More than 100 people were arrested late last week in storm-ravaged Pinellas County, Florida, charged with looting homes and working as unlicensed contractors, two weeks after Hurricane Milton forced many residents to evacuate.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said that deputies on patrol arrested 45 people on Madeira Beach, near St. Petersburg, and charged them with burglary, loitering, grand theft, armed robbery and vandalism, according to local news reports and the sheriff’s office. Many of the homes were vacant after homeowners left the area before Miltion hit Oct. 9.
The Florida Department of Financial Services’ Disaster Fraud Strike Team announced the arrest of a roofing company owner in Polk County, who was charged with unlicensed contracting and failing to obtain workers’ compensation insurance on his roofers. DFS investigators sweeping a neighborhood spotted men working on a roof, near a truck with “VM Roofing” on the side, Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis said in a bulletin. Wilmer Maldonado said he used a another roofer’s license to obtain a building permit and hired some laborers. He explained that the homeowner found his business through Facebook and gave Maldonado a $5,000 deposit. Maldonado was booked into the Polk County jail. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison. DFS investigators are continuing to investigate the roofer that allegedly loaned his license to Maldonado, Patronis said.“Since Hurricane Helene and Milton, we have mobilized 130 fraud detectives around our state to go door-to-door in impacted communities to be on the lookout for fraudsters and unlicensed activity,” Patronis said in a statement.
Most of those arrested were not from the area and many were not U.S. citizens and were believed to be illegal immigrants, the sheriff said at a news conference.
Detectives in the same area also arrested more than 60 people in a three-day undercover sting operation that targeted unlicensed construction work. The suspects held themselves out to be licensed contractors, offering to do roofing, plumbing, electrical and other work, Gualtieri said, according to the Tampa Bay Times and WUSF public radio station.
It was unclear if some of the alleged perpetrators were charged with both sets of offenses, or if repair work had been completed on the properties, or if homeowners had used insurance claims proceeds to pay the workers.
State officials for weeks have warned Florida residents affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton to beware of looters and unlicensed repair workers in the wake of the storm damage. And Gualtieri said similar reports of looting and unlicensed contracting had come from other barrier islands in the area.
“Our effort to protect the community has not stopped with these hurricanes’ direct impact,” the sheriff said in a statement posted online. “We are now focused on protecting our residents and our businesses who are desperate to rebuild and get on with their lives.”