SUNRISE, FL — A mystery over hundreds of missing cinnamon rolls ended days later after a South Florida Border Patrol arrest led to the discovery that the pastries had never left a vehicle. Julie Pierre, who owns Roll and Dough Bakery in Sunrise, had reported about $3,000 worth of cinnamon rolls missing after she sent them with an Uber courier to a farmers market. She initially believed the courier had stolen them, and the complaint was reported to Sunrise police. The case then spread on social media as Pierre tried to figure out what happened to the order.
The pastries were eventually found inside the same vehicle days after the arrest, according to Pierre. By then, she said, the bakery had already treated the cinnamon rolls as lost and thrown them away.
Border Patrol says driver was arrested during a traffic stop Saturday
U.S. Border Patrol said it arrested Ivan Dario Rico Molano on Saturday during a traffic stop. A spokesperson told WPLG that Molano, a Colombian citizen, admitted he was in the United States without legal authorization. Records show he entered the country legally in May 2021, but stayed after his authorized period of stay expired.
The arrest became part of the pastry mystery because Pierre later learned that a family member picked up Molano’s vehicle after he was taken into custody. The cinnamon rolls were still inside the containers when that happened, but they were not noticed right away. Pierre said they were only discovered days later, when the person who had retrieved the vehicle realized the food was still there.
Bakery owner says police were believed to have contacted the family about the car
Pierre said police were believed to have contacted Molano’s family about the vehicle before it was collected. That detail helped explain how the car was returned while the missing pastries remained inside. What had looked like a theft accusation against the courier turned out to be a misunderstanding tied to where the order had been left.
Even after the cinnamon rolls were found, Pierre said she did not want to take any chance that someone might eat them. She threw the pastries away rather than try to use them after the delay. The bakery owner said the order had been meant for a farmers market, making the loss especially frustrating because the goods were intended for sale the same day.
Uber reimbursed the bakery after the missing rolls were treated as a loss
Pierre has since confirmed that Uber fully reimbursed her for the lost profits tied to the pastries. That closed the financial side of the problem, even though the baked goods themselves were never salvaged. The reimbursement came after days of uncertainty over what had happened to the order and after the story drew wider attention online.
The episode left the bakery owner with a strange result: a missing-food complaint, a traffic-stop arrest and a vehicle search all tied together by a box of cinnamon rolls. For Pierre, the key answer was eventually simple. The pastries had not vanished from the delivery chain at all — they were sitting in the car the whole time.
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