A Florida sheriff claimed Friday that 41 of the 45 persons detained for looting after two hurricanes devastated his community were illegal immigrants.
Helene and Milton ravaged Pinellas County, which includes Clearwater and St. Petersburg on Florida’s west coast, at the end of September and early October, destroying numerous houses and businesses.
Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said his crew has spent the past few weeks conducting looting patrols on the barrier islands that run along the peninsula’s border, discovering dozens of people attempting to take advantage of vacant streets and properties.
Deputies arrested 45 people for a variety of crimes, including armed robbery, vandalism, and trespassing, while over 200 others were allowed to leave since no probable cause for arrest could be found.
Out of the 196 people approached, 141 were not from the county and 163 were not US citizens. Their immigration status was not immediately evident.
“A lot of these people were in the area to take other people’s property, and our deputies’ efforts prevented additional crimes from occurring,” Sheriff Gualtieri stated at a press conference.
The 41 illegal immigrants came from Mexico, Cuba, Colombia, Honduras, Venezuela, and other countries, he stated.
In the aftermath of the storms, the sheriff stated that work was ongoing to rebuild, but homeowners and business owners were at risk of being duped by bogus or unlicensed builders.
Gualtieri stated that this was usual after a hurricane, with people asking for work that they either never completed or was so bad that it needed to be redone since it did not meet code requirements.
“These people are simply scammers and thieves, no different than the people in the neighborhoods at 3 a.m. breaking into a house that we have been arresting,” the sheriff said, adding that victims have already been “double victimized” after losing so much.
Undercover detectives worked to identify persons attempting to perform plumbing, electrical, air conditioning, roofing, and structural work without a license, arresting roughly 60 more people on 102 offenses altogether.
The sheriff stated that his team will continue to try to protect residents while the community rebuilds.
“Don’t come to Pinellas County and steal in these storm-ravaged communities, don’t prey on people who are trying to recover, because if you do, you’re going to go to jail on multiple felony charges,” said the governor.
The incident in Pinellas County arose after foreigners in the United States on work visas were jailed in Tennessee for suspected looting. Immigration officials later refuted accusations that the eight guys were “getaways” from the southwest border.
Reference: Over 40 Immigrants Arrested for Looting in Hurricane-hit Florida Community