News Conference: Operation Heavy Lift (April 6, 2023)

Polk County Sheriff’s Office Organized Retail Crime Detectives, working with the Attorney General's Office of Statewide Prosecution, Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, developed and charged six suspects during an investigation that started in late 2021 when Home Depot organized retail crime investigators, working with law enforcement, developed information regarding rental equipment not being returned to their stores in the central and southeast Florida areas.
The equipment thefts, involving Toro Dingo utility loaders, stump grinders, trenchers, and mini-excavators (and the trailers they sit on) affected 16 counties within Florida, including 12 judicial circuits. The six suspects identified have been charged with least 50 of those fraudulent rentals and thefts. The total depreciated net book value of equipment and trailers identified throughout this investigation was determined to be nearly $600,000.
Click here to read the news release: tinyurl.com/26...