STUART, Fla. (CBS12) — Governor Ron DeSantis signed anti-theft legislation Tuesday to increase penalties for retail theft, porch piracy, and inciting looting through social media.
The signing of House Bill 549 took place at the Walgreens store on the corner of Cove Rd. and Federal Highway in Stuart, with the governor joined by Attorney General Ashley Moody and other local and state officials.
“Cracking down on the porch pirates, cracking down on retail theft rings, making sure people that use social media to incite these flash mobs of retail theft, that all those people are held accountable,” the governor said, moments before he signed the bill into law. The legislation drastically increases the penalties for people who commit those crimes.
If someone commits retail theft with a firearm, it's a first-degree felony and could land them in prison for up to 30 years.
If criminals commit retail theft with five or more people, they could spend five years in prison.
In an attempt to stop porch pirates, there will now be felony charges for theft of property over $40.
“It’s important to be proactive, we cannot be reactive to the trends that are happening around the country,” said Rep. John Snyder, who co-sponsored the bill.
One of those trends is organized retail crime.
“We have seen ORC (organized retail crime) activity rise across the nation, but lately, subjects are becoming more and more brazen and violent, not only towards our customers but towards our team members that are innocent and are standing in their way,” said Carlos Gonzalez, the Major Crimes Investigations Manager for Walgreens.
The Martin County Sheriff's Office believes they saw a retail crime ring in Jensen Beach last year when four teens were caught on camera stealing from Dick's Sporting Goods.
Stuart business owner Bob Brewster says his store was targeted in the past as well.
“The last time I got hit, they crashed through the wall with a truck, so picture that window being demolished, everything inside is laid over and smashed up, things are broken inside," said Brewster, the owner of WMR Competition Performance in Stuart. "It’s a horrible thing, it’s probably the worst feeling in the world, to be broken into like that and have your stuff stolen.”
In addition to this legislation, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder says he’ll be advocating to add retail theft to the traveling criminal law in the next legislative session.
“Martin County is a target-rich environment. If you look around this store, there are no armed security guards here, the shelves are full, so we have to be particularly alert at people coming at us from other counties," the sheriff remarked. "This bill will give us more teeth in our bite as we make these arrests.”
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