41 non-citizens charged with looting in Florida after hurricanes' destruction

Dozens of non-citizens in Florida have been arrested after allegedly looting in the area of Pinellas County's Madeira Beach after the destruction that was brought by hurricanes Helene and Milton. The storm displaced residents and 45 people have been arrested since Oct. 2.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, 41 out of the 45 people who have been arrested and charged for looting in the area are not citizens of the United States. Only two people in the group of suspects were Pinellas County residents. The country sheriff told reporters that the storms have brought out an unprecedented number of bad actors looking to exploit the situation.

"We’ve never seen anything of this magnitude before, we’ve never seen this influx of people from out of the area that are clearly just here to steal and to pilfer and to do bad things and to target these vulnerable people," Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said of the suspects.

“They’re going into people’s homes, they’re taking stuff, they’re rummaging through their things,” Gualtieri added. “In one case, it was an armed robbery where they went in and stole from them forcibly.”

Charges that have been brought against the 45 suspects include armed robbery, burglary, loitering and prowling, grand theft, vandalism, and trespassing.

Police also came into contact with around 200 individuals who appeared to be suspicious, but law enforcement did not have enough probable cause to make arrests and told them to leave the area instead. The majority of the suspects were not from the area and were often in vehicles with out-of-state plates.