International Courant
Greater than 100 folks, together with at the least 41 unlawful immigrants, have been arrested in Florida for allegedly looting and defrauding victims of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, native regulation enforcement officers stated.
Loot patrols in Pinellas County have arrested 45 suspects over the previous three weeks on 68 fees, together with armed theft, housebreaking, loitering and prowling, grand theft, vandalism and trespassing, based on Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.
“They’re breaking into folks’s properties, taking stuff, looking by their stuff,” Gualtieri stated.
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One other 58 suspects had been arrested in an operation allegedly concentrating on unlicensed contractors. Gualtieri stated their scams primarily concerned billing victims a complete of $250 million for repairs they by no means meant to make.
“That is the epitome of individuals attempting to take advantage of others once they’re in hassle and once they’re out, and so they attempt to rebuild and so they don’t have anything,” Gualtieri stated.
Throughout a information convention, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri shared an replace on the arrest of dozens of unlawful immigrants who allegedly stole from and defrauded victims of Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Workplace)
Of the 45 suspects arrested by anti-looting patrols on Pinellas County’s barrier islands, at the least 41 suspects are unlawful immigrants, Gualtieri stated at a information convention Thursday. He stated nearly all the suspects had been from South America or Central America.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Workplace has arrested greater than 100 folks accused of making the most of victims of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Workplace)
Suspects arrested within the contract fraud sometimes supplied initiatives together with plumbing, roofing and electrical work, charging a complete of greater than $250 million.
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Gualtieri added that one suspect even had enterprise playing cards to pose as a authentic contracting firm.
“Folks supply to do work on their property, however in some circumstances they haven’t any intention of doing the work. In different circumstances they don’t seem to be certified to do the work and, in all of those circumstances, they don’t seem to be licensed to do it work to do.” Gualtieri stated.
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A drone shot reveals destroyed seashore properties after Hurricane Milton made landfall in Manasota Key, Florida, on October 11, 2024. (Reuters/Ricardo Arduengo/File Photograph)
The sheriff added that his workplace had contact with 196 different people who had been in seashore neighborhoods the place they didn’t belong, however that officers had no possible trigger to arrest them. Of these, 163 had been discovered to be unlawful immigrants, he stated.
“So we contacted them and advised them to go away,” Gualtieri stated. “We have by no means seen something of this magnitude. We have by no means seen this inflow of individuals from the realm who’re clearly simply right here to steal and rob and do unhealthy issues and goal these weak folks. ”
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Gualtieri stated nearly all these arrested in the course of the three-week operation had in depth legal information.
“As Pinellas seashores recuperate, we are going to proceed these patrols and arrest anybody stealing from the weak victims of two back-to-back storms which have devastated our neighborhood,” Gualtieri stated.
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Gualtieri stated the sheriff’s workplace will proceed to have dozens of further officers patrolling the barrier islands day and evening to maintain individuals who do not belong there off the islands.
“Our efforts to guard the neighborhood haven’t stopped with the direct influence of those hurricanes. We are actually centered on defending our residents and our companies who’re determined to rebuild and get on with their lives.”
Florida deputies arrest dozens of unlawful immigrants allegedly caught looting by victims of Hurricane Milton
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