A violent Tren de Aragua gangbanger was seen sobbing during his police interview after being collared by cops in Florida for robbing a liquor store.
Ramon Jesus Carpintero-Luna, 26, is one of a gang of thugs – dubbed the ‘Scotch Bandits’ – busted for a string of three-dozen thefts across central Florida that saw stores rack up losses of more than $30,000 in recent months.
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Detectives from the Polk County Sheriff’s Organized Retail Crime Unit say Carpintero-Luna was caught on camera stealing $3,200-worth of liquor from a Sam’s Club grocery store in Lakeland last month – an incident that left a female employee injured.
Along with Samuel Oglis David Anthony Charle, 25, Ildemaro Miguel Escalona Mendoza, 26, Alexis Jose Rodriguez-Benavides, 27, and Darwins Smith Vasquez Leon, 28, Carpintero-Luna was seen attempting to wheel a cart containing 14 cases of booze out of the store.
When the employee confronted them, they rammed her with the cart and made off with two of the cases before attempting to drive off in a silver Ford Focus.
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Investigators who searched the car found the stolen liquor, as well as several cellphones and a passport.
Photos obtained by DailyMail.com reveal the men were living high on the hog thanks to their ill-gotten gains with social media pictures showing the thugs partying, showing off bottles of high-end Buchanan Scotch whiskey and relaxing on the beach.
But the party is now over with two of the crooks apprehended in neighboring Osceola County and Carpintero-Luna, Leon and Rodriguez-Benavides picked up by Polk County detectives on Thursday night.
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The thugs have also had their robbery charges upgraded to a first-degree felony after they were hit with gang enhancements.
According to cops, Benavides and Charle are known members of Tren de Aragua while the other three are gang associates, and said all five are in the US illegally from Venezuela.
Detectives also told DailyMail.com that the goons also have a lengthy list of priors, that includes drug possession, resisting arrest, robbery with a firearm, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and ‘armed and dangerous’ domestic violence.
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His association with the violent Venezuelan gang could also see him handed a seat on one of the gangster-filled planes currently being sent to El Salvador by the Trump administration.
Five planeloads of gangbangers have already been sent to the Central American country with the men now locked up in notorious mega-prison.
The Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo [CECOT] was opened by Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele, 43, in January 2023 and can hold up to 40,000 prisoners.
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Last month, President Trump sent 238 alleged Tren de Aragua members to the prison as part of an agreement struck with Bukele that sees the Salvadorans lock up suspected foreign gang members in exchange for cash.
Also on the initial trio of flights were 23 alleged MS-13 gangbangers. Video posted by the Salvadoran president showed the men being hauled off the planes by soldiers.
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The policy has proved controversial, with the Supreme Court ordering the Trump Administration to ‘facilitate’ the return of one of the men – Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, who has since become a cause célèbre on the left.
Bukele has said he will not send the Salvadoran national back to the US, instead saying Abrego Garcia ‘will now have the honor of remaining in the custody of El Salvador’ in a post on X last night.
* Original Article:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14626685/amp/Tren-Aragua-gang-member-sobbing-arrest-Sams-Club-Florida.html?ito=smartnews