Mother and son accused of beating owner of Hialeah store, taking over $800K in jewelry
MIAMI -- A woman who was allegedly beaten by a mother and son duo accused of stealing more than $800,000 worth of jewelry from the victim's Hialeah business said Wednesday that she is glad the pair is in custody.
Eunice Sanchez told CBS News Miami's Peter D'Oench that she is still very upset about what happened to her on Sept. 16 during an attack that was caught on camera.
"I am happy that they were arrested," she said. "Police did their job and I hope this does not happen to anyone else. The woman came here to the salon and planned with her son to rob me. Her son assaulted me with a firearm. I was going to my car and he came close to me with a firearm because I would not give him my bag I was holding on to and he assaulted me."
Lourdes Diaz, 55, and her son, Julian Flores, 24, both of Naples, were arrested and are both facing a charge of armed robbery with a deadly weapon in connection with the incident at the business located at 7751 W. 28th Ave.
Flores appeared in bond court on Tuesday and Diaz appeared on Wednesday. Both the mother and her son were ordered to stay away from the victim and the business
The judge found probable cause for Flores and ordered him held without bond.
Police said surveillance tape shows Flores rushing to a car with a bag filled with jewelry.
According to investigators, 1,300 pieces of jewelry worth more than $800,000 were stolen from Sanchez's business. Police said the merchandise has been recovered.
Hialeah police spokeswoman Scarlett Hernandez said the suspects had an organized plan.
"This mother and son duo planned this crime months ahead of time and orchestrated it where the mother befriended the victim," Hernandez said. "In the video, you see the vehicle taking off with Julian Flores with a bag full of jewelry fleeing the scene. We checked and found they have no criminal history. In my 10 years I have never seen a mother and son in such a calculated crime that was vicious. Fortunately we have recovered all of the jewelry."
She warned business owners to limit the information that they give to very curious customers.
"Do not answer questions about how much jewelry you have or how much money you have because you could become the next victim of a crime," Hernandez said.
Sanzhez said she has learned a valuable lesson from the incident.
"All I can say is you have to be careful with people coming close to you," she said. "You don't know who people are and the lady played off being nice so she could take advantage of me."