HUMANITARIAN THEFT

Two Miami Men Get 3.5 Years Behind Bars for Stealing $3 Million Worth of Ventilators

The duo stole the ventilators from a tractor-trailer that they were left in overnight while en route to an intensive care facility in El Salvador.

Millions of dollars’ worth of COVID-19 ventilators meant for a U.S. aid program in El Salvador were snatched up by two Miami men in 2020, who have now been sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for the theft. Both men— Luis Urra Montero, 25, and Yoelvis Denis Hernandez, 42—were arrested in 2020 and pleaded guilty to theft of government property. The pair admitted to stealing a tractor-trailer full of 192 ventilators, worth about $3 million. from a lot where the trailer had been left by its driver overnight, according to court records. The ventilators were intended for a COVID-19 intensive care facility in El Salvador as part of a U.S. aid program. Most of the stolen ventilators were found and recovered by the FBI.