Newly released video shows the moment a Miami International Airport cargo handler was arrested in connection with a massive cellphone theft valued at $1.2 million.
The arrest
Police body-worn camera video captures Miguel Rivera-Paz being taken into custody. Rivera-Paz, who worked as a cargo handler, was accused of stealing Samsung cellphones bound for Colombia in 2023.
The scheme
Investigators say DHL corporate security first reported the theft. Surveillance video shows Rivera-Paz, an employee with Worldwide Flight Services, taking photos and videos of boxes packed with phones.
Those phones were placed into a secure aluminum container. Footage later shows Rivera-Paz and another man near the container, with one of them using a forklift to move it. Rivera-Paz was also seen removing the box, then returning it.
When the shipment arrived in Bogotá, the cellphones were gone. In their place: sandbags—meant to mimic the weight of the stolen phones.
The outcome
Rivera-Paz was charged with grand theft. His case has since been closed after he accepted a pre-trial diversion program.
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