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Crash Was Prelude To Kidnap, Deputies Say

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By MIKE WELLS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 7, 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 Tuesday, authorities said.

Two men are in Orient Road Jail after a money-drop sting and face a litany of charges. Authorities are looking for four other people thought to be involved.

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

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 damage, a second vehicle pulled up and four more men appeared, with handguns, demanding she get back in her vehicle with them.

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

Once inside the men stole jewelry and electronics valued at $29,000 and demanded $50,000 cash, Carter said.

The couple were told that if they didn't deliver the money 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, Carter said.

Roberto Hernandez

Detectives did not know how or why Roque and Cabo 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 men were 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 Cuban men in their 30s to early 40s, Carter said.

Cabo was born in Cuba. He co-owns at least five residential properties in Hillsborough County and Pro Med Rehabilitation Center at 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 magnetic resonance imaging and X-ray facilities. Investigators secretly videotaped Cabo accepting $600 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 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 1-800-873-8477.

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

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