A 60-year-old Miami-Dade man is facing multiple felony charges after deputies say he pointed a gun at his neighbor's head inside a parking garage and made off with roughly $113,000 in gold jewelry, including a religious ring and Cuban-link chains that carried deep personal meaning for the victim. Jacob Johnson was arrested Thursday and remains held at a Miami-Dade correctional facility as investigators piece together a case built on surveillance video, a photo lineup identification, and what deputies say was his own admission.
According to WPLG Local 10, deputies were called to an apartment building near the 3100 block of Northwest 77th Street around 7:15 p.m. on July 31 after the victim reported that a man had gotten into his vehicle, pointed a gun at his head, and demanded his valuables in the Westgate area of Miami-Dade County. The victim told deputies Johnson pressed a two-tone revolver with a silver frame and black grip against his head before fleeing on foot toward a nearby parking garage. He surrendered two 10-karat yellow gold Cuban-link bracelets, a 10-karat yellow gold Cuban-link chain taken from around his neck, and a yellow gold ring depicting Our Lady of Charity.
The victim believed Johnson lived in the same building, and it turns out he was right. Building surveillance footage reportedly showed Johnson leaving his third-floor apartment just before 7 p.m., using a key fob to get through a secured door, and returning to his apartment shortly after the robbery was reported — footage that, per the same account, corroborated the victim's version of events. The victim also recorded video of Johnson running away, and apartment management staff later recognized him in the images and video.
Identification and a Reported Admission
Investigators identified Johnson as a person of interest, and the victim later picked him out of a photographic lineup as the man who robbed him, the station's report states. Deputies executed a search warrant at Johnson's home around 6:55 a.m. Thursday, and according to the report, Johnson admitted to being involved in the robbery, though he claimed the handgun he displayed was actually a fictitious replica cap gun. He was taken into custody without incident and transported to Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office headquarters before being booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, a 1,300-bed intake facility operated by Miami-Dade's corrections department.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office, which arrested Johnson on Thursday, is a relatively new agency structure for the county. Following the November 2024 election of Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz, the former Miami-Dade Police Department officially became the independent Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office in January 2025, marking the county's first elected constitutional sheriff in more than 50 years, according to Ballotpedia.
A Cap Gun Claim Unlikely to Ease Charges
Johnson's claim that the weapon was a replica cap gun may not carry much legal weight. Under Florida law and judicial precedent, using a replica firearm, toy gun, or cap gun during a robbery can still support a charge of armed robbery with a deadly weapon if the victim reasonably believed the weapon was real or if it was used in a threatening manner, according to the Baez Law Firm. Florida courts weigh whether the victim reasonably perceived a deadly threat, not simply whether the object was capable of firing a bullet.
Johnson now faces one count of armed robbery with a firearm or deadly weapon, one count of armed burglary, one count of first-degree grand theft while armed, and one count of illegal possession of a weapon as a post-convicted felon. Armed robbery with a firearm is a first-degree felony punishable by up to life in prison, and Florida's 10-20-Life statute imposes a 10-year mandatory minimum for displaying a firearm during a felony, according to Galanter Law. Armed burglary carries the same maximum life sentence under Florida Statute 810.02, per the Law Offices of Roger P. Foley, while grand theft of property valued at $100,000 or more is a first-degree felony carrying up to 30 years and fines as high as $10,000, per Demmery Law.
Prior Felony Record Adds Weapons Charge
Court records cited in the report show Johnson has five previous felony convictions, with his most recent involving possession of cocaine in Palm Beach County in 2018. Those convictions legally prohibited him from possessing a gun or ammunition. Florida Statute 790.23 makes firearm possession by a convicted felon a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years, with a 3-year mandatory minimum when actual physical possession is proven, according to Demmery Law. As of Friday, Johnson's bond had not yet been set.
The stolen items were not just valuable — they were personal. Cuban-link chains and bracelets have been iconic South Florida status symbols since emerging from Miami's Cuban and hip-hop communities in the 1970s, with thick solid gold pieces routinely valued in the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. The stolen ring depicting Our Lady of Charity, Cuba's patron saint since 1916, holds particular weight in South Florida's Cuban-American community, where such jewelry is widely cherished as a symbol of faith and heritage.
Part of a Broader Pattern in Miami-Dade
This case fits into a string of high-value jewelry crimes that Miami-Dade law enforcement has investigated in recent months. Hoodline previously reported on a $100K West Miami-Dade jewelry heist in March and a $22,000 chain snatching tied to a foot chase near the Miami Design District in February, underscoring an ongoing local trend of targeted gold jewelry thefts. The victim in this latest case told deputies he feared for his life during the confrontation, a detail that remains central to the armed robbery allegation against Johnson.
