Florida authorities threaten ‘enhanced’ punishment for looters

As Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida’s Gulf Coast, authorities in the state are letting potential looters know that if homeowners’ guns don’t get them, the long arm of the law will.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida is “going to come down hard on” post-hurricane thieves during a briefing at the state Emergency Operations Center on Wednesday.

That’s if Florida’s well-armed, law-abiding residents don’t get them first.

“If you go into somebody’s house after a storm passes, think you’re going to be able to commit crimes, you’re going to get in really serious trouble,” he said Tuesday. “You don’t know what’s behind that door in a Second Amendment state.”

Dave Kerner, Director of the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, under which the Florida Highway Patrol operates, said there’s “no escape” for robbers.

“The state of Florida is not going to give you an opportunity to take advantage of Floridians,” he said, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.

Lt. Paul Bloom of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, told The Mirror Tuesday that deputies will patrol before, during and after the storm and that there will be heavier punishments for looters.

“We want to make sure people are safe,” he said. “For people who break into other people’s homes during the storm, the consequences will be enhanced.”

Multiple arrests were made after Hurricane Helene hit Florida’s Big Bend area at Category 4 strength late last month. That included eight men taken into custody in Tennessee described in early reports as being undocumented migrants. Newsweek later reported, with confirmation from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, that the men were farm workers legally in the state on visas.

Pasco County residents told News Channel 8 in Tampa last week about unidentified people who had entered their home while they were staying at a hotel, waiting for Helene’s floodwaters to ebb.

We had some people walking around the house,” Shawn Clayton, a resident of Pasco’s Gulf Harbors neighborhood, told the outlet. “One of the neighbors had to come down and run them off (and) actually threaten violence to get them to leave.”

After strengthening to a Category 5 storm earlier in the week, Milton weakened to a Category 3 by 5 p.m. on Wednesday. The tempest is expected to make landfall near Tampa Bay and Sarasota late Wednesday.