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Plea Hearing For Suspected Gold Heist Mastermind

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MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) - An Opa-locka man who reportedly masterminded a gold heist in North Carolina is scheduled to appear at a plea hearing in Miami federal court on Thursday.

Adalberto Perez, 46, is robbery and firearms charges in the 2015 theft.

The FBI says Perez used a GPS device to track the tractor-trailer and released pepper spray by remote control to sicken the driver and a passenger before the robbery in Wilson County, North Carolina. No one was injured.

The 275-pound load of gold was heading from Miami to Massachusetts when three armed thieves intercepted it, bound the hands of the two people in the truck and fled in a van.

Perez was arrested at his home almost exactly a year after the March 2015 robbery. His two alleged accomplices remain at large.

(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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