backed up against another trailer, the reports said.
The deputy watched as the stolen beef was transferred from one trailer to another, before he saw Crespo, Izquierdo and Blanco exit the stolen trailer, the reports said.
When the suspects saw police, they fled the scene, the reports said.
Surveillance video from earlier showed Crespo driving the stolen truck with a trailer attached to it, the reports said.
About a month after the alleged meat theft, Blanco was arrested following a high-speed chase with police, and arrest report said.
Izquierdo was also arrested in connection with the meat theft.
According to the arrest reports, Crespo is a “known member of an organized auto theft group” and is personally known to detectives from “numerous previous auto theft investigations.”
He was arrested this past December in another separate auto theft case and was arrested again this past June in a case involving attempted aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer, records showed.
Crespo appeared in court Tuesday where the judge set his bond at $20,000 on the new charges.
