Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Pair abduct, rob women, police say
MIRAMAR — They abduct other women, sometimes at gunpoint, drive them to banks, force them to withdraw cash, then steal the money and set their victims free, authorities announced Wednesday.
Police say the thieving duo appears to have struck at least a dozen times in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
One has a tattoo of a cross on her ring finger; the other has gold teeth and usually wears hospital scrubs, said Tania Rues, a spokeswoman for the Miramar Police Department.
The pair targeted a woman in a Wells Fargo parking lot in Miramar on Nov. 28 and flashed a gun at a woman waiting at a bus stop on Nov, 21, forcing her into their vehicle, Rues said.
“We do believe that there are many more victims out there,”
Rues said.
“Some of the victims are immigrants and are fearful or embarrassed to come forward. Don’t be fearful, please come forward.”
On Nov. 28, a woman who wants to be identified only as Angela to protect her identity from the suspects, was targeted as she walked to her car after withdrawing $400 at a Wells Fargo bank.
One of the suspects approached, Rues said, holding an envelope and asking: “Is this yours? Did it fall out of your car?”
When Angela leaned in for a closer look at the envelope, the robbers threatened to shoot her and forced her to withdraw what money was left in her account. They also stole a bracelet she was wearing. Afterward they released Angela three blocks away at a Dollar Store, Rues said.
Angela, 21, a student and an employee at a drugstore, spoke to reporters Wednesday at the Miramar police station.
“There are people that don’t care about how hard you work to have money. … They just think they are going to come and steal from you,” she said. “But they don’t know what you did to get the money and how hard you had to work to get the money.”
The robbery Nov. 21 occurred when the two suspected robbers rolled up to a bus stop and asked a woman waiting there for directions to an address. They showed her a gun and told her to get into the car, Rues said.
That woman was in her 20s and had emigrated from Haiti less than a year ago, Rues said. She declined to be identified or interviewed.
The bandits drove the abducted woman to a bank in Pembroke Pines and forced her to withdraw cash and then took her to a second bank and did the same. They released her at a Publix about a mile from the bus stop. Police declined to disclose how much money the robbers stole but said it was “significantly more” than in Angela’s case.
The gold-toothed assailant went into one of the banks with the woman from the bus stop. “She stood with her as she filled out the withdrawal slip,” Rues said. “That’s how we have a still shot.”
That image was released Wednesday in hopes that the public can help lead police to the suspected women. It shows a woman with long dark hair, possibly in braids or dreadlocks. She has gold teeth, usually wears hospital scrubs and is between 5 feet 7 and 5 feet 9 inches tall, Rues said.
The other suspect is a heavier-set woman. She’s between 5 feet 2 and 5 feet 4 inches and has a cross tattooed on her ring finger, Rues said.
“These are the same women described in other cases,” Rues said. Both women are thought to be between 30 and 40 years old.
Investigators urge other victims and anyone with information about the wanted women to contact Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-8477. Anonymous tips can be submitted at browardcrimestoppers.org.