Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier\u2019s office announced charges against Alayn Espinosa Lopez, Yerrison Perez, Yasser Mederos Garcia, Alexis Suarez Hernandez, Alejandro Valdes, and Arley Osmany Hernandez Relova for Grand Theft and Conspiracy to Commit Grand Theft. The group is responsible for thefts resulting in an estimated loss of nearly $7.8 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis organized criminal operation targeted Florida\u2019s supply chain and caused nearly $7.8 million in losses across our state,\u201d\u00a0said Uthmeier.\u00a0\u201cThanks to the coordination between the Florida Highway Patrol, the Orlando Police Department, and our Office of Statewide Prosecution, this group was identified and dismantled. Now, they\u2019ll answer for their crimes in court.\u201d<\/p>\n
[Related: Congress moves closer to federal cargo theft enforcement mandate<\/a>]<\/p>\n The investigation began in May 2023 after a series of thefts involving unattended commercial semi-trailers loaded with high-value cargo were reported throughout the Orlando area and beyond. The thefts included shipments of retail merchandise, consumer electronics, copper wire, HVAC equipment, cooking oil and food products, energy drinks, wine and spirits, and other alcoholic beverages, all of which had entered the stream of interstate or intrastate commerce.<\/p>\n Business<\/p>\n Overdrive’s Load Profit Analyzer<\/p>\n Know your costs, owner-operators? Compute the potential profit in any truckload, access per-day and per-mile breakouts, and compare brokers’ offers on multiple loads. Enter your trucking business’s fixed and variable costs, and load information, to get started. Need help? Access this video to walk through examples with Overdrive\u2019s own Gary Buchs<\/a>, whose work assessing numbers in his own business for decades inspired the Analyzer to begin with.Try it out!<\/a> Investigators determined the defendants were part of a major theft organization (MTO) that targeted parked semi-trailers in commercial areas, parking lots, and distribution corridors. After stealing the vehicles and cargo, members of the MTO would search for and disable GPS tracking devices to evade law enforcement, then transport the stolen property to South Florida, where it was sold to co-conspirators involved in the resale of stolen goods.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to the Florida Highway Patrol Cargo Theft Unit, between May 2023 and March 2025, the MTO is responsible for the theft of approximately 51 commercial motor vehicles and 28 cargo shipments.<\/p>\n The defendants face a combined maximum penalty of 300 years in the Florida Department of Corrections.<\/p>\n![\"Attachments](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/overdrive_load_analyzer.png\")
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