Police are investigating claims by two Florida-based businessmen that an intruder stole more than $31,000 from their hotel room on Sunday.
Joaquim Lopez and Elvis Perez, the owners of J & R Import and Export in Hialeah, Florida, said they woke around 6 a.m. to discover a Coach bag that contained cash missing and the door to their room at the Melia hotel at Cable Beach ajar.
The Dominican-Americans said the missing money represented the proceeds of a business transaction with a client.
Lopez said it was not unusual to conduct business with large sums of cash.
The men said they unsuccessfully searched for the bag on the seventh floor and in the stairwell. However, they claimed the hotel's security staff recovered the bag in the stairwell next to room 710 about three hours later.
Although Perez's passport and wallet were still inside, the money was gone, they said.
The men said there was no sign of forced entry, leading them to conclude that someone with a key entered the room.
According to well-placed sources, only the keys assigned to Lopez and Perez were used to access the room.
The men claimed that no one else besides hotel staff knew they were still in the country on Sunday as they returned to the hotel after missing their flight home on Saturday.
The men said that prior to the alleged theft they "always felt secure" at the Melia, where they stay during their three times per month visits to the country.
The men are now of the view that it's "not safe".
Not only have they vowed not to return to the hotel, they said they have consulted their lawyers about the possibility of filing a lawsuit.
Robert Sands, Baha Mar's senior vice president of administration and external affairs, said the resort received reports of an "alleged incident" that is under investigation by the Royal Bahamas Police Force.
Melia is a part of the Baha Mar resort.

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