MIAMI GARDENS, FLA. (WSVN) - A red Corvette stolen from an elderly veteran, who was beaten unconscious during the carjacking, has been found, and police have made an arrest, Tuesday evening.
Police said 72-year-old Omar Sixto’s prized Corvette, a 2000 Corvette convertible with a tan top, was found in Miami Gardens, near Northwest 203rd Terrace and 43rd Avenue, Tuesday.
The Vietnam War veteran became the victim of the violent carjacking, Sunday afternoon, near his friend’s house, located at Northwest Sixth Street and 28th Avenue in Miami.
He has since been recovering at his brother’s house and said Tuesday that he’s lucky a 7News viewer spotted his car and called police.
“This is my car, and it looks good,” he said. “I thought that I would never see it again.”
7News was at the scene as police towed Sixto’s Corvette away and also put a subject in handcuffs, Tuesday afternoon, who has since been identified as 23-year-old Arturo Breton.
Sixto said he was fixing the windshield wiper on his Corvette when he noticed a clean-cut man in his early 20s walking back and forth across the street.
“He hit me on the back of the head with something. I don’t even know if it was a pistol,” he said. “I fell down, and I got up. I don’t remember how I got down, I don’t remember how I got up, but I know that I was bleeding,” he said.
Sixto now has several stitches, bruises and bone fractures in his face, and almost no memory of the moment he was brutally beaten by the thief who stole his car. “He broke my nose and my eye socket, stitches here, my tooth, stitches on the other side,” he said.
An alert viewer said she saw Sixto’s vehicle on her way to work, Tuesday morning, and called Crime Stoppers. “Hell nah, is that the car?” she said. “Red Corvette with a tan top, so it is a little different, so it stood out to me, and I knew it was the car. I saw the plate, and I knew it was the car. I turned around, I took a picture and I called 471-TIPS.”
Police were able to locate that car in Miami Gardens. They also put one person in the back of a police cruiser. “I was happy that I was able to help,” the caller said.
Detectives are now working with Sixto to verify if the person they arrested is the same person who attacked him.
“He left him for dead,” said Richard Sixto, Omar’s nephew. “It’s sad. It’s sad to see that someone would do that.”
Still, Sixto said, this attack is nothing compared to what he saw during the war. He moved to Miami 50 years ago and went on to have a successful finance career and has published dozens of novels and poems.
While he’s grateful to be alive, Sixto is hoping he’ll find justice at the end of this story. “It was a close call. No matter what, it was a close call. I could have been killed [Sunday],” Sixto said. “I just hope this guy gets what he deserves.”
Breton now faces charges for robbery and aggravated battery.
If you have any information on this robbery, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $1,000 reward.
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