Two men were arrested on Monday (November 2) in connection to the stealing of $1 million worth of medical gloves and were out on bond by the following morning.
Thanks to a tip, investigators were led to a warehouse in Medley. There, police found 11 pallets of medical gloves, according to Local 10 News.
These pallets were just a small part of what was stolen from a Coral Springs warehouse last month.
A shipment of 6 million medical gloves headed to Florida was stolen on Sunday, October 25. The supplies, meant for first responders in Florida hospitals, were worth $1 million.
Medgluv, the national health care industry's supplier of medical gloves, said that the shipment was intercepted from their office in Coral Springs, according to the Associated Press. The shipment arrived at the office on Friday night (October 23) and surveillance footage from Sunday night showed a truck backing up to the shipping container and thieves loading the shipment of gloves into it before driving away just minutes later.
Hospitals across America are in urgent need of personal protective equipment for first responders as the number of coronavirus cases continue to rise, making the theft distressing beyond financial reasons. Medgluv's vice president of sales and marketing, Rick Grimes, said the company was "crushed."
Local police were investigating the theft as well as federal authorities since the medical-grade gloves were federally registered.
"Our detectives worked tirelessly through the weekend and today they were able to effect an arrest," said Medley Police Officer Deglys Chavarria on Monday (November 2).
The two suspects have been identified as Tabit Lejardi and Michael Henao.
"Their role was they were essentially selling the stolen gloves," said Officer Chavarria. "Now those gloves can get to the right hands and keep combating this pandemic."
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