MIAMI — A suspect in thefts of high-value FedEx packages in South Florida told investigators it was all part of a “delivery job” he found on a group chat for “Russians in America,” according to police.
But authorities said Vladimir Kudyakov wasn’t acting as a mere courier: part of his so-called “job” was making fake IDs of the intended recipients in order to swipe the parcels.
Police investigating the theft of a Rolex watch from a Doral FedEx location said employees at another shipping center in downtown Miami spotted the 43-year-old a few days later as he tried to steal another package.
According to the Doral Police Department, investigators began their probe after a man went to the FedEx Office Print & Ship Center at 10005 NW 41st St. on May 15 to pick up a $53,500 Rolex he had ordered from a New Hampshire company.
Workers there told him that someone already picked up the package the day before. That person ― later determined through facial recognition software to be Kudyakov ― had given FedEx workers a Florida driver’s license with all of the victim’s personal information on it, but Kudyakov’s photo.
It even scanned with the victim’s information on it, authorities said.
Police said on Wednesday, a FedEx loss prevention worker called Doral investigators after an employee at the shipping center at 200 S. Miami Ave. recognized Kudyakov, of Hollywood, from an internal flyer and called her.
Investigators said the employee was able to stall him in time for Miami and Doral police to arrive.
Authorities said Kudyakov gave a “full confession,” saying he was at the downtown Miami location “to pick up another package that did not belong to him” with a fake driver’s license and volunteered that he had an additional stolen package in his vehicle, which police said contained a laptop that was supposed to go to a woman.
The report said investigators also found “a printer, vinyl sticker paper, a laptop and eight counterfeit Florida driver’s licenses.”
Authorities said Kudyakov said he signed up for the “package delivery job” through the messaging app Telegram, which is popular with both Russians and criminals.
In the Russian-language group, Kudyakov said the organizer gave him a list of items to buy to make the fake IDs and then began receiving texts about “jobs” to complete, the report states.
“The texts included a tracking number, victim name and address, description of (the) item and the location of where it is being delivered to,” Doral police wrote. “(He) said that after he retrieves the package, he is then provided with a shipping label via Telegram for the address he is supposed to mail the packages to.”
Kudyakov admitted to completing as many as five “jobs” before his arrest, including the Rolex theft, police said. He said he sent the high-end watch, as instructed, to a pack and ship center in Oakland Park.
Records show Kudyakov faces seven felony charges in Miami-Dade County, including organized fraud, dealing in stolen property and identity theft.
As of Thursday afternoon, he was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $55,000 bond.
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