MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. — Miami Dade County Circuit Judge Ellen Venzer said in court that she wanted someone to explain why a suspect involved in 60 separate cases had not been arrested before.
Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office detectives have more cases to come for the suspect, who is a Miami-Dade County employee and felon with similar prior convictions.
“In 30 years, I have never seen this,” Venzer, who was appointed by former Gov. Jeb Bush in 2004 and was reelected last year, said in court.
Deputies identified Clifton Silimon, who worked as a trash collector for Miami-Dade County’s Department of Solid Waste Management, as the thief who had been stealing “rims and tires from vehicles.”
According to Silimon’s profile with the Florida Department of Corrections, he was in prison from 2000 to 2002 and from March 2011 to December 2011.
Silimon’s convictions include two 1999 cases for grand theft motor vehicle and possession of burglary tools, a 2008 case for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and two 2010 cases for grand theft.
Deputies arrested Silimon, 52, on June 12, accusing him of grand theft and criminal mischief in cases from June 2024 to May. According to OpenPayrolls, a public salary database, Silimon earned $41,717.49 in 2024.
As Silimon’s cases piled up over his alleged side crimes, Venzer wanted answers from the deputies in court.
“Why didn’t somebody stop him?”
Venzer, who has taught at the University of Miami for more than 25 years, continued firing questions.
“Could someone explain to me, how it is, I don’t know, after the first five cases, maybe 10, 15, somebody didn’t arrest this fellow?”
M-DSO deputies reported they tried to arrest Silimon in May, but he got away.
Silimon did leave his car behind, and when they searched it, they found tools such as wheel locks, lug nuts, and a breaker bar, according to deputies.
Detectives reported identifying patterns. Most of the thefts were happening between 2 to 5 a.m., before Silimon started his garbage route, and vehicle data helped to place Silimon at the crime scenes.
The deputies with M-DCSO’s auto theft squad didn’t answer the veteran judge’s questions during the public court hearing.
Detectives asked anyone with information about this or other cases to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 to remain anonymous.
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