Yoelvis Denis Hernandez, a/k/a “Guajiro,” 42, was arrested in Del Rio, Texas, on a South Florida indictment charging him with stealing 192 US government-owned medical ventilators worth about three million dollars. According to court documents, the ventilators were heading to a COVID-19 intensive care facility in El Salvador as part of a United States Government COVID-19 aid program when they were stolen in South Florida, while in transit. The indictment charges Hernandez and Luis Urra Montero, a/k/a “Flaco,” 24, with federal conspiracy, possession of stolen goods being shipped interstate, and theft of government property.
According to the indictment and other court documents, on August 9, 2020, Hernandez and Montero stole a tractor trailer loaded with 192 medical ventilators, during its transport by truck to Miami International Airport. USAID had acquired the ventilators and was sending them to the Government of El Salvador as part of an aid program to treat critically ill COVID-19 patients there. According to court documents, Hernandez and Montero stole the trailer from a lot where the driver had left it overnight. Following an investigation, law enforcement recovered most of the stolen ventilators.
