More than 100 people, including at least 41 illegal immigrants, have been arrested in Florida for allegedly looting and scamming victims of hurricanes Helene and Milton, local law enforcement officials said.
Looting patrols in Pinellas County over the last three weeks rounded up 45 suspects on 68 charges that included armed robbery, burglary, loitering and prowling, grand theft, vandalism and trespassing, according to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.
“They’re going into people’s homes, they’re taking stuff, they’re rummaging through their things,” Gualtieri said.
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Another 58 suspects were arrested in an operation allegedly targeting unlicensed contractors. Gualtieri said their scams mostly involved billing victims a total of $250 million for repairs they never intended to do.
“This is the epitome of people trying to exploit others when they’re down and when they’re out, and they’re trying to rebuild and they’ve got nothing,” Gualtieri said.
Of the 45 suspects arrested by anti-looting patrols across the Pinellas County barrier islands, at least 41 of the suspects are illegal immigrants, Gualtieri said at a press conference Thursday. He said nearly all of the suspects were from South America or Central America.
Suspects arrested in the contracting scams typically offered to do projects, including plumbing, roofing and electrical work, charging a total of more than $250 million.
Gualtieri added that one suspect even had business cards to impersonate a legitimate contracting company.
“People offering to do work on their property, but, in some cases, have no intention of doing the work. In other cases, are unqualified to do the work and, in all of these cases, are unlicensed to do the work,” Gualtieri said.
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The sheriff added that his office had contact with 196 other individuals who were in beach neighborhoods where they did not belong, but that officers did not have probable cause to arrest them. Of those, 163 were found to be illegal immigrants, he said.
“So, we made contact with them and told them to get out,” Gualtieri said. “We’ve never seen anything of this magnitude before. We’ve never seen this influx of people from out of the area that are clearly just here to steal and to pilfer and to do bad things and to target these vulnerable people.”
Gualtieri said nearly all of those arrested during the three-week operation had extensive criminal records.
“As the Pinellas beaches recover, we are going to continue these patrols and arrest everyone we can who is stealing from the vulnerable victims of two back-to-back storms that have devastated our community,” Gualtieri said.
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Gualtieri said the sheriff’s office will continue to have dozens of extra deputies patrolling the barrier islands day and night to keep people who don’t belong there off the islands.
“Our effort to protect the community has not stopped with these hurricanes’ direct impact. We are now focused on protecting our residents and our businesses who are desperate to rebuild and get on with their lives.”
