Port St. Lucie - Thursday February 29, 2024: Three men from Miami were arrested early this morning on allegations that they attempted to steal several pallets of recyclable cardboard from a Publix in the 9100 block of US 1 in Port St. Lucie. The cardboard is frequently sold to recycling companies for money.
A witness spotted the attempted theft in progress, according to a post on the PSLPD Facebook page, and that person called police with a description of the vehicle. PSLPD put out a BOLO notice, (Be On the Look Out for) for a white box truck.
An alert officer from the Stuart Police Department, Officer Daniel Etelamaki, spotted the vehicle, just before 1 a.m. on U.S. #1 in Stuart. The officer stopped the suspect vehicle and detained the three occupants for Port St. Lucie police.
The three suspects have been identified as:
* 58-year-old Ramon Garcia Jerez
* 34-year-old Yuriel Garcia Vega
* 55-year-old Juan Garcia Tamayo
According to a release from the Stuart Police Department, the driver, Juan Garcia Tamayo, was arrested for attempted grand theft and an open warrant out of Martin County for theft. The two passengers, Yuriel Garcia Vega and Ramon Garcia Jerez, were charged with attempted grand theft and resisting arrest without violence. Garcia Jerez refused to exit the vehicle and attempted to flee out the passenger side of the truck but was quickly apprehended.
the trio admitted to traveling to Palm Bay, where they stole 11 bails of compacted cardboard, and then traveled to Port Saint Lucie, where they were interrupted during an attempted theft there.
They admitted to officers they traveled into Martin County to conduct another theft when they were stopped by Stuart Police officers and deputies from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.
