Couple wanted for $1.7 million robbery of Nashville jewelry store, captured in Miami Beach

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A duo wanted by police in a nearly $2 million armed robbery of a Tennessee jewelry store were jailed in South Florida this weekend after being captured at a Miami Beach hotel.

According to Miami Beach police, authorities were looking for Milleni Garcia, 38, and Orlando Valdes Hernandez, 34, in connection with the Nashville robbery.

Arrest reports show the pair live locally in South Florida: They share the same address on Quail Roost Drive in the unincorporated South Miami Heights area of ​​Miami-Dade.

According to police, they walked into a store called Dubai Jewelry, located in a strip mall in southeast Nashville, and “began browsing the merchandise” and then “brandished firearms and threatened the employees, eventually killing a stole a significant amount of gold and other valuables. items before fleeing the property.”

WKRN, an affiliate of Nashville ABC reports that Garcia, Valdes Hernandez and a third suspect used pepper spray and pushed store employees into a back room during the robbery.

The pair made off with $1.7 million in gold and other valuables, police said.

Officers found them Sunday at the Grand Beach Hotel, a four-star hotel at 4835 Collins Ave. at Mid Beach. According to WKRN, police recovered jewelry, cash and a wig.

They said the discovery came after “extensive investigation and collaborative efforts” between the Miami Beach and Metro Nashville police departments.

As of Monday morning, Garcia and Valdes Hernandez were being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center pending extradition to Tennessee.

Metro Nashville police have not identified the third suspect and are still looking for him, WKRN reports. Anyone with information is asked to call Nashville Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463.