A 44-year-old man is facing charges from both the Broward Sheriff's Office and Doral police after investigators say he used fake driver's licenses bearing victims' names to steal luxury Rolex watches straight out of FedEx stores. Vladimir Kudyakov allegedly walked into a Doral FedEx on 10005 NW 41st Street and picked up a victim's $53,500 Rolex by presenting a driver's license with his own photo but a stranger's name and address, according to surveillance footage cited in the case.
According to CBS News Miami, Doral police began investigating the reported theft of the $53,500 Rolex on May 25, 2026, after the store flagged the pickup. Just twelve days earlier, per a Broward Sheriff's Office affidavit cited by the outlet, Kudyakov had intercepted a FedEx delivery outside a Pompano Beach condominium complex using a similar photo ID scheme, making off with a package that contained a Rolex Datejust yellow-gold watch valued at $7,190. Investigators say he later sent that stolen watch to a mailbox center on Oakland Park Boulevard.
A Downtown Miami Arrest Unravels the Scheme
Kudyakov's run allegedly came to an end in May 2026 at a downtown Miami FedEx store on South Miami Avenue, where an alert employee recognized him from an internal loss-prevention flyer and called police, according to Local 10 News. After his arrest, officers searched his vehicle and found a laptop, a printer, vinyl sticker paper, eight counterfeit Florida driver's licenses, and an intercepted package containing a laptop meant for another victim.
While in custody, Kudyakov told investigators he found the interception jobs through a Telegram group, and per the same report, police say he admitted to conducting four or five similar jobs. The station's account adds that the group chat, titled “Russians in America,” instructed him on how to produce fake IDs and pick up high-value shipments, and separately, the Telegram group reportedly told him to purchase a printer, a shipping scale, and blank PVC cards to manufacture the fraudulent identification himself.
How the Fake IDs Beat FedEx's Security Checks
The $53,500 Rolex had shipped from a New Hampshire company, and the fake Florida license Kudyakov used contained the victim's accurate personal information — accurate enough that it successfully scanned in FedEx's system, per the same account. FedEx's official “Hold at Location” protocol requires recipients picking up redirected packages to present identification, according to FedEx. A victim's wife confirmed to CBS Miami that her husband's stolen watch was ultimately recovered.
The Broward Sheriff's Office is now advising families to track packages in real time or arrange to hold deliveries at a secure pickup location rather than leaving them exposed at a residence, the outlet reports. Investigators are looking into a wider series of high-value package thefts involving FedEx deliveries across South Florida, and they say Kudyakov allegedly impersonated luxury watch buyers to intercept the expensive shipments.
Charges Diverge Between Broward and Miami-Dade
The legal picture is getting complicated as the case moves through two counties. Miami-Dade court records as of September 2026 show prosecutors there scaled back Kudyakov's original multiple felony charges to a single count of possessing or making equipment to counterfeit driver's licenses, Local 10 News reports, even as Broward County pursues its own grand theft and fraud charges tied to the Pompano Beach Datejust theft.
Under Florida Statutes Section 322.212, knowingly possessing, displaying, or manufacturing a counterfeit or fictitious driver's license is a third-degree felony carrying up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, according to FindLaw. Grand theft involving stolen property valued between $20,000 and $100,000 — the range covering the $53,500 Rolex — is a second-degree felony under Florida Statutes Section 812.014, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, per FindLaw's summary of that statute.
Part of a Wider Telegram-Fueled Pattern
Kudyakov's arrest isn't an isolated case. In June 2026, Doral police arrested another Russian national, 34-year-old Veronika Nikolaevna Mitina, who similarly confessed to using a Telegram group chat to intercept delivery couriers in Doral, stealing $87,500 worth of luxury goods including an $8,000 Cartier watch, $9,500 in gold coins, and $70,000 in gold bars, Local 10 News reported at the time. Hoodline has reported on a separate Miramar UPS-driver Rolex case.
