2 county employees caught on camera stealing over $50,000 worth of artwork at PortMiami, sheriff's office says

CBS News

2 days ago

Two PortMiami employees were arrested this week after they were caught on camera stealing over $50,000 of art, the sheriff's office said.
On Thursday morning, the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office said it had arrested and charged 27-year-old Angel Prudhomme and 50-year-old Tangela Park with second-degree grand theft. Arrest documents revealed that Park is also facing a criminal mischief charge.
According to MDSO, both Prudhomme and Park were county employees assigned to PortMiami as custodial workers.
"As Sheriff of Miami-Dade County, I take individuals using their employment to steal very seriously," said Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rose Cordero-Stutz. "I am committed to ensuring that anyone involved in dishonest actions will be held accountable."
A tip received by public corruption investigators led to the arrests
Last Friday, Public Corruption Section investigators with MDSO's Internal Affairs Office were notified by port authorities of a possible art theft inside one of the terminals. Detectives then met with port authorities and reviewed surveillance video, which showed two PortMiami workers removing artwork from the terminal, loading it into their vehicles and leaving the port with it.
During the investigation, Prudhomme was identified as one of the employees caught on camera, where he was seen removing artwork from the walls inside Terminal G on May 12 and concealing it in a stairwell. According to arrest documents, he was also seen concealing mosaic and marble pieces of art inside trash cans and bags while trying to avoid security cameras.
The following day, Prudhomme was seen taking the art and putting it into Park's vehicle.
Public Corruption Section detectives then took over the investigation and with the assistance of the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, they obtained warrants for Prudhomme and Park's arrests.
According to arrest documents, 12 of the 24 pieces were damaged by the "improper removal and transportation" of the artwork and were left at the terminal. These items were later recovered by the Sea Port General Investigations unit.
After receiving consent to a search, the other 12 pieces were found on Wednesday at Prudhomme's home and vehicle, where they were also found to be damaged.
According to MDSO, the art collection manager said the artwork was last appraised at around $50,000.
After being told their Miranda rights, Prudhomme and Park admitted to removing the artwork before being taken to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center for booking.