A Facebook Marketplace iPhone sale in Miami-Dade County ended with a gun pressed to a buyer's head, a wild car chase of words and fear, and the buyer throwing roughly $4,000 toward nearby bushes just to escape with his life. Authorities say the man accused of orchestrating the armed kidnapping and robbery, 31-year-old Lazaro Nunez-Martinez, was arrested Sunday.
According to NBC 6 South Florida, the ordeal began innocently enough on Sept. 28, when the victim reached out to an unknown seller on Facebook Marketplace about buying an iPhone. That first transaction went smoothly: the two met at the seller's home and the victim bought the phone without incident, per the arrest report cited by the station.
Weeks later, the same seller reached back out, this time offering to sell the victim several more phones. The two agreed to meet outside the victim's apartment building, a seemingly routine arrangement for what would turn into anything but.
A BMW, a Hidden Gun, and a Threat in Spanish
When the victim approached the vehicle, he found a BMW parked behind the apartment building with the seller and another man inside, according to the arrest report. That second person allegedly sat upright in the back seat, pointed a gun at the victim's head, and ordered him in Spanish to get in the car and hand over everything he had.
The victim tried to escape almost immediately, attempting to open the passenger door of the moving car, but the suspects grabbed him and pulled him back inside, the report states. As the car kept moving, the victim told detectives he heard the armed suspect declare he was a goner and heard the suspects rack the gun. He tried calling for help during the drive, per the same account.
Escape Into the Bushes
The victim's second attempt to get away worked. He threw about $4,000 toward some nearby bushes, then got out of the moving car and ran, according to the arrest report. One of the suspects reportedly stopped to retrieve the cash before the pair fled the scene, leaving the victim free but shaken.
The victim later reported being robbed and kidnapped, and detectives met with him on Friday, per authorities. He gave investigators the seller's phone number, which detectives used to identify the seller as Nunez-Martinez, the report says. Detectives also matched the vehicle the victim described to Nunez-Martinez, building the case that would lead to his arrest.
Surveillance Leads to a Traffic Stop
With a suspect and a vehicle identified, detectives set up surveillance to locate Nunez-Martinez on Sunday, according to the arrest report. WSVN reports that Doral Police detectives found him during that surveillance operation on Oct. 11 and that he was stopped on State Road 826, where he was arrested. NBC 6 South Florida reports the stop was on the Florida Turnpike.
The two outlets differ slightly on the full charge list Nunez-Martinez now faces. NBC 6 South Florida reports he is facing kidnapping with a weapon, grand theft, and tampering, while WSVN reports the charges as kidnapping, armed robbery, grand theft, and tampering with a witness or victim. The identity and custody status of the second person allegedly involved in the BMW has not been reported by either outlet.
Online Sale Safety Resources
The case adds to a steady stream of warnings around arranging in-person sales with strangers met online. The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office lists designated safe-haven locations where buyers and sellers can meet for online transactions, a resource aimed at reducing exactly the kind of risk the victim in this case encountered when he agreed to meet a Facebook Marketplace seller outside his own apartment building.
Kidnapping is defined under Florida Statutes as forcibly, secretly, or by threat confining, abducting, or imprisoning another person against their will. Nunez-Martinez's case remains in the early stages of the court process, and further details about the investigation, including any update on the second suspect, had not been released as of Sunday's arrest.
