SUNNY ISLES BEACH, Fla. — A housekeeper at the Trump International Beach Resort in Sunny Isles Beach was arrested Monday after police say he stole a guest’s suitcase from her hotel room.
According to an arrest report from the Sunny Isles Beach Police Department, officers responded to the Trump International Beach Resort, located at 18001 Collins Ave., on Sunday after a guest reported her suitcase had been stolen from her hotel room.
The victim told investigators she had not given anyone, including hotel staff, permission to remove it.
Police said surveillance video from the hotel showed Jerome Leon Garrett-Hudson, 38, who worked as a housekeeper at the resort, leaving the floor where the victim’s room was located before exiting the hotel with a suitcase matching the description of the missing luggage.
According to the arrest report, a hotel security advisor questioned Garrett-Hudson, who is from North Miami, before police arrived and asked whether he had entered the room or found any lost or abandoned property. Police said Garrett-Hudson denied entering the room.
Investigators later reviewed the hotel’s electronic key-card access logs, which showed Garrett-Hudson’s assigned key card was used twice to enter the victim’s room, according to the report.
Police said Garrett-Hudson was interviewed by detectives and initially denied entering the room before later acknowledging that he had accessed it, claiming he left after seeing suitcases inside because he believed the room was not ready to be cleaned.
When investigators asked what property he had with him when he left work that day, Garrett-Hudson told them he left with only his personal backpack, the report states.
Investigators said they then showed him a still image captured from the hotel’s surveillance system that allegedly showed him leaving the property with the victim’s suitcase. According to the arrest report, Garrett-Hudson then provided some kind of admission, although his full statement was redacted from the publicly released report.
Police said the stolen suitcase was later recovered and returned to the victim.
Garrett-Hudson was arrested on a charge of theft of personal property by a hotel employee, a third-degree felony.
Another hotel employee, Monica Latesha Peterson, 33, of Miami Gardens, was arrested Saturday after police said she stole $6,500 in cash from a guest’s hotel room Friday while the guest was attending a soccer match.
As of Tuesday morning, Garrett-Hudson was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $2,500 bond.
Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
