Man accused in Fla. gold theft caught in Belize


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MIAMI (AP) — Authorities say a man accused of stealing more than 100 pounds of gold worth nearly $3 million in South Florida is back in the U.S. after being captured in Belize.

The U.S. Marshalls Service reports that 34-year-old Raonel Valdez-Valhuerdis was booked into the Miami-Dade County Jail on Wednesday. He was detained in February by Belize immigration officials at the Guatemala-Belize border.

Authorities say Valdez and two other men robbed a Bolivian export company employee outside a Coral Gables apartment building in October 2012. The gold — worth an estimated $2.8 million — was on its way to an Opa-Locka refinery.

Valdez was arrested shortly after the robbery.

Valdez was free on $75,000 bail in March 2013 when authorities lost track of his GPS monitor, and he disappeared.

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