Exclusive: Men Arrested For Allegedly Robbing 17 Asian Restaurants
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Miami-Dade Police say they've busted three burglars with extensive criminal histories after at least 17 restaurants were broken in to in the first five weeks of this year. Nearly all of the businesses are Chinese or Japanese restaurants.
In an exclusive interview with CBS4's Peter D'Oench, the lead Miami-Dade Police detective in the case, Alex Cao, said that in most cases, the suspects broke in through front or back doors, often between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. when no one was in the business.
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He told D'Oench that tens of thousands of dollars in cash and liquor were taken. At least $25,000 in cash was taken from one Miami-Dade Police district alone.
Cao said no one was hurt but "the main concern was that someone would get hurt and that someone would come in early in the morning, hours before the restaurant was occupied for the day and would then confront the suspects."
Miami-Dade Police are handling 14 of the burglaries which stopped in early February after an alert Miami-Dade Police officer from Kendall spotted the suspects' car, pulled them over and arrested them.
Cao said restaurants in Doral, Coral Gables and South Miami have also been victimized.
The three men arrested are 43-year-old James Gibson, who is tied to 14 of the crimes, 46-year-old Anton Andrews and 43-year-old Tomothy Hudson, who police say was on probation after a conviction and sentence for attempted first-degree murder. Andrews and Hudson are each being charged in nine of the burglaries.
Records show they have extensive criminal histories on charges involving robberies, assaults, drugs and burglaries.
Police say the suspects were captured on surveillance tape but it is not being released because this is an open investigation.
At the Sushi Café at 7917 N.W. 2nd St., Manyi Chung, whose parents own the business, told D'Oench that the burglars broken open his back door and went through the kitchen to the safe and took $4,000 in cash.
"What they did was strike the back door and break it," he said. "For me I was scared. I was scared for my family. They were terrified."
His brother Harry Chung said, "It struck us very hard. We have never been struck this way before to our business and it is very tough."
At the Tropical Chinese restaurant at 7991 S.W. 40th St., the manager Mei Hensley said the burglars broke in through a front door by busting a panel. She is grateful that arrests have been made.
"We have been here more than 30 years and it is not nice," she said. "But I am glad the police caught them. They did a really good job."
At the Uptown Buffet at 8275 W. Flagler St., owner Leo Dong said, "It's good they were arrested."
Employe Guillermo Siu said the burglars tried to break in through the back door but were not successful.
"The arrests are good. It shows that safety is better but it is a bad thing because these things should not be happening," he said.
They say there may be other victims out there and they urge them to call police or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477).
