SWEETWATER, FLA. (WSVN) - A pawn shop owner is feeling betrayed after, he said, his decades-old friend stole several watches from his shop in Sweetwater.
Joseph Maya said he’s been in the pawn shop business for over 40 years, and his friend of 25 years has always taken watches from his store but returns them when he doesn’t sell them.
“I know him for 25 years. That guy comes every time, gets one, two, three Rolexes, goes and sell it. If he doesn’t sell it, he brings it back, but I have never had any problem with him,” said Maya.
But that changed on Dec. 6, when surveillance video showed Jose Quintana inside Maya’s Sweetwater store.
According to detectives, Quintana walked out with five Rolexes in good faith.
Maya said Quintana has sold his watches to his clients before and always returns to pay him back. But since that December appearance in his store, Quintana hasn’t returned.
“[I feel] destroyed, because we are in Christmas. I work seven days a week. It’s not that I’m just the owner, I work here seven days a week, and this guy robbed me $134,500 in watches. Watches that I can sell now in Christmas,” said Maya.
Investigators said Quintana cut off an ankle monitor he was wearing on federal charges, a secret that, Maya says, he had no idea about.
“I didn’t know that. If I know that, I would not give anything to him,” said Maya. “A lot of police officers, almost all the detectives in Sweetwater, are looking for him.”
Sweetwater Police said it was clear that Quintana had no intention of returning the watches, and they hope to catch him soon.
“Once he received the five Rolexes is when the federal authorities get alerted because of the fact that the monitor was cut off. Once they were able to locate the monitor, of course he was nowhere to be found, (so) he remains now at large. It’s clear that he had no intention to return [them],” said Sweetwater Police spokesperson Alvaro Zabaleta.
Maya shared photos of the stolen watches and their unique serial numbers so that customers don’t buy the stolen watches.
He also has a message for his former buddy.
“Please return the watches. Nothing else to say. Return back the watches, because I was your friend,” said Maya.
That friendship is now over.
If you have any information on this theft ot the suspect’s whereabouts, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a reward of up to $5,000.
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