Florida cracks down on retail theft

Florida law-enforcement agencies this week rolled out a statewide partnership to pursue organized retail-theft crews that steal large quantities of everyday goods across county lines. (nbcmiami.com) Attorney General James Uthmeier said the effort is meant to “cut red tape” by linking local investigators, the Office of Statewide Prosecution and the Florida Retail Federation in cases that span multiple jurisdictions. He announced the task force in Jacksonville on November 21, 2025, at a Home Depot news conference. (news4jax.com) NBC Miami reported that the new push follows theft patterns in which crews target basics such as body wash, deodorant and toothpaste, then move the goods through resale channels. The station said the statewide partnership launched this week is aimed at breaking down barriers between agencies investigating the same ring in different places. (nbcmiami.com) Florida officials have been building this approach for months. On March 4, 2026, Uthmeier announced the arrest of seven people in what his office called a multi-county ring targeting beauty and fragrance products. (myfloridalegal.com) That case started in November 2024 and stretched into the summer of 2025, according to state officials and local television reports. Investigators said suspects stole from CVS, Walgreens, Publix, Burlington, Macy’s and Ulta locations in 12 Florida counties before the goods were resold online. (nbcmiami.com, cbsnews.com) CBS Miami reported that investigators recovered more than $900,000 in stolen merchandise in that March takedown, including nearly $124,000 in goods and more than $51,000 in cash from a Hialeah home. The seven defendants were jailed in Martin County and faced charges including conspiracy to commit racketeering, dealing in stolen property and organized retail theft. (cbsnews.com) The legal backdrop changed in 2024, when Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 549. The law increased penalties for organized retail theft, expanded how separate thefts can be grouped together and made certain repeat offenders eligible for prison terms of up to 30 years. (flsenate.gov, flgov.com, myfloridalegal.com) Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Jonathan Bridges said in November that theft crews “travel from their home and hit retail stores” in multiple counties, a pattern prosecutors say can weaken isolated local cases. The new statewide model is designed to treat those runs as one coordinated enterprise instead of a string of separate shoplifting reports. (news4jax.com) Retailers and prosecutors have tied the crackdown to locked cases, added security costs and higher prices, while the public record so far is dominated by law-enforcement and retail-industry voices rather than civil-liberties criticism. For now, Florida’s message is that theft crews crossing county lines will face a single statewide response instead of a patchwork of local ones. (nbcmiami.com, news4jax.com)