Rep. Rommel looks to harden laws on retail thieves: ‘Don’t come to Florida.’

This story has been updated to include the Senate version of the bill.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Rep. Bob Rommel, R-Naples, filed a bill that aims to increase penalties on groups of people that commit retail theft.

HB 549 makes it a third degree felony if the crime has five or more people within one or more establishments for the purpose of “overwhelming the response of a merchant, merchant’s employee, or law enforcement officer in order to carry out the offense or avoid detection or apprehension for the offense.”

Rommel said he believes this will “send a clear message” to criminals: “Don’t come to Florida.”

“If people do decide to come to Florida, there’s going to be a stiff penalty to pay, whether you’re the person behind the Facebook or Instagram post, or you’re one of the people that actually do the crime, and the vandalism and stealing a product, you’re all going to be prosecuted equally,” he said.

Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, filed an identical version in the Senate.

The bill would also make it a third degree felony for a person, or group of people, that commit three retail thefts within a 365 day period. Current law charges people with a felony if they commit five retail thefts within a 30 day period.

“Retail theft” is defined as taking possession of or carrying away of merchandise, property, money, or negotiable documents.

It also includes altering or removing a price tag, transferring merchandise from one container to another, or removing a shopping cart, with intent to deprive the merchant of possession, use, benefit, or full retail value.

The bill makes it a second degree felony if a person acts in collaboration with five or more other people within one or more establishments for the purpose of overwhelming the response of a merchant and, in the course of organizing or committing the offense, solicits the participation of another person in the offense through the use of a social media platform.

A “social media platform” is defined as any information service, system, internet search engine, or access software provider that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server, including an internet platform or a social media site.

The bill said the court must order a person convicted of violating the law to pay restitution, which must include the value of merchandise that was damaged or stolen and the cost of repairing or replacing any other property that was damaged in the course of committing the offense.

Although it’s not happening as much in Florida as other states, Rommel said the “organized chaos” in other cities is causing many establishments to go out of business or issue layoffs.

Rommel said he wants to make sure that people who have businesses are protected, along with the workers and visitors.

“We want to stop it before it gets here, because it doesn’t seem to be slowing down anywhere else in the nation,” Rommel said.

In 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation that helps Florida prosecutors dismantle organized retail theft rings. 

The new law created second-degree and third-degree felony retail theft crimes for multiple retail thefts happening in a limited time period in different merchant locations.