A suspected criminal has been captured a year and a half after allegedly committing the largest robbery in Coral Gables history. A total of $2.8 million worth of gold was stolen in October 2012 from a Bolivian gold mining company.
"It was done with a lot of homework,” private investigator David Bolton said. "He did a lot of surveillance of the courier before he did the robbery. He was involved in very complex operations in the past."
Raonel Valdez Valhuerdis, then 34, bailed after he was released on bond in March 2013. He was nowhere to be found ... until last week. That's when officials in Belize got suspicious of his activity at the border.
"They decided to Google his name and that's when they saw the wanted poster I placed there," said Bolton, of Bolton Investigations Inc.
Bolton said it's something law enforcement usually does, but the mining company hired him to catch Valdez, now 35. One Google search later, he had his man.
Also working with Bolton was fellow private investigator and retired Drug Enforcement Administration agent Tom Raffanello.
"He's a good catch for anybody," Raffanello said. "The unique part about what we did was assume the law enforcement role on an international manhunt which is hard to do."
Now, thanks to the two PI's, and their online bulletin, an alleged career criminal is expected to be spending a lot of time behind bars after he is extradited back to Miami.
