FDLE arrests four in connection with elaborate theft ring

LEE COUNTY, Fla.- Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents raided a North Fort Myers storage unit Wednesday to uncover an theft ring.

Four suspects are now under arrest.

Only WINK News was there as FDLE agents raided the storage facility on Littleton Road.

Agents sorted through everything from trucks to purses, to VHS tapes. FDLE tells WINK News it was investigating a commercial vehicle theft ring involving stolen semi-trucks, tractor trailers, dump trucks, fork lifts and motorcycles.

FDLE says the suspects would take the vehicles to chop shops they operated. They would strip the original vehicle identification numbers and replace them with new VINs. The stolen equipment was either resold in Florida or shipped overseas to Nicaragua.

A nearby business owner says he noticed something suspicious going on.

“I kind of suspected,” one man said, “where all this new equipment, generators, air compressors (and) welders were always being put in and out of the storage units.”

Agents recovered 25 stolen vehicles; mostly from small businesses and individuals.