Photo: CBS 12
The Martin County Sherrif’s Office have taken down an organized crime ring that was targeting hardware stores across the state.
Dubbed 'Operation Hammer Time,' two men from Miami Dade were charged in the thefts spanning 13 counties, a third is at large and a fourth has died from medical issues.
Detective Aaron Chandler says the thieves would break into stores at night and return the stolen tools to Miami-Dade with stolen merchandise to resell it.
"They would all work in concert with each other, loading these totes up with as many DeWalt or Milwaukee tools as they could get and oftentimes they're in and out of there less than five minutes."
In addition to Martin and Miami-Dade, other counties where the thefts occurred include Brevard, Broward, Duval, Indian River, Orange, Pinellas, Polk, Sarasota and Seminole.
Click Here for more on this story.