{"id":358736,"date":"2026-07-31T12:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T12:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/358736\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T12:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T12:27:12","slug":"video-shows-port-st-lucie-man-accused-of-tequila-thefts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/358736\/","title":{"rendered":"Video shows Port St. Lucie man accused of tequila thefts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Surveillance video shows Port St. Lucie man accused of stealing tequila worth thousands<\/p>\n

\"VanessaPORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\n

The Martin County Sheriff’s Office has released new surveillance video that investigators say shows a Port St. Lucie man stealing thousands of dollars’ worth of tequila from a local liquor store.<\/p>\n

Stay up to date: The latest headlines and weather from WPBF 25<\/a><\/p>\n

According to deputies, 31-year-old Michael Ruiz was caught on camera stuffing bottles of tequila into a backpack while inside the store. The video also allegedly shows Ruiz entering a storage room, grabbing three cases of tequila and walking out without paying.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Video shows Port St. Lucie man accused of tequila thefts<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Authorities say the stolen alcohol was worth thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n

Ruiz was later arrested in neighboring St. Lucie County on unrelated charges after police said he was driving under the influence.<\/p>\n

Investigators believe Ruiz may be connected to several other recent tequila thefts reported across the area and are continuing to look into those cases.<\/p>\n

The Martin County Sheriff’s Office released the surveillance footage as part of its investigation and is asking anyone with information about similar incidents to contact law enforcement. <\/p>\n

Get the latest weather updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Surveillance video shows Port St. Lucie man accused of stealing tequila worth thousands PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-358736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}