A 22-year-old employee of a local junk removal company was arrested in Ocala after a woman accused him of stealing two firearms from her home.
On Thursday, February 16, a Marion County Sheriff’s Office deputy made contact with the female victim over the phone, and she advised that the firearms had been stolen from her residence, according to the MCSO report.
The victim advised that she is in the process of moving from her home located in the 5000 block of SE 37th Avenue, which is where the theft had occurred. The victim told the deputy that she had hired a junk removal company to remove heavy furniture and other miscellaneous items from the residence, and she had left a key outside for the company to remove those items while she was at work.
On Monday, February 13, the company began removing the requested items from the victim’s home. When she returned to the residence, she advised that her nightstand drawer was partially open, which she stated was “odd” because she was “very particular about closing the drawer,” according to the MCSO report.
After inspecting the drawer, the victim advised that the two firearms were missing from inside. In the MCSO report, the deputy noted that the missing firearms were a Smith and Wesson .38 special revolver ($600 value) and a Beretta .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol ($500 value).
The victim contacted the junk removal company and informed the company’s owner that two firearms were missing from her home. After she informed the owner that she suspected one of the company’s crew members, the owner offered to talk to the individual who had been inside her home at the time of the theft, according to the MCSO report.
The owner followed up with the victim and advised that the crew member who had been inside her home – identified in the MCSO report as Eliahs Manuel Rivera-Rodriguez – had admitted to the theft. The owner added that Rivera-Rodriguez claimed to have given the firearms to a friend.
The deputy made contact with Rivera-Rodriguez on Wednesday, March 1 at a fast-food restaurant on Maricamp Road and transported him to the MCSO South Multi-District Office for an interview. After being read his Miranda rights, Rivera-Rodriguez admitted that he had stolen the victim’s firearms, according to the MCSO report.
Rivera-Rodriguez told the deputy that he had worked for the junk removal company for “a few days,” and he had committed the theft because he “needed money for a place for him and his wife to stay.” He further admitted that he had sold the victim’s firearms to a friend named “Michael” in Orlando for $50 each.
Rivera-Rodriguez was arrested, transported to Marion County Jail, and he was later released on $9,000 bond. He is facing felony charges for grand theft of a firearm (two counts) and trafficking in stolen property.
A court date has not been scheduled yet, according to jail records.