Audio By Carbonatix
Like most families in South Florida, Edy Martinez Lezcano’s clan in Key Largo had a weird mid-week holiday to fill thanks to the Fourth of July. How to best make some family bonding happen on a weird Wednesday off work? A day fishing? A road trip to Sloppy Joes?
Nah, Lezcano’s crew decided it’d be more fun to hit a local strip mall and shoplift hundreds of dollars of stuff from five different stores.
The day-long shoplifting spree fell apart around 4 p.m. on Wednesday when an employee at Key Largo’s Publix noticed the 29-year-old Lezcano strolling out the door with a bag of groceries he hadn’t paid for, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
The employee called the sheriff’s deputies, who found Lezcano standing outside the KMart next door; another cop spotted his wife, 37-year-old Maria de Los Angeles Betancourt nearby in an H3 Hummer. Lezcano’s mother-in-law, 57-year-old Eustasia Gonzalez, was also nearby.
When news happens, Miami New Times is there —
Your support strengthens our coverage.
We’re aiming to raise $30,000 by December 31, so we can continue covering what matters most to you. If Miami New Times matters to you, please take action and contribute today, so when news happens, our reporters can be there.
As the deputies verified that the Hummer had the stolen Publix food inside, a KMart manager approached the cops to report that the trio had also employed a five-fingered discount in his shop.
So the deputies took a look to see what else was in the Hummer. In the back, they found more than $700 worth of merchandise from KMart, Publix and three other stores in the same complex — Beall’s, Shell World and West Marine. None of it had been paid for, the cops say.
The trio were arrested and charged with five counts of theft. Jail — another great bonding opportunity!
Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes.
