MIAMI — Miami police arrested two men on Monday after investigators said they were responsible for at least two downtown Rolex robberies, including one in which the victim was shot. Authorities said the stickups happened on back-to-back days.
According to investigators, the first robbery happened on Aug. 2 near the popular E11EVEN nightclub, located at 29 NE 11th St.
An arrest report states that the victim was walking on Northwest 10th Street to get his car after leaving the club when three men, two of whom were identified as Manuel Linarez Julia and Edgar Perez Ponton, approached him.
Two of the men “grabbed the victim’s arms and pinned him against a nearby fence,” police said.
Police said Perez, 34, of Miami, “pressed a firearm against his abdomen while demanding his watch and cellphone” while the unidentified co-defendant “pressed a firearm against the victim’s hip area.”
Linarez, 31, of North Miami Beach, was identified as the “third offender,” the report states.
Authorities said when the victim “refused to comply,” Perez “racked his firearm” while the unidentified suspect “slowly rack(ed) his own weapon.”
“Fearing for his safety, the victim complied,” the report states. “The offenders forcibly removed a Rolex Oyster Perpetual from the victim’s left wrist and took his iPhone 13 Pro Max from his hands.”
Authorities said the men told the victim to walk away. Police said the victim then flagged down a Miami police officer at the nightclub.
The report states that “high-quality surveillance video” showed the robbery, as well as Perez “leaving (the) victim’s cellphone on a nearby parked vehicle, then grabbing it again, wiping it with his T-shirt.”
Police said they later found the man’s cellphone underneath a parked car.
Authorities said they found out that the same suspects were involved in a robbery on Aug. 3 in which the victim was shot.
In that case, police said they pulled up in a car and spoke to two people waiting to cross at Flagler Street and Miami Avenue just before midnight, asking them for directions to E11EVEN.
After one of them gave them the directions, police said the pair continued walking but then “heard footsteps” and saw the men running after them.
An arrest report states that a suspect, identified as “Offender 1,” approached the victim with a gun while Linarez grabbed him.
“The victim noticed Offender 1 had the gun pointed at his head, and he pulled it away. During the struggle, Offender 1 shot the victim in the left ankle,” it states. “(Linarez) took the victim’s Rolex watch and wallet during the altercation. As they fled, Offender 1 grabbed the victim’s phone from the (ground).”
Medics took the wounded robbery victim to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center.
They said license plate reader and cellphone data placed Linarez and Perez at the robbery scenes.
Police went to Linarez and Perez’s homes and arrested them on Monday.
Each man faces two counts of armed robbery and one count of aggravated battery with a weapon causing bodily harm.
As of Tuesday afternoon, they were being held without bond in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Copyright 2025 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
