Four Floridians have been arrested and charged with alleged looting in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian as hundreds of thousands of residents and business owners in the Sunshine State look to recover from the crippling storm.
Omar Mejia Ortiz, 33, Valerie Celeste Salcedo Mena, 26, Brandon Mauricio Araya, 20, and Steve Eduardo Sanchez Araya, also 20, were all charged with theft of an empty structure during a state of emergency by Lee County Sheriff’s Deputies on Thursday was arrested. , indicate prison records.
Brandon Araya and Steve Araya, as well as Valerie Mena, were also charged with grand theft. Ortiz was hit with a petty theft charge.
there were four arrested a day ago a video emerged from five persons Handcuffed for looting in a ravaged part of Fort Myers, although it is not clear whether any of the four suspects charged with the robbery in the video are.
Omar Mejia Ortiz.
Valerie Celeste Salcedo Mena.
Brandon Mauricio Araya.
Steve Eduardo Sanchez Araya.
Florida officials, including the government. Ron DeSantisThe U.S. has warned against vandalizing vacant homes and businesses after a Category 4 hurricane that caused billions of dollars in damage.
“Don’t even think about getting robbed. Don’t even think of taking advantage of people in this delicate situation. And so local law enforcement is involved in monitoring it,” DeSantis said Friday. news conference.
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno previously said the robbers would “better think twice.”
“When I say zero tolerance, zero tolerance means we will hunt you down, track you down, and you are going to jail. If you are lucky,” he said.
Prison records indicate that the four accused robbers were released on Saturday after posting a $35,000 bond.
The death toll continues to rise The stormy winds and heavy rain that came last week.