SARASOTA, Fla. – The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office charged 13 people during a retail theft operation in Sarasota.
For three days in early August, members of the agency’s Tactical Unit focused on interrupting retail theft and identifying criminal activity in the university town center area.
During the operation, deputies communicated with loss prevention personnel at Macy’s and Dillard’s in real-time to identify individuals attempting to steal merchandise.
Collectively, those charged have 178 prior felony and misdemeanor charges with 54 convictions. Today, these 13 individuals now face a total of 20 new charges.
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“Retail theft operations require planning, manpower, and days of focused enforcement, but as you can see, are well worth it,” commented Sheriff Kurt A. Hoffman. “We rely on our partnerships with retailers and loss prevention personnel to identify criminal activity and hopefully, disrupt it before these businesses lose money. With the holiday season just around the corner, citizens can expect to see more focused efforts along retail corridors where deputies will maintain a presence and catch these criminals every chance they get.”
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