Miami police detained a suspect on Tuesday in connection with an early-December armed robbery of nearly $1 million in cryptocurrency and valuables in the city’s Morningside neighborhood.
According to a Miami Police Department arrest report, the victim first met Dontae Lamar Johnson, 28, of Royal Palm Beach, at the Kiki on the River nightclub near downtown while visiting from out of state in October.
According to the report, the two remained in touch and met when the victim returned to South Florida on December 8.
According to investigators, the victim got into Johnson’s vehicle, which he parked at 5801 Biscayne Blvd at 2:45 a.m.
According to authorities, Johnson “brandished a small black handgun” and demanded the victim “give him everything he had.”
Johnson,” according to police, “forcefully removed the victim’s watch off his wrist, then the victim took his chain and bracelet off and gave it to the defendant, which totaled approximately $413,500.”
But authorities indicated he wasn’t finished.
According to the report, Johnson requested the victim “open his cryptocurrency wallet and send it to him.”
“As the victim was going through his cryptocurrency wallet, (Johnson) continuously told him that he would kill him if he didn’t comply,” the statement says.
According to authorities, the victim gave Johnson $562,155 in cryptocurrency, then fled and hailed an Uber before reporting the crime to MPD two days later.
According to the complaint, the victim provided officers with Johnson’s Instagram account, “fiddybandz1.”
MPD’s Tactical Robbery Unit apprehended Johnson in the Edgewater neighborhood on Tuesday, charging him with armed robbery and discovering a small black Ruger LCP.380 pistol in his center console.
On Wednesday, Miami-Dade bond court Judge Victoria Sigler found probable cause for the armed robbery charge and ordered Johnson to be held pending a pre-trial detention hearing.
“I bet he wants his cryptocurrency back, too,” Sigler said, alluding to the accused victim, shortly before Johnson walked out of court.