Another Con--This Time a Car Thief--Shipped to Florida

Another convicted criminal, this time an auto thief from Kentucky, has been dumped in southern Florida, police said today.

Miami Beach police spokesman Howard Zeifman said Juan Duran, 27, a Cuban refugee, evidently was shipped to Florida as a result of a judge’s order.

The choice, according to Duran’s lawyer, was “two years on probation in Kentucky, or go to Florida,” Zeifman said.

Weeks ago, Miami city commissioners voted to sue Santa Monica after the police chief there bought a one-way plane ticket from California to Florida for convicted sex offender Weston Hill.

Zeifman said Duran was arrested on an auto theft warrant here Wednesday, and police learned he had been found guilty last month of the same charge in Louisville, Ky., and promptly put on a plane to Miami. It was not known who bought his ticket.