Key West The Newspaper

 

Two Miami men were arrested Wednesday morning for burglary after some quick police work by Upper Keys deputies.

The Sheriff’s Office was notified at about 2:36 a.m., by two residents on Iroquois Drive in Islamorada, that two men had just left their dual-residence property in a red car.

By 2:46 deputies arrived at the home. The man in the downstairs unit, Kenneth Methard, reported being awoken by a man with a flashlight. He told deputies that when he asked who it was, the intruder left. Methard said he followed the man outside and saw a red car with headlights off pulling away from the house. He said he then got his gun and a flashlight and proceeded to check the property before calling 911.

Deputies radioed that information to other deputies also on road patrol.

Methard and his downstairs neighbor, Gary Nichols, both reported their vehicles — parked outside —  were found with doors wide open and had been burglarized. Both reported they had left their vehicles unlocked and both were missing an array of personal effects such as credit cards, sunglasses, keys, small construction tools, knives and personal identification such as drivers licenses among other items.

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By 2:52 a.m. deputies Nestor Argote and Joel Torres had spotted a red, Chevrolet Cruz northbound on U.S. 1 and stopped it at Mile Marker 92. Inside the car were suspects, Alfredo Lopez Somarriba, 28, and Yoandy Mora Perez, 34, who was driving.

Some of the items reported stolen were reportedly in plain view inside the car. A further search of the car yielded Methard’s driver’s license and ultimately, all of the missing items. Small amounts of marijuana and cocaine were also found in the car.

Methard was brought to the scene in an unmarked patrol car with tinted windows and was driven past Lopez Somarriba and Mora Perez.  Methard positively identified Mora Perez, stating he was “100% confident”.

Lopez Somarriba and Mora Perez was taken to the Sheriff’s Office Plantation Key office where they were questioned by detectives. Lopez Somarriba initially refused to speak to detectives but later stated that Mora Perez had been driving him to Key West and that he had been sleeping in the vehicle and woke up when the deputies pulled them over. He said he knew nothing about any burglaries and that he was tired and “high as f$%k”.

Lopez Somarriba told Deputies he had driven his friend Mora Perez to Marathon to take money to his family and that they were on their way back to Miami. He said he knew nothing about any residential burglaries. He had no explanation as to why the victim would have identified him and when confronted with the fact that the victims’ belongings had been found in his car he said that he and Mora Perez had stopped at a fishing area to go the bathroom, had found the items on the ground and had taken them.

Lopez Somarriba and Mora Perez were then taken to jail.  The recovered property was returned to Methard and Nichols.

Both men were charged with two counts of burglary of a vehicle, two counts of larceny and possession of burglary tools and cocaine possession. Mora Perez was additionally charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling. Lopez Somarriba was additionally charged with possession of marijuana.