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Congratulations to Detective Andrew Cachinero, recipient of the City of Coral Gables “Detective of the Quarter Award,” for the first quarter in 2019.
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During this first quarter of 2019 Detective Cachinero investigated the following assigned cases:
19-000995 - (Date of Incident- 02/08/2019, Armed Robbery): On a Friday evening, the victim in this case was arriving to visit her mother at 1121 Asturia Avenue. As the victim was exiting her vehicle (white Mercedes SUV), she was accosted by two subjects. One of the subjects displayed a chrome handgun and then placed an index finger to his lips indicating for the victim to remain quiet. The subject demanded the key to her vehicle, which the victim in fear of her life surrendered her vehicle’s key to the subject. The subject was last seen fleeing eastbound from the victim’s mother residence.
Detective Cachinero (with the assistance of Detective McKee) responded to the scene and embarked on the Armed Robbery Investigation, the members of the Uniform Patrol Division were able to identify several residential CCTV in the area. Detective Cachinero reviewed the security footages but was unable to collect any clear identifiable facial view of the subjects.
Knowing that the victim’s carjacked vehicle is equipped with a Sunpass transponder device, he reviewed the historical data of her Sunpass activity, and discovered the victim’s vehicle Sunpass transponder activated multiple times through numerous different toll plazas in the south Miami-Dade/Homestead area. He contacted the Sunpass authority and requested an image of the vehicle, including the occupant(s) of the carjacked vehicle. After receiving and reviewing the information from Sunpass, the image indicates that of a black male subject was operating the victim’s stolen vehicle.
Detective Cachinero created and disseminated the BOLO. He contacted his law enforcement resources to assist with identifying the subject. A profile of the juvenile subject was developed; Detective Cachinero continued his investigation with the application of today’s social media platforms and noticed a photograph posting of a subject matching the description of the driver of the stolen vehicle with a fanny pack sling across his shoulder, which is similar to the Sunpass image. Furthermore, this juvenile subject could be seen displaying in the image, holding a semi-automatic handgun.
With the aforementioned information from his law enforcement source, Detective Cachinero was able to develop a profile of the juvenile subject. Detective Cachinero presented a photo line-up to the victim, and without hesitation, she identified the juvenile subject as the person that “held me up…100%!!”
Detective Cachinero conducted a surveillance of the community where the juvenile subject was known to reside. He noticed there was CCTV camera at the entrance of the gated community. He interviewed the guard at the gate, who confirmed the subject was seen in a similar vehicle belonging to the victim, the day after the armed robbery incident (02/09/19). Detective Cachinero reviewed the community guard gate’s vehicle log and security footage. The vehicle log and security footage confirmed the juvenile subject was driving the victim’s vehicle.
Detective Cachinero attempted to locate subject but was unsuccessful. However, with additional investigative information, he continued and made contact with the subject’s family members. He was able to build a rapport with the grandmother and mother of the subject. Detective Cachinero pled with the family to contact him, once they are aware of his whereabouts, and reasoned with the family that his objective is to arrest her son in a peaceful manner. However, an operational plan was developed to continue surveilling the mother’s residence for the juvenile subject.
With the relationship he developed with the family, they continued to communicate with each other throughout the investigation. While Detective Cachinero was on leave, the mother called Detective Cachinero and advised that she was contacted by her juvenile son, who stated that he was arrested, and currently incarcerated at Turner Guilford Knight (TGK) facility. However, her son stated to her that he provided a false name, Bryan Perez (which is his brother’s name), to the arresting officer. Immediately, Detective Cachinero confirmed the information provided and checked with the Miami-Dade County Corrections inmate information portal, which shows that a Bryan Perez was booked into TGK on 02/15/19. However, the booking photo image matches the face of the juvenile subject wanted in the armed robbery incident.
Detective Cachinero contacted the authority at TGK to inform them that the subject booked under the name of Bryan Perez was a juvenile and that he is wanted in his armed robbery investigation. The juvenile’s identity was confirmed and he was later transferred to the Juvenile Assessment Center. Detective Cachinero submitted an arrest affidavit and charged the juvenile accordingly, armed robbery (carjacking), armed robbery (firearm), and grand theft. The Juvenile will be adjudicated as an adult.
The investigation is continuing, with an attempt to locate the second subject.
18-006670 - (Date of Incident- 10/01/18- Armed Robbery): Although this incident occurred the previous year, it was a continuous investigation into this year. The victim is an employee of a landscaping company, and was performing his daily duty in the alleyway of the 4800 block of Ponce de Leon Boulevard, when he noticed a subject entering the company’s trailer. The victim went to confront the subject and, in a flash; a second subject appeared and pointed a revolver at the victim. The subject inside the trailer was able to steal a hedge trimmer, and both subjects returned to an awaiting vehicle and fled the scene.
Without hesitation, Detective Cachinero responded to the scene and initiated his investigation. He was able to locate a camera from the neighborhood, viewed the footage, and identified the subject’s vehicle. He distributed a BOLO, and was contacted by other jurisdictions that they had similar crime, involving a red Audi, which matched the vehicle in the CGPD case.
The victim in the CGPD case was apprehensive with being involved with the robbery incident, but Detective Cachinero was able to convince him to cooperate with the investigation.
During the course of the investigation, Detective Cachinero was contacted by other agencies to allow them to track the subject’s vehicle (red Audi). As stated previously, this red Audi has been identified as the vehicle involved with committing numerous thefts of lawn maintenance equipment from Miami-Dade County and as far north as Martin County. Detective Cachinero suspended his investigation, but continued with his investigatory process to develop the profile of the armed subject.
With his investigative intuition heightened, Detective Cachinero forged on and followed up with all of his collected investigative leads. Detective Cachinero was able to find a subject matching the description of the armed subject in his case, and created a photo line-up. He presented the line-up to the victim, who was able to identify the subject in the line-up as the person that pointed the revolver at him.
Detective Cachinero remained in contact with his counterpart from other agencies in relation to the tracking of the subject’s red vehicle, and was informed that the tracking was suspended because the red Audi was repossessed by the bank.
Instead of suspending his investigation, Detective Cachinero was able to collect further information of the registered owner vehicle and developed an associate that may match the description of the Hispanic male (2nd subject) that was the culprit who stole the hedge trimmer. He presented a line-up to the victim, who identified the Hispanic male as the subject that stole the hedge trimmer.
Detective Cachinero continued to track the Hispanic male subject through the judicial system and discovered that he was incarcerated in Collier County, for an unrelated crime. Detective Cachinero is awaiting extradition for this individual to Miami-Dade County to execute an arrest affidavit.
Detective Cachinero willingness and determination to pursue the investigations resulted with the identification of the two subjects that were known to be involved with committing the armed robbery on 10/01/18. Arrest is pending for the armed subject.
In additional to the two aforementioned notable robbery investigations, Detective Cachinero was also assigned to investigate three alleged Sexual Battery cases. He was able to make an arrest in one case, and cleared the other two cases. Due to the sensitive nature of the cases and confidentiality laws, the investigative process could not be discussed in detail.
Detective Cachinero applied his investigative skills with persistency and determination to ensure that the above case(s) would result with an arrest and should be commended for his level of perseverance and dedication to solve the aforementioned cases. Detective Cachinero surely deserves to be recognized and selected for the Detective of the First Quarter 2019 award.