Two men are facing charges in connection with the violent armed robbery of Rolex watch owners in Wynwood, police said.
Yeuris Baez, 28, and Victor Yariel Polanco, 23, were arrested Monday on charges of armed robbery, aggravated battery, and armed burglary, arrest reports said.
The robbery happened shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday in the area of Northwest 3rd Avenue and Northwest 23rd Street.
According to the reports, the victims were sitting in a vehicle with the windows down when two men approached and entered the car while armed, then demanded the victims’ Rolex watches and threatened to shoot them.
One victim said one of the men pistol-whipped him more than 10 times, causing a laceration and bruising to the back of his head, the reports said.
A second victim said he’d noticed the men walking suspiciously toward them so he threw his watch under a seat.
The second victim said the suspects demanded the watch, threatened to shoot him and put him in a headlock then pistol-whipped him continuously for two minutes, causing him to lose consciousness, the reports said.
He said he believes they fled after they found his watch but didn’t remember since he was unconscious.
A woman who was sitting in the driver’s seat of the car said one of the men checked her purse but didn’t take anything, but said one of the suspects took the car key from the ignition before fleeing, the reports said.
Using surveillance video, police determined the suspects used two vehicles, a black BMW and a black Range Rover with a New York license plate, the reports said.
The footage showed the suspects using both vehicles as surveillance on the victims, and using the Range Rover to block traffic during the robbery, the reports said.
The video also showed Baez wearing the same clothing belonging to one of the robbers that was described by a witness, the reports said.
Police later located the Range Rover, that had two Rolexes inside, including one that matched the serial number provided by one of the victims, the reports said.
Baez and Polanco were taken into custody and detectives questioned Baez, who denied any involvement in the robbery and said the watches belonged to him and his wife, the reports said.
Baez, of Paterson, New Jersey, and Polanco, of Norwalk, Connecticut, were booked into jail, records showed.
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