Orlando men stole over $250K in guns, medical marijuana and electronics, FDLE says
Two Orlando men stole over $250,000 in guns, car parts, electronics and medicinal cannabis from 19 businesses across 10 counties in Central and South Florida during a months-long crime spree, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation found.
FDLE agents arrested Jerry Mitchell Jr., 32, Tuesday and served an arrest warrant to Ledarius Jones, 33, who was already in custody at the Orange County Jail on unrelated charges.
The men are facing multiple charges including racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, grand theft, burglary and property damage after an FDLE investigation started in January tied the men to numerous break-ins, FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said.
Authorities say the men burglarized businesses across Orange, Seminole, Volusia, Brevard, Sumter, Marion, Indian River, Pinellas, Polk and St. Lucie counties.
On March 21 in Orlando, deputies saw the men use a Ford Escape to ram out of a gate at the Orlando Auto Mall on Kaley Street near downtown following a burglary at the store. They then continued to Trulieve, a cannabis dispensary on Orange Blossom Trail near Lee Road, where they rammed open the business' back door with their car, according to an affidavit.
At the time of the Orlando burglary, Orange County sheriff’s deputies arrested Mitchell, Jones and a 16-year-old accomplice and charged them with burglary of a structure during a state of emergency and grand theft of a motor vehicle. Records show Mitchell bonded out while Jones was held on a previous charge.
Mitchell and Jones are being held at the Orange County Jail, Mitchell on $350,000 bond and Jones without bond.
The Florida Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution will prosecute the case, Plessinger said.
krice@orlandosentinel.com
———
©2020 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.)
Visit The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.) at www.OrlandoSentinel.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
