7 Arrested in Baby Formula Trafficking Ring
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Seven nabbed in baby formula trafficking ring
Oscar Geovanny Milla Cortagena
Elsa Rivera-Hernandez
Rosa Padilla Valladeres
Luis Rolando Flores-VallesStory Tools
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By GABRIEL MARGASAK
gabriel.margasak@scripps.com
February 2, 2007
STUART — State agents and local deputies captured members of a baby formula trafficking ring that may be part of a much larger operation, according to officials and reports released Thursday.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, along with the Martin County Sheriff's Office, arrested seven people Wednesday and Thursday, seizing about $48,000 worth of powdered formula mix in 1,700 cans, according to FDLE spokeswoman Susie Murphy.
One trafficker hauling an additional 1,450 cans of formula worth $40,600 had slipped away with the goods, reports said.
"It's apparently a nationwide thing, and really that's all I can say because it's an active investigation, not (just) here but everywhere," she said.
FDLE Special Agent Kevin Kulp wrote in a report that the group may have been directed out of the North Carolina area and "have been identified as being part of a much larger baby formula trafficking organization."
At $28 a can, it is possible the containers of powdered formula were stolen to sell back to distributors who sell right back to the stores that were victims of the shopliftings. Authorities, however, declined to detail the operation involving cans of Similac Organic, Similac Alimentum and other such products.
Authorities had yet to determine whether the seven people arrested were in the U.S. legally.
Arrested on a felony charge of trafficking in stolen property were Hilda Hernandez, 26, Miguel Angel Aguilar, 26, Luis Valle-Flores, 30, Oscar Geovanny Milla Cortagena, 29, Elsa Rivera-Hernandez, 21, and Rosa Padilla Valladeres, 45, all of Wallace, N.C. Maria Vargas, 36, address unknown, was also charged with trafficking.
The bust came after a tip from a confidential source on Wednesday, according to FDLE reports.
The source said a group of people was stealing "large quantities of baby formula from grocery and retail stores throughout the Treasure Coast area," Kulp wrote.
Authorities quickly got a vehicle description and information the group was going to hit a Hobe Sound Winn-Dixie.
The source then said the group was going to hit the Publix in Stuart's Wedgwood Commons.
A Publix store manager told authorities several people were placing large quantities of baby formula in a cart.
They fled when approached by store workers.
The thieves and their vehicle managed to elude law enforcement, but the source said they returned to the Suburban Lodge off U.S. 1 in Stuart.
Agent Kulp was watching the lodge when they left again and headed for the storage units where they were keeping the stolen formula.
Surveillance was set up at Tropical Self Storage on Indian Street.
The agent saw the group loading stolen formula from the storage unit into a green Plymouth Voyager minivan.
The agent, with sheriff's deputies, made their move and four people were taken to jail on charges of trafficking in stolen property.
On Thursday, three more people allegedly connected with the group were arrested in a traffic stop at Kanner Highway and Monterey Road.
One woman arrested had outstanding warrants for petit theft out of Osceola and Seminole counties, according to reports. She allegedly admitted her role in the operation, saying she stole about six cans from each of six stores during one week. The loss was placed at $1,000.
Another woman admitted she had worked for the organization for some time. Her job was to walk the formula out of the stores.
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