FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies said they caught four men stealing packages from a FedEx facility at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, which has recently suffered millions of dollars in thefts.
Deputies identified the quartet arrested Tuesday as Datari Damarcus Francois, 23, of northeast Miami-Dade; Devin Matthew J Holmes, 23, of northeast Miami-Dade; Devon Montrel Holmes, 21, of northwest Miami-Dade; and Michael Bernard Torrence, 25, of Coral Springs.
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According to a BSO arrest report, deputies from the agency’s Burglary Apprehension Team were surveilling the facility, located at 1000 SW 34th St. on the north side of the airport, amid the rash of thefts totaling about $6 million. The report states that unknown suspects have been “unlawfully entering and stealing electronic merchandise from docked trailers” at the hub.
Deputies said at 1:20 a.m., they saw a black Dodge Durango park just north of the FedEx facility and saw its driver, Torrence, get out and look towards the shipping hub. They said he got back in and drove the SUV near a parked Cadillac Escalade, where they saw “unknown subjects” shuffling between the two vehicles.
Authorities said they saw the Escalade, with a black item obscuring its license plate, driving into the FedEx lot and “canvassing” the area before parking.
The report states that deputies saw Torrence and Devon Holmes get out and walk towards the parked trailers, where they “assisted each other in meticulously removing and organizing the packages they had just removed” underneath a trailer bay.
Deputies gave a take-down signal and converged on the Escalade, they said. Aside from locating Torrence and Devon Holmes, they said they found Francois and Devin Holmes in the backseat of the SUV.
Francois was wearing black rubber gloves, the report states, and deputies said they saw Devin Holmes “frantically” place an item in the Escalade’s center console. It would turn out to be a gun, they said.
Authorities said the men took 44 boxes in total. The report doesn’t state what was inside, nor does it give an exact value for the items, but deputies said the stolen goods were worth at least $100,000.
The four men are facing various charges including first-degree grand theft and burglary.