5 men tied to Tren de Aragua arrested in Osceola, Polk sheriff says
Five Venezuelan immigrants with alleged ties to Tren de Aragua have been jailed in Osceola County following a string of dozens of retail thefts committed throughout Central Florida, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office.
The suspects — identified as Alexis Rodriguez-Benavides, 27; Samuel Anthony-Charle, 25; Darwins Vasquez-Leon, 28; Ildemaro Escalona-Mendoza, 26; and Ramon Carpintero-Luna, 26 — are accused of stealing from stores in eight counties, including Orange, Osceola and Seminole, the agency said in a Friday news release. Rodriguez-Benavides and Anthony-Charle were listed by the agency as being 'documented members' of Tren de Aragua, which began as a prison gang in Venezuela but is now a transnational criminal outfit targeted by state and federal authorities.
The group has become notorious as the Trump administration maintains it is directed by the Venezuelan government, a claim contradicted by a U.S. intelligence assessment. President Donald Trump has invoked war powers to deport its alleged members without customary due process on that basis, triggering a series of court battles.
The other suspects in the local case are considered 'associates' of the gang, but an agency spokesperson was unable to say how investigators linked them. Their identities, however, were revealed following a robbery early March of a Sam's Club in Lakeland, where surveillance video reportedly shows the men attempting to steal thousands of dollars in high-end liquor before being chased off by a store employee.
Dubbed 'scotch bandits' by the Sheriff's Office in images released to news outlets, the video showed them salvaging two cases of liquor before speeding away from the scene. The getaway car was then abandoned after getting stuck atop a bush when the driver hopped a concrete curb in a nearby parking lot. The abandoned vehicle, authorities said, contained the stolen merchandise, cellphones and a passport.
Osceola County jail records show two of the men, Anthony-Charle and Escalona-Mendoza, have sat in the hoosegow since March 20, charged with crimes stemming from an armed robbery at an apartment complex in Kissimmee. Escalona-Mendoza, according to court filings, is the accused gunman who detectives said held up two people looking to lease a unit, taking with him several credit cards and $2,300 in cash.
While investigators said surveillance video did not show how the suspects escaped, Anthony-Charle allegedly made several transactions with the cards, including attempted purchases at a nearby Walmart and a barbershop. Their criminal cases as of Friday are ongoing, and it's unclear whether those are part of the string of statewide robberies now being handled by Florida's Office of Statewide Prosecution.
As for Vasquez-Leon, he was jailed Wednesday after he was caught driving without a license with his Venezuelan passport as his only form of identification, according to one affidavit. Rodriguez-Benavides and Carpintero-Luna were arrested the same day on a Polk County warrant, though it's unclear from available records how they were found.
All five men entered the U.S. illegally, the Sheriff's Office said, and their arrests have already caught the attention of the Department of Homeland Security.
Florida officials have ramped up immigration enforcement efforts following President Trump's return to office on the pledge to tackle criminal organizations like Tren de Aragua, the scourge du jour of agencies seeking to support the president's agenda. To date, scores of immigrants with alleged ties to Tren de Aragua and other gangs have been arrested statewide and elsewhere, though the evidence tying them to these groups has at times appeared scant.
Gov. Ron DeSantis trumpeted the arrest of Franklin Jimenez-Bracho, an alleged Tren de Aragua member captured in Osceola County after years in the U.S. According to Venezuelan news media, Jimenez-Bracho, nicknamed 'El Patalisa,' was among the 10 criminals most wanted by Interpol, which placed him on their list in 2021 for extortion, contract killing and human trafficking.
He's also wanted in the country for the killings of his wife and her cousin.
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It resembles legislation implemented by governments in Nicaragua, Venezuela, Russia, Belarus and China to silence and criminalize dissent by exerting pressure on organizations that rely on overseas funding. Verónica Reyna, a human rights coordinator for the Salvadoran nonprofit Servicio Social Pasionista, said police cars now regularly wait outside her group's offices as a lingering threat. 'It's been little-by-little,' Reyna said. 'Since Trump came to power, we've seen (Bukele) feel like there's no government that's going to strongly criticize him or try to stop him.' Trump's influence extends beyond his vocal backing of Bukele, with his administration pushing legal boundaries to push his agenda, Reyna, other human rights defenders and journalists said. The U.S. Embassy in El Salvador, which once regularly denounced the government's actions, has remained silent throughout the arrests and lingering threats. It did not respond to a request for comment. In its final year, the Biden administration, too, dialed back its criticism of the Bukele government as El Salvador's government helped slow migration north in the lead up to the 2024 election. On Tuesday, Quintanilla visited Anaya in detention for the first time since his arrest while being watched by police officers. Despite the detention, neither Anaya nor Quintanilla have been officially informed of the charges. Quintanilla worries that authorities will use wide ranging powers granted to Bukele by the 'state of emergency' to keep him imprisoned indefinitely. Journalists stranded Óscar Martínez, editor-in-chief of news site El Faro, and four other journalists have left the country and are unable to return safely, as they face the prospect of arrest stemming from their reporting. 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