Paducah – A Miami Florida man is behind bars after stealing over 300 thousand dollars worth of phones, tablets and other merchandise from the Verizon Wireless Store in Marion. According to a release from the Paducah Police Department, officers received a notification at around 5:45 on Friday morning that the Verizon store in Marion had been robbed. With help from Marion authorities, the suspects were tracked to a location in Paducah. Officers confronted one of the suspects who was driving a U-Haul as it pulled onto Interstate 24 when the driver of the U-Haul ran the vehicle off road before jumping out and running. After a brief chase, Johan Valdes was caught and arrested. Officers found that the U-Haul had been stolen from Vienna, and contained 267 iPhones, 26 iPads and multiple other items valued at 312,000 dollars. Surveillance shows a second suspect who has not been apprehended. The case remains under investigation.
