Video shows armed robber threatening woman working at Sprint store

Detectives search for armed robber who took $20,000 in Sprint merchandise

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Employees at a Sprint store in Southwest Miami-Dade are shaken after an armed robber stole nearly $20,000 worth of expensive phones from a safe.

Surveillance video shows a man appearing to case the back of the store at 3854 Southwest 137th Avenue before putting a covering on his face and entering though an open back door.

"He came in at me like with a gun," said Sprint employee Milagros Mendoza.

Mendoza said she was taking out the garbage around 7:40 p.m. Thursday and propped the back door open. After she walked back inside, she said he followed, and demanded she open the safe.

“He had something over his face, I think, and he had a hoodie on, and at that moment I was just looking at the gun because I was afraid," Mendoza said. "He said, 'Hurry up! Hurry up!' at first, because I was so nervous I couldn’t open the safe."

Store manager Laurent Chaumin said he could hear the commotion from the front of the store.

"I ran back to get the panic button. But by time I got back, he’s already grabbed the boxes - one in each and ran out to the left," Chaumin said.

Owner Eric Diaz said the thief made off with 23 phones that had ben in the safe. Most were iPhones or Samsung phones, he said.

Employees said they had never seen the robber before. They filed a report with the Miami-Dade Police Department.

Mendoza said she was still shaken.

“I was just thinking about my family,” she said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Police or Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.
 


About the Author:

Janine Stanwood joined Local 10 News in February 2004 as an assignment editor. She is now a general assignment reporter. Before moving to South Florida from her Washington home, Janine was the senior legislative correspondent for a United States senator on Capitol Hill.