MARTIN COUNTY — Martin County Sheriff’s officials June 2 identified four men they said played roles in burglaries to dozens of hardware stores and other businesses in 13 counties, including Martin and St. Lucie, over the last several months.
Two of the men — Johnny Batista, 19, and 31-year-old Roberto Aldana-Ferrera — are in custody, while Roberto Hernandez-Castro, 39, remains at large.
Maikell Fleitas, 43, reportedly died in April after investigators said he had a medical emergency following a burglary in South Florida.
“This is one of those cases that at first glance appeared to be quite routine,” Martin County Sheriff’s Maj. Ruben Romero said. “And as we peeled back the layers and continued to peel back the layers, we discovered that it was a lot more than just a routine case.”
Martin sheriff’s officials in December 2025 went to Sewell Hardware Co. on Southeast Normand Street after an alarm, and learned a burglary had occurred, according to records. The location is near Southeast Indian Street and Dixie Highway.
Surveillance video showed two people enter at 3:41 a.m. One shattered the front glass door, with DeWalt tools being taken, records show.
Romero said investigators quickly determined one of the vehicles used by the alleged burglars was registered to one of their mothers in Miami-Dade County.
Investigators reported linking a BMW X6 the Sewell Hardware burglary, records show.
Making the case
According to records, the burglaries happened in areas including Fort Pierce, Port St. Lucie, Lake Worth, Fort Lauderdale, Haines City, Winter Haven, Sarasota, Jacksonville, Miami, Hollywood, Orlando, Pinellas Park and Palm Bay.
Romero said investigators determined the individuals in at least some instances wore the same clothes and had identifiable tattoos.
“There’s a lot of surveillance footage from some of these stores, and they got careless,” Romero said. “Sometimes they would be masked up, sometimes they weren’t masked up.”
Investigators got similar surveillance footage from other agencies and “these guys kept appearing everywhere.”
In total about $500,000 worth of property is thought to have been stolen.
Romero said making the case against the men is significant.
“Prices are constantly going up in retail stores and for equipment and for tools, and this is the reason why,” he said.
Romero said the four men each were not responsible for all of the more than 40 burglaries.
“Sometimes all four of them were at the same spot,” he said. “Sometimes they would split up. However, they would take the stolen goods and traffick them back to (Miami-)Dade County where they would sell them.”
‘Back-alley deals’
Romero said the men didn’t limit themselves to hardware, plumbing and electrical supply business burglaries.
“If they had an opportunity, they would also do vehicle burglaries. They would also hit clothing stores,” he said. “But the majority of their crime did specify to the tools, the hardware stuff.”
The alleged stolen property would be sold “all over the place,” Romero said, such as pawn shops, “back-alley deals” and to mom-and-pop businesses where perhaps they were unaware the items were stolen.
“As long as they can get rid of it and make money off of it, they would sell it,” Romero said.
Martin County Sheriff’s Detective Aaron Chandler said the case “consumed my everyday life for quite some time.”
He noted possibly one to two other people could be involved.
Romero said none of the alleged suspects made any statements to law enforcement officials.
“These guys are career criminals,” he said. “Most of these guys know they just keep quiet and that usually is to their benefit.”
Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on X @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-267-7926. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Four identified in dozens of hardware store burglaries across Florida
Reporting by Will Greenlee, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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