23 Men Charged In Massive Retail Theft Ring
The state attorney of Miami-Dade County charged 23 people with stealing $15 million in retail goods, most of them over-the-counter medications. The ring of suspected thieves stole medications from stores from Orlando to South Florida. Howard Seth Katz, the alleged head of the operation, sold the merchandise to Abel Salk and David Cohen. who had told Katz what products they wanted. Katz sent out his “boosters” or workers to steal the specific items.
The criminal charge of theft means that people took property or services belonging to someone else and used them for themselves or gave them to someone else to use or profit from. Basically, theft charges result from taking either real or personal property. Real property includes land and whatever grows on it or is attached to it or placed on it. It also includes the minerals on the land.
Personal property includes anything that can be touched or moved around. It includes furniture, jewelry, cars and a will. Intangible personal property includes services performed using the mental and physical labor of someone on which a dollar value can be placed. Intangible personal property also includes intellectual property and a company’s research and development secrets.
A person can be charged with theft even if the victim willingly gives the property. The charge under this circumstance is called larceny by trick in which the accused steals the property by befiending the victim and making false promises, lying or making misrepresentations.
To get a theft conviction against the accused, the state attorney must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused knowingly and unlawfully took or tried to take the property from the victim. To defend against theft charges in court, the accused needs a theft criminal defense lawyer.
If the jury convicts the accused of theft, then it has to determine by verdict the value of the property stolen. The theft of $15 miilion in goods from stores in the above-mentioned case is a substantial amount. Anyone accused of theft needs a Miami Theft Defense Attorney to fight the charges in court. Theft criminal defense lawyer Kenneth P. Hassett is a seasoned defender who has been practicing in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Miami-Dade County and Broward County since 1991.
