KENDALL, Fla. – Five subjects were detained Friday morning after the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Kendall Crime Suppression Team received a Crime Stoppers tip that suspicious activity was occurring in the rear parking lot of a shopping center on Sunset Drive.
Junior Alvarez, 27, Justin Abreu, 21, Ruben Lane, 40, Andres Roldan, 24, and Jonathan Giraldo, 29 now face a variety of charges, including selling/delivering cannabis within 1,000 feet of a school, selling/delivering mushrooms within 1,000 feet of a school and possession of hashish oil.
The shopping plaza is located at 9360 SW 72nd St., just feet away from True North Classical Academy Charter School.
Parents Local 10 spoke with, concerned for the safety of their children with that criminal activity happening right down the street.
“It happens everywhere but I’m glad I’m they caught them,” one parent said.
After police established surveillance around 9 a.m. Friday, detectives said they observed several subjects retrieving duffel bags from another vehicle in the parking lot.
According to their arrest reports, a detective was assigned to act as a lookout at the rear of the parking lot, and spotted several vehicles entering the parking lot.
All of the vehicles parked in the southernmost part of the parking lot in reverse and next to each other before the people inside lowered the windows and began conversing with each other, police said.
According to police, Justin Abreu opened the trunk of his BMW, and Roldan exited his vehicle and proceeded to walk to the trunk.
Police said Roldan retrieved a duffel bag from the trunk and a black cooler from the backseat of Justin Abreu’s BMW and placed them in his Infiniti.
Detectives then approached the suspects and immediately detected a strong smell of marijuana odor emitting from the vehicles, the arrest reports stated.
“There is narcotics transactions occurring that it is important for the community to be involved because tips to help us and working together is how we fight crime,” said Miami-Dade Police Public Information Officer Alvaro Zabaleta.
Seven duffel bags and seven coolers were retrieved that contained cannabis and other narcotics, authorities said.
All five suspects were ordered out of the vehicles and detained in reference to the narcotics investigation.
