Gov. Ron DeSantis, in Cape Coral, pledges to fight retail theft in 'culture of lawlessness'

Florida won't follow New York and California's skyrocketing retail theft problem if Gov. Ron DeSantis has his way.

DeSantis held a press conference Tuesday morning in Cape Coral to announce his support for a bill that would increase penalties for retail theft.

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"$112 billion was lost in 2022 alone, just from retail theft," DeSantis said, citing national figures. "So we understand that this is an issue that is really negatively impacting places around our country. We also know that we want to make sure that we continue to do things right here in Florida."

DeSantis compares some stores in Florida to places such as Fort Knox, where the government stores its gold reserves, for items such as toothpaste.

He points at California and New York as normalizing a “culture of lawlessness” through laws that allow people to walk in and take things from stores.

"We believe in being a law and order state," DeSantis said. "We've got to make sure that we don't go down the road of some of these other states, and so while we've done a good job, there are always ways that we can do even better."

Jon Gavin, owner of ACE Hardware in Cape Coral, spoke on the impact of retail theft.

His father operated their first store. He recounted a memory of his father dealing with a morning theft. He described it as a Hollywood scene with the culprit smashing and grabbing power tools before making a quick getaway in a truck.

Gavin's father perfectly described the culprit and said it was his "civil duty" to back up police and identify those responsible.

Though Gavin hasn't experienced widespread theft, it's still a problem.

"Between our two stores, the amount of money we lose on it and spend on recovery and dealing with it, we'd probably have four more employees," he said.

Gavin said people such as him and his father create jobs, and retail theft takes them away and raises prices.

What's in HB 549?

DeSantis focused on HB 549, a bill targeting retail theft by Rep. Bob Rommel, a Naples Republican. The bill would make it:

∎ a third-degree felony for people who join five or more individuals in retail theft;

∎ a second-degree felony for those who encourage others to join in in retail theft through social media; and

∎ a first-degree felony for any repeat offenders who have already been convicted of the same crime within one year.Also, the punishment for criminals who steal delivery packages, from private properties, "porch piracy" as referred to by DeSantis, will be a third-degree felony if the package is between $40-$100 in value.

Currently, the law enforces felony punishments if the product is valued at $100 or above.

Bill sponsor speaks out

Rommel, who is spearheading the bill, also spoke at the conference.

"People are afraid to go shopping, and that's not going to happen in Florida," Rommel said.

He said he started looking into the bill around November and recounted his past trips to places such as New York and California, which spurred him to respond to retail theft.

"We are a free state of Florida, but we are not the place where you come and get free goods," Rommel said. "With this bill, this will deter people from acting."

Luis Zambrano is a Watchdog/Cape Coral reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. You can reach Luis at Lzambrano@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Lz2official.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Gov. Ron DeSantis targets retail theft, porch piracy in Florida