MBI Dir. Ron Stucker talks tackling “criminal enterprises” in Central Florida in exclusive interview
Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation Director Ron Stucker is the man at the head of an agency whose sole purpose is to dismantle criminal organizations.
His agents work across jurisdictional boundaries in both Osceola and Orange County, and oftentimes the work is dangerous and covert.
But in an exclusive sit-down interview with Channel 9, Stucker shared more about the role his agency plays in toppling criminal organizations that are in the business of gambling, narcotics trafficking, prostitution and more.
We first reported last week that the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation helped takedown an organization investigators said was operating as a “criminal enterprise” for nearly two decades in Orange County.
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Investigators said up to 80 people a day purchased cocaine from the PR House.
While Stucker said that organization was based out of a fixed shop, not every “criminal enterprise” is operated out of one singular location.
“There are a lot of other businesses. They like to run entertainment companies, so there may not be brick and mortar,” said Stucker.
Stucker said criminal organizations have historically operated under the guise of legitimate businesses.
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“They’ve operated as trucking companies, they’ve operated as delivery people, they’ve operated as something- because they have to launder that money through something,” said Stucker.
While Stucker wouldn’t discuss investigative tactics used by the agency, Court documents show in the case of the PR House agents intercepted parcels, listened in on phone calls, and used undercover video surveillance to build their case.
Stucker said one challenge in his line of work is that leaders of “criminal enterprises” are often hard to get to.
“The leaders hide very well behind their front people,” said Stucker. “What we do is go in and look at the entire structure of the organization.”
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He said targeting a “criminal enterprise” involves first meeting a definition laid out in State Statute.
“One person alone cannot be a ‘criminal enterprise’, you have to have an organization,” said Stucker.
After identifying a “criminal enterprise”, his agents often must identify “predicate acts.”
Those acts are a list of crimes that were committed as defined under the State Racketeering Statutes.
“We find which ones of those the organization is committing, and then everyone in the organization can be charged as a whole with racketeering,” said Stucker.
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However, Stucker said one big challenge in targeting the leaders of a “criminal enterprise” is that if they know a business is being targeted, they can transfer their business license.
“So as law enforcement moves close to taking away their licenses, taking away their ability to operate as a business, they simply dissolve and become a new corporation,” said Stucker.
Stucker couldn’t tell us how many “criminal enterprises” are operating right now in Orange and Osceola counties, but said they exist and persist.
However, Stucker wants the public to know these criminal organizations are actively being targeted by the MBI and by the 12 local and state law enforcement agencies that contribute to the task force.
“The public should have some confidence that these organizations are being looked at,” said Stucker.
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