On May 8, the owner of Phuc Yea arrived at the Vietnamese spot on Biscayne Boulevard to find its front glass door shattered by what appeared to be a rock, according to a police report obtained by New Times. Ten days later, someone broke into Ferraro's Kitchen down the road and stole checks, gift cards, and other items, police say. On June 18, armed thieves pistol-whipped an employee at the nearby Mercy Supermarket before getting away with cash and lottery tickets, according to police. Days later, the family-run Luna Pasta e Dolci, just blocks away, was also burglarized, the latest in a series of four thefts at the pasta shop in a month-long period.
More recently, on July 4, the owner of Ferraro's said his restaurant was once again targeted by burglars.
"Recently, this situation is out of control," owner Igor Ferraro told WSVN.
While Miami police have made arrests in a few of the incidents, the break-ins have continued — leaving local business owners and residents on edge.
Here's what we know.
Luna Pasta e Dolci
As previously reported by New Times, the Italian restaurant was burglarized four times in short succession — costing the eatery thousands of dollars in damage and losses."We made a police report because it happened three times last month," owner Gabriel Medici told New Times in June after the fourth burglary. "First, it was one night, then, it was literally the next night after that, and then, they waited like another two weeks before it happened for a third time."
The break-ins persisted despite enhanced security, including new surveillance cameras. Similar to the incident at Phuc Yea, Medici said one burglar attempted to break into the restaurant using a rock.
"They break things! They break the register, they break the windows," Medici told WSVN.
Medici told New Times that a suspect was in custody at one point, but the theft continued.
The subject was captured via surveillance video at the Italian restaurant Luna Pasta e Dolci in Miami.
Photo by Luna Pasta e Dolci
Ferraro's Kitchen
The upscale wine bar on Northeast 79th Street was broken into one night in May and again on the Fourth of July, according to WSVN. "Last night, somebody again stepped onto our property and stole a few things in the back," Ferraro said about the July incident. "These kinds of episodes are occurring everywhere in my area."
Police spokesperson Michael Vega tells New Times that the restaurant had been burglarized twice prior — in January 2023 and August 2023.
Vega says suspect Marc Ronald Pierre was arrested in connection with the August 2023 incident, and Joseph Craig Forbes was arrested following the recent May burglary.
Mercy Supermarket
On June 18, two burglars held a store clerk at gunpoint and pistol-whipped him as they thieved cash and lottery tickets from the market. Five days later, a Miami woman was arrested in connection to the robbery.
According to an arrest report obtained by Local 10, surveillance footage shows 36-year-old Sheina Reyes walking to the store followed by the two masked thieves. Police claim Reyes knocked on the store's front door to entice the clerk to open the shop before the burglars entered and attacked him.
Phuc Yea
According to a police report (attached below), the restaurant’s owner told police that they arrived at the business at around 9 a.m. on May 8 to find that the front door has been broken using what appeared to be a rock, which was found on the scene.
The report, which doesn't say whether anything was stolen, notes that there were no known witnesses.
