Men arrested after high-speed chase stole $250,000 in electronics from store, police say

Before leading authorities on a high-speed chase on Interstate 75 and getting arrested early Sunday morning, three men robbed a cellphone store and made off with a quarter-million dollars in electronics, according to police.

The spree began Sunday at 3:51 a.m. when Fort Myers police officers responded to an alarm at a Verizon Wireless at 9002 Rolfes Road, according to an agency release.

Officers found a rear door to the business open and some roof damage when they arrived. They also noticed multiple cellphones, tablets and accessories had been removed from shelves and a storage room, the release states.

Police alerted area law enforcement agencies about the burglary and issued a be-on-the-lookout for suspicious vehicles.

More:CCSO: Early morning high-speed chase leads to 3 arrests

Around 4:30 a.m. a Collier County sheriff's deputy driving south on the interstate caught up to a white Ford F-150 just north of Collier Boulevard, according to an arrest report. The deputy had a dispatcher run the license plate, and no registration information came back for the truck, the report states. 

The deputy received updated information from Verizon that the suspect was tracking just north of Collier Boulevard. The deputy attempted a traffic stop based on that information and the fact that the truck appeared to be unregistered.

The driver of the truck led deputies on a chase from the area of Collier and Beck boulevards in East Naples to Golden Gate, sometimes exceeding 100 mph, the report states.

The chase ended on a dead-end road in Golden Gate. Three men — later identified as Osmil Tejeda Hernandez, 40, Manuel Bermudez Viera, 39, and Nicolas Benitez, 43 — got out of the car and ran from deputies, the report states.

Sheriff's Office K-9 and aviation units searched for the men. 

Fort Myers police went to the scene and took custody of the truck and loads of stolen iPhones, Android smartphones, tablets and electronic accessories. According to the agency, the men stole $250,000 in merchandise from the store.

The men face charges of grand theft of property over $100,000, burglary with more than $1,000 in damage and resisting arrest without violence, according to arrest records. Hernandez, the suspected driver, also faces a charge of fleeing and eluding law enforcement.

The three men, who are from Miami, were booked at the Collier County Jail.

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