MIAMI (WSVN) - Miami Police officers hit the lotto when, they said, a repeat burglar tried to cash in a lottery ticket he stole.
The accused serial thief, identified as 54-year-old Daniel Perez, was caught on surveillance video during his latest heist.
Speaking with 7News on Wednesday, Assaf Alfoqahaa with Sapir Market said the suspect broke into the family-owned grocery store, located on Southwest 16th Street and 22nd Avenue in Miami.
“This is crazy. People [are] crazy a lot, you know?” said Alfoqahaa.
Alfoqahaa said the suspect broke into his family’s business through the roof, at around 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 5.
“The alarm [system] called the cops, and the cops came,” he said.
Once officers responded to the supermarket, investigators said, they didn’t notice any signs of forced entry — that is, until they checked the roof. They came across a large gaping hole, along with hammers and a crowbar.
“He always uses the same m.o. He always goes in through the roof, cutting a big hole in the roof,” said Miami Police Officer Michael Vega. “[He] goes into the business, and he goes for two items: lottery tickets and the cigarettes.”
Police said this was not Perez’s first strike. They later linked him to several other rooftop burglaries dating back to Jan. 11 — including one at Cloud Smoke Shop on Southwest Eighth Street.
Detectives used the scratch-off tickets to track him down.
“These lottery tickets have a tracking to it, so if they’re a winning ticket, and you go cash it somewhere, we’ll know that these are the stolen tickets,” said Vega.
Police discovered Perez was cashing them in in Alllapattah. That’s where they tracked him down on Monday.
“He had cigarettes with him, and he had some lottery tickets with him,” said Vega.
Officers took the suspect into custody.
Perez appeared in bond court Wednesday afternoon. He faces a list of charges, including burglary, grand theft and criminal mischief.
“Sir, you are ordered to stay away from the Dollar Plus Mini Mart,” said Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Mindy S. Glazer.
Perez is being held without bond at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in West Miami-Dade because, investigators said, he was out on a felony bond for a different incident at the time of his arrest on Monday.
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