Two Hialeah men have been charged with grand theft after deputies say they used a semi-truck to steal a large flatbed trailer in Marathon.
The 48-foot flatbed with a forklift was parked near Fred's Beds at mile marker 54 in Marathon.
A friend of the trailer's owner saw two men hooking it up to a semi-truck just after 10 p.m. Friday, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. The friend approached the men to tell them the trailer belonged to Global Disaster Recovery and that he was friends with the business owner. The men told him they were supposed to take the trailer to a weigh station, and drove off with it heading northbound.
The witness called the owner, who in turn called the sheriff's office to report his trailer stolen.
A "be on the lookout" notice was issued for the trailer over police radios. Deputies spotted the trailer and stopped the duo at mile marker 79 in Islamorada.
The truck's registered owner, 37-year-old Agustin Rodriguez, was arrested along with his passenger, 35-year-old Dayro Alonso. Both men are from Hialeah.
Rodriguez and Alonso face grand theft charges. The semi-truck was seized for possible forfeiture for its use in the commission of a felony, deputies said.
