Miami Federal prosecutors said that Julian Flores, 25, and his mother, Lourdes Diaz, 56, of Naples, Florida, had entered a guilty plea to charges pertaining to the brutal armed theft of $750,000 worth of gold jewelry from a Hialeah business owner.
The victim was putting a suitcase full of gold items into a car in a Hialeah parking lot on September 16, 2023, when the crime took place. Flores, masked and carrying a pistol, charged toward the victim while Diaz, in a leased white SUV, parked the car. During a fight for the suitcase, Flores repeatedly attacked the victim with the pistol. Flores fired a shot into the ground, but was able to grab the suitcase and flee in Diaz’s SUV.
When Flores was taken into custody on October 2, 2023, police found that he was wearing jewelry that had been taken during the heist. After trying to conceal a safe that held the pilfered jewelry in the house of one of Flores’s acquaintances, Diaz was taken into custody the next day. During a search of the home, police found the safe and the remaining stolen jewelry.
Diaz entered a guilty plea on November 22, 2024, to Hobbs Act robbery, Hobbs Act robbery conspiracy, and brandishing a firearm during and in furtherance of a violent felony. On November 26, 2024, Flores pled guilty to similar counts, which included firing a firearm during and in furtherance of a violent crime. The potential penalty for both is up to life in prison. Following a review of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, sentencing hearings will be set.
The Hialeah Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) looked into the case. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sterling M. Paulson.
This prosecution is a component of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a national program that uses community partnerships and coordinated law enforcement to reduce gun violence and violent crime.
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