MIAMI, Fla. — A Miami man has become the third suspect charged in a 2023 case involving the theft of a truck and trailer loaded with $200,000 worth of beef, according to authorities.
Leandro Darian Crespo, 40, was arrested Monday and charged with grand theft of a vehicle, grand theft of cargo, and grand theft, Miami-Dade jail records show.
Two other men — Lazaro Izquierdo, 41, and Jorge Blanco, 40 — were previously arrested in connection with the same theft.
The investigation began on August 4, 2023, after a Kenworth truck was reported stolen in Palm Beach County. A month later, on September 12, a trailer containing the stolen beef was also reported missing in Orange County.
Authorities tracked the trailer using GPS to a property on Southwest 172nd Street in Miami, where deputies discovered the beef being transferred from one trailer to another. Surveillance footage showed Crespo driving the stolen truck before he, Izquierdo, and Blanco fled the scene.
Blanco was later arrested after a high-speed chase, and Izquierdo was also taken into custody.
Crespo, described by investigators as a “known member of an organized auto theft group,” was already facing charges in two separate auto theft cases and an attempted aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer case.
He appeared in court Tuesday, where a judge set his bond at $20,000 on the latest charges.
