Sting Operations for Grand Theft
Officers love to conduct sting operations, especially when they can seize property for forfeiture. The most common sting operations involve sex crimes like prostitution or regulatory offenses like unlicensed contracting. Before the legalization of medical marijuana in Florida, officers targeted marijuana grow house operations.
Recently, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has started to use bait motorcycles or other vehicles in grand theft sting operations. The police reports in these cases claim that Hillsborough County has seen a pattern of motorcycles being stolen, loaded into passenger vans, and brought back to the Miami area.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has an Auto Theft Unit and Auto Theft Task Force (ATTF). These officers conduct sting operations by staging a bait motorcycle or other vehicle with a tracking device. The bait vehicle is left in a public area like a parking lot,
If the motorcycle is stolen, officers with HCSO’s Auto Theft Unit will GPS track the vehicle and arrest anyone involved. Officers and technicians with the crime scene section will swab the stolen vehicle for DNA and latent prints and process the evidence at the crime lab.
The officers also conduct these sting operations during a “state of emergency” in Hillsborough County, FL, which makes the charges more serious. Most of the “state of emergency” orders in Hillsborough County are related to a hurricane or tropical storm.
The sting operation might also result in the suspect’s vehicle used to carry the stolen property being seized for forfeiture under Florida’s Contraband Forfeiture Act.
Criminal charges resulting from the motorcycle theft sting operation might include:
- 790.072-WEAP2050 (FS) POSS OF FIREARM DURING COMMISSION OF FELONY – SECOND DEGREE FELONY
- 810.06- BURG9000 (FT) POSSESSION OF BURGLARY TOOLS – THIRD DEGREE FELONY
- 812.0142A3A-THEF2206 (FF) GRAND THEFT USE OF MOTOR VEHICLE – FIRST DEGREE FELONY
- 812.0142C6 – THEF2208 (FS) GRAND THEFT MOTOR VEHICLE DURING STATE OF EMERGENCY – SECOND DEGREE FELONY
- 806.131B3-CRMS3000 (FT) CRIMINAL MISCHIEF $1000 OR MORE – THIRD DEGREE FELONY
This article was last updated on Wednesday, July 17, 2024.