{"id":369937,"date":"2026-08-13T01:54:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T01:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/369937\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T01:54:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T01:54:21","slug":"4-arrested-in-tampa-bay-retail-theft-operation-hillsborough-sheriff-says-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/369937\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Arrested In Tampa Bay Retail Theft Operation, Hillsborough Sheriff Says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL \u2014 Four people have been arrested in connection with an organized retail theft operation targeting businesses throughout the Tampa Bay area, the Hillsborough County Sheriff&#8217;s Office said in a news release on Tuesday. <\/p>\n<p>The investigation began after HCSO&#8217;s Organized Retail Theft Unit identified a group accused of stealing merchandise from multiple retailers between June 1 and July 1.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-subscribe\">\n  <a class=\"article-subscribe-link\" href=\"https:\/\/patch.com\/florida\/southtampa\/subscribe?utm_source=amp&amp;utm_campaign=subscribe&amp;utm_medium=mobile&amp;utm_term=subscribe_in_article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe<\/a>\n<\/p>\n<p>The suspects would conceal merchandise, leave stores without paying, and take the stolen goods to a residence, where they were resold, the sheriff&#8217;s office said. <\/p>\n<p>Authorities obtained arrest warrants for Adonys Diaz Suarez, 37; Ariel Serrano Suarez, 40; and Diosvelys Morales Torres, 34. Each was charged with conspiracy to engage in racketeering, organized retail theft and six counts of dealing in stolen property, according to HCSO.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators also identified a home in the 6900 block of North Thatcher Avenue as an alleged fencing operation.<\/p>\n<p>HCSO said Armando Quintana, 49, purchased stolen merchandise from the other suspects and resold it online and directly to customers.<\/p>\n<p>Detectives arrested Quintana at the home on July 9 and served a court-authorized search warrant. <\/p>\n<p>They recovered nearly $300,000 worth of merchandise that investigators said had been stolen, including liquor from Sam&#8217;s Club and Walmart, clothing from Lululemon and Victoria&#8217;s Secret, and high-end fragrances from multiple retailers, the sheriff&#8217;s office said. <\/p>\n<p>Detectives also found about 60 grams of cocaine, 39 grams of methamphetamine, a handgun, a rifle and more than $3,500 in cash. <\/p>\n<p>Quintana faces charges including trafficking in methamphetamine, trafficking in cocaine, conspiracy to engage in racketeering, six counts of dealing in stolen property and possession of a controlled substance.<\/p>\n<p>State prosecutors filed additional charges, including conspiracy to engage in racketeering, after reviewing the case with HCSO detectives.<\/p>\n<p>See Also: <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL \u2014 Four people have been arrested in connection with an organized retail theft operation targeting&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":369603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-369937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}