Story thread · 3 reports / 3 sources

Taxi driver targeted drunk Miami Beach clubgoers in phone theft scheme, cops say

nbcmiami.com · 11h · first reportShare

A taxi driver is facing charges after police said he targeted drunk Miami Beach club goers by stealing their phones and using them to make fraudulent transactions. Reynoso Osias, 48, was arrested Tuesday on eight charges including kidnapping, organized scheme to defraud, offenses against computer users, unlawful use of a communications device, and strongarm robbery conspiracy, Miami-Dade jail records showed. According to arrest reports, Osias was arrested following an investigation into a pattern of cases involving the theft of cellphones in Miami Beach’s entertainment district followed by multiple fraudulent transactions using the victims’ phones. One incident happened back on June 14 when a victim said he left a club on Washington Avenue and was approached by a woman who befriended him. The man said he had been drinking and his recollection was “sparse” but said at one point the woman grabbed his phone and ran off before he heard a man yell “get in.” Surveillance video showed the wom