A Miami jewelry store employee has been charged in a spate of gold thefts spanning several months, according to local authorities. Nubia Milena Torres-Cubillos, 45, is accused of pilfering parts of a broken Cuban link bracelet and other valuable items from the store where she worked. As Local 10 reported, the bracelet was valued at over $104,000, and the thefts took place between June and August.
Surveillance video captured by the store shows Torres-Cubillos, a Colombian national residing in Miami, engaging in a clever ruse to conceal the stolen gold links, described by police as being hidden in a box on a shelf, the visibility of which she lowered, “repositioning it at one time to ‘reduce visibility’,” the arrest report said. Among the pilfered items pawned were also an 18K yellow gold Van Cleef style bracelet and an 18K rose gold Van Cleef bracelet. According to Cuba Headlines, Torres-Cubillos faces charges of grand theft, organized fraud, dealing in stolen property, and selling items without verifying ownership.
Details emerged about the methodical approach Torres-Cubillos allegedly took to facilitate the heist. “For months she was taking small jewelry parts, parts of a bracelet, and she was putting it into her purse,” Miami Police spokesman Michael Vega told NBC Miami. Investigators have determined that a significant portion of the bracelet remains unaccounted for, with an estimated 75–60 percent of the Cuban links still missing…