OCALA, Fla. – A UPS employee from Ocala has bonded out of jail after being arrested Wednesday, accused of dealing in stolen property after a cache of still-packaged iPhones, smartwatches, tablets, jewelry and more was found at his home, according to police.
Ocala police made contact with UPS Loss Prevention around noon that day to look into the reported grand theft of packages by an employee, identified as Jose Flores Franco, 33. An officer met with Loss Prevention in an office at a UPS location along SW 28th Avenue, where Flores Franco was already seated, a probable cause affidavit shows.
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Police were told that an internal investigation was being conducted into missing items taken from undelivered packages, with Flores Franco allegedly discovered to be “using his (wife’s) Facebook page to sell the items he had stolen from the location,” according to the affidavit.
Some of the stolen items’ serial numbers were exact matches to those in Flores Franco’s wife’s Facebook Marketplace listings, police said.
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Officers visited Flores Franco’s residence, where a detective said a young child showed him into the master bedroom and pointed out a box containing electronics in their original packaging, the affidavit shows. Elsewhere, a box of jewelry was reportedly found by the detective.
The recovered items included, in part, seven Apple Watches and 11 iPhones, along with at least 48 packages of Pandora jewelry, according to the affidavit. The total worth of the stolen goods was estimated to be $11,900, police said.
“UPS is aware of this situation and would refer you to local law enforcement regarding their investigation,” a spokesperson for the company said on Thursday. “The impacted customers work through the shippers to get a new order sent.”
Flores Franco was booked Wednesday afternoon at the Marion County Jail, records show. He was released Thursday afternoon after posting $7,000 bond.
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