28-05-2025
Amazon driver kept $45K in goods, dumped empty boxes in Kendall, Sheriff's Office says
If you were tracking your Amazon package and saw it circling a Kendall-area Lowe's parking lot before the signal dropped, it may have been traveling with a driver accused of stealing about $45,000 in Amazon goods.
At 11 p.m. on May 2, Adrian Barrera, 32, an Amazon contractor, was arrested 'while illegally dumping cardboard boxes' at the Lowe's parking lot, 9191 SW 137 Ave., the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office said.
Detective M. Fernandez, part of the sheriff's office Illegal Dumping Unit, rolled up to the Amazon truck and found its back-bay door wide open.
'[Barrera] offloaded empty cardboard boxes from a 26-foot truck and dumped them on the ground,' Fernandez said in Barrera's arrest report. 'The boxes were marked with Amazon labels and individually addressed to different customers.'
Barerra told police he picked up 13 pallets of Amazon boxes on May 1, valued at approximately $45,000, from the MIA Amazon distribution center at 1900 NW 132 Place. He was to distribute the load to seven 'different Amazon locations through Miami-Dade and Monroe County,' his police report said.
But instead of delivering the goods to the centers, Barrera went to the Lowe's parking lot, threw out the empty boxes and kept the merchandise, police said.
Barerra said 'he was in the process of moving and needed the space in the truck for his furniture,' MDSO said.
Barrera reportedly told police that he wasn't stealing 'because Amazon didn't track the inventory.'
Yes, Amazon. The company that sends you 10 updates when your $5 phone charger blinks at a conveyor belt in Ohio.
Zapata then searched the vehicle and found a green metal container in the front door side pocket holding a gram of crystal meth, the report said.
Barrera was charged with grand theft cargo under $50K, possession of a controlled substance and violating Florida's Litter Law.
Barrera was booked into Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and posted a $7,500 bond on May 7, according to the county courts database. He has pleaded not guilty, has a public defender, and will be arraigned on June 2 before Judge Tanya Brinkley.
