A Tinder date at one of Brickell's tallest residential towers ended with a Miami man reporting two watches missing from his nightstand, including a Rolex he valued at $37,000, according to police. The woman he brought home, 24-year-old Alexia Jocelyn Flores, was arrested three days later and now faces a grand theft charge.
The man told police he met Flores through the dating app Tinder and took her to dinner before bringing her back to his unit at Panorama Tower, an 85-story building at 1100 Brickell Bay Drive that stands as Florida's tallest completed skyscraper, according to Hoodline. The pair spent several hours drinking together, per Miami Police, before the man asked Flores to leave around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, September 20. Surveillance video reportedly showed him escorting her to the elevator, where the two kissed goodbye, as reported by WPLG Local 10.
It wasn't until after Flores left that the man discovered the two watches were gone from beside his bed. He tried reaching out through the Uber driver he had arranged to pick her up, but Flores had already blocked him, the outlet's report states.
Spotted in Wynwood, Taken In for Questioning
Police located Flores near North Miami Avenue and 21st Street in Wynwood on Wednesday and brought her to the downtown police station for an interview. She recalled meeting the man on Tinder, going to dinner, and returning to his apartment, per the same account. But Flores told detectives she believed she had been drugged and could not remember what happened afterward, and she denied taking the watches.
Investigators noted they could not locate any police report supporting her drugging claim, the station's report notes. Detectives went on to arrest Flores on a grand theft charge. As of Thursday morning, she was being held at Miami-Dade County's Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $7,500 bond, the outlet reported.
Another Alleged Luxury-Watch Theft
Under Florida Statute § 812.014, theft of property valued between $20,000 and $100,000 — which would include a $37,000 Rolex — is charged as second-degree grand theft, a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison, 15 years of probation, and a $10,000 fine, according to George Law. Florida's theft statute has three felony tiers, with charges based on the value of property, per the Jeff T. Gorman Law Offices.
In a separate case, Ayzha Flenoury was arrested in connection with an alleged $170,000 Bell & Ross watch theft after a club meetup.
In July, a Las Vegas tourist named Cassandra Thompson was arrested on a Miami-Dade warrant alleging she drugged a man she met at a Brickell restaurant and stole $84,000 in valuables.
Statewide, Florida's overall property crime rate of 17.7 per 1,000 residents actually runs lower than the national average of 19.6, per George Law's analysis. But the recurring string of high-value thefts in affluent pockets like Brickell suggests that broader trend doesn't tell the whole story for Miami's luxury corridors.
Whether the two missing watches will be recovered remains an open question as the investigation continues.
