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Men Arrested On Extortion Charges

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By MIKE WELLS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 6, 2007

TAMPA - Death threats, a kidnapping and the theft of thousands of dollars in jewelry and electronics prompted a Tampa couple to seek help after gunmen raided their home on Tuesday.

Two suspects are in Orient Road Jail after a money drop sting and face a litany of charges. Authorities are looking for four others believed to be involved.

Hillsborough County sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter gave the following account of the couple's ordeal:

At about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, Kirenia Roque was driving down Breland Drive when two men in a black four-door sedan ran into her vehicle.

As Roque and the other driver got out to inspect the damages, a second vehicle pulled up and four more men appeared with handguns, demanding she get back into her vehicle with them.

The gunmen and the victim drove to her home at 9022 Breland Dr. where they entered through the garage and found Roque's boyfriend, Pedro L. Cabo, 37.

Once inside the men stole $29,000 worth of jewelry and electronics and demanded $50,000 more in cash, Carter said.

The couple was told that if they didn't deliver the money on Wednesday, the kidnappers would kill them, Carter said.

On Wednesday, the gunmen called the victims four times and the amount was negotiated down to $30,000 Carter said. At 6 p.m., Cabo left a bag at Club Mirage, 3605 W. Hillsborough Ave., as instructed.

Roberto Hernandez retrieved the bag, and as Alberto Romero Gonzalez was attempting to pick up Hernandez in a vehicle, both were arrested by sheriff's detectives.

Detectives don't yet know how or why the victims were targeted, Carter said.

Hernandez, 40, and Gonzalez, 32, both Cuban born and residents of Miami, are being held without bail, jail records show. They were charged with extortion to injure, grand theft, robbery home invasion and armed kidnapping.

Descriptions of the four other suspects are scant. One of the gunmen wore a pink polo shirt, jeans with stripes on the side and white sneakers. Another wore a beige T-shirt with a skull design, jeans and dark sneakers.

The victims described the robbers as being Cuban men in their 30s to early 40s, Carter said.

Cabo was born in Cuba and co-owns at least five residential properties in Hillsborough County and owns Pro Med Rehabilitation Center, 7706 W. Hillsborough Ave., according to records.

In 2005, the Florida Department of Insurance Fraud charged Cabo and five other clinic owners with a third-degree felony of patient brokering. He was accused of collecting kickbacks for referring patients to MRI and X-ray facilities. Investigators secretly videotaped Cabo accepting $600 in cash from a "confidential source" for referring two patients for MRIs in August, according to published reports.

Prosecutors dropped the case against him in June this year after he completed a pretrial intervention program, according to court records.

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's office at (813) 247-8200 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-TIPS.

Reporter Mike Wells can be reached at (813) 259-7839 or mwells@tampatrib.com.

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