Florida deputies arrest dozens of illegal immigrants allegedly caught looting by victims of Hurricane Milton

More than 100 people, including at least 41 illegal immigrants, have been arrested in Florida for allegedly looting and defrauding hurricane victims Helene and Miltonlocal law enforcement officials said.

Loot patrols in Pinellas County have arrested 45 suspects over the past three weeks on 68 charges, including armed robbery, burglary, loitering and prowling, grand theft, vandalism and trespassing, according to Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri.

“They’re breaking into people’s homes, taking stuff, searching through their stuff,” Gualtieri said.

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Another 58 suspects were arrested in an operation allegedly targeting unlicensed contractors. Gualtieri said their scams mainly involved billing victims a total of $250 million for repairs they never intended to make.

“This is the epitome of people trying to exploit others when they’re in trouble and when they’re out, and they try to rebuild and they have nothing,” Gualtieri said.

Of the 45 suspects arrested by anti-looting patrols on Pinellas County’s barrier islands, at least 41 suspects are illegal immigrants, Gualtieri said at a news conference Thursday. He said almost all of the suspects were from South America or Central America.

Suspects arrested in the contract fraud typically offered to complete projects including plumbing, roofing and electrical work, charging a total of more than $250 million.

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Gualtieri added that one suspect even had business cards to pose as a legitimate contracting company.

“People offer to do work on their property, but in some cases they have no intention of doing the work. In other cases they are not qualified to do the work and, in all of these cases, they are not licensed to do it work to do.” 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 had no probable cause to arrest them. Of these, 163 were found to be illegal immigrantshe said.

“So we contacted them and told them to leave,” Gualtieri said. “We’ve never seen anything of this magnitude. We’ve never seen this influx of people from the area who are clearly just here to steal and rob and do bad things and target these vulnerable people. ”

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Gualtieri said almost all those arrested during the three-week operation had done so extensive criminal records.

“As Pinellas beaches recover, we will continue these patrols and arrest anyone 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 Dozens of additional officers will continue to patrol the barrier islands day and night to keep people who don’t belong there off the islands.

“Our efforts to protect the community have not stopped with the direct impact of these hurricanes. We are now focused on protecting our residents and our businesses who are desperate to rebuild and get on with their lives.”