A pre-dawn smash-and-grab spree in downtown Fort Lauderdale left roughly 10 parked cars with busted windows and one woman without her purse early Sunday, after a 31-year-old woman was caught on video hurling objects at vehicles and rifling through them, police say. Witnesses recorded the chaos, and investigators used that footage to track down a suspect and arrest her hours later. She remains in Broward County custody, with court records showing multiple charges filed.
Video captures downtown rampage
According to Local 10, the videos show the woman throwing both a rock and a brick at the windows of parked cars, then leaning inside and searching through the vehicles near North Federal Highway and Northeast Third Street. The station reports the damage unfolded at about 4:40 a.m. Sunday and involved roughly 10 cars, and that a woman’s handbag was taken during the spree. A downtown worker who recorded the scene told the station it was “one of the more brazen” incidents she had seen in a decade on the job.
Criminal history and aliases
Florida Department of Corrections records identify the suspect as Julie Lafleur, listed under DC number I40315, and note aliases including Betty Johnson and “Juju Bean.” The DOC database shows Lafleur has two Broward County convictions and indicates she was released from state custody on Feb. 26, 2025, according to her corrections profile.
Charges and court status
Court and inmate records state that Lafleur was arrested and now faces multiple counts, including second-degree robbery, third-degree criminal mischief and third-degree burglary, along with a resisting-arrest misdemeanor. A judge set her bond at $9,000, and Broward County Circuit Judge Francis I. Viamontes is listed to preside over the case, Local 10 reports.
Held in Broward custody
Fort Lauderdale police booked Lafleur into the North Broward Bureau detention center in Pompano Beach, the county jail that handles many northern Broward bookings, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office. The sheriff’s office maintains booking and detention information for Broward County’s jail facilities.
