NORTH BAY VILLAGE, FLA. (WSVN) - A man said he was ambushed by three men who posed as customers wanting to buy devices off him in North Bay Village.
Police said the men pretended to be interested in devices Juan Pablo Buitago posted online to sell, but they did not intend to pay for any of it.
“Bro, never in my life I have a gun to my head,” Buitago said.
Buitago said on Monday night, at around 11:30 p.m., he met up with the men, who were later identified as Ellis Colon De La Rosa, Rafael Mayetcastillo and Nomar Sanchez Figueroa, outside his North Bay Village apartment to sell a MacBook laptop. Buitago said he got inside of their vehicle for the transaction, but once inside, said they put a gun to his head and told him not to move.
The victim believed he could have died that night, and he continues to relive that now. “Yeah, he tell me everything. ‘No, I don’t want to kill you, bro. Don’t see me,'” Buitago said. “‘Don’t look at me, I’ll kill you.’ Never in my life I have this. This is scary. Amazing. Never in my life, three guys.”
According to police, the three men Buitago referred to got away with the MacBook, Buitago’s iPhones, jewelry and cash before leaving him on the side of the road.
“We called our investigators in, and immediately they activated the victim’s iCloud account, started pinging the phones. The investigation led us to Coral Gables, and within a matter of three hours, we had this case wrapped up,” said North Bay Village Police Chief Carlos Noriega. “It was a really phenomenal investigation.”
Police said the three men were captured at a Denny’s restaurant in Coral Gables.
“Hopefully, we put them away for some time,” Noriega said.
All three suspects faced a judge in bond court, Wednesday.
Buitago now has all his electronics back and said he is relieved that the men who robbed him have been caught.
Police recommend, if you are going to sell something online, do so in the daytime, in a public area and in front of a police station.
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