Thanks to an electronic tracker, a passenger was able to track down her missing luggage — at the home of a worker for the airport.
Now, a man from Florida is facing a felony charge of grand theft in Broward County.
The man, 29-year-old Junio Geneus Bazile of Ft. Lauderdale, is being charged with third-degree grand theft.
The victim in the case was supposed to fly out of the Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport back in March. The airline she was taking, Spirit Airlines, had to cancel the flight that night. They told all passengers they would be able to retrieve checked luggage from a Terminal 4 baggage belt, according to the affidavit.
The victim, Paola Garcia, told a local Miami media outlet that she normally brings her suitcase as a carry-on, but had to check the luggage for this trip. When she went to pick up her pink suitcase roller bag, she waited for two hours, but it never arrived.
Spirit Airlines told her that the luggage would be sent to her house, but it never arrived, either. Then, she took matters into her own hand, using an electronic tracker.
Garcia said that she had an Apple Watch, Apple iPad, Apple MacBook and other high-end women’s clothing, toiletries and jewelry in the bag.
She was able to ping the technology in the bag, which ultimately provided a Ft. Lauderdale address to her.
She tried to go to the address on her own, but couldn’t come in contact with anyone inside. While there, she took pictures and video of the house and saw “several pieces of luggage in the front of the home,” though none were hers.
She then called 911. Garcia explained to WPLG:
“The first thing I remember the police told me is: ‘What are you doing here? This is so dangerous for you to be here.’”
A Broward County Sheriff’s Office detective searched in the employee databases at the airport for the address in question, and found out that Bazile lived there.
He was listed as an employee for the Paradies Lagardere Travel Retail store in the airport and was indeed working the day the theft occurred.
The manager of loss prevention at the store was contacted, and he provided the sheriff’s office with internal CCTV footage from that day. The footage allegedly showed teh employee entering the storage room of the store with a pink roller bag that matched the description of Garcia’s stolen bag.
Apparently, he took the MacBook and some smaller items out of the bag and placed them in a new bag.
In a statement issued to CNN this week, the store officials said:
“Paradies Lagardere takes this matter very seriously. Immediately upon learning of the incident, this employee was terminated. As this is an ongoing police matter, we have cooperated with the investigation and recommend reaching out to the Fort Lauderdale Police Department for more information.”
