Two South Florida men are facing charges after deputies accused them of stealing 34 aluminum light poles from a Fort Pierce property while St. Lucie County was under a state of emergency for flooding. Investigators said the poles were valued at about $6,800, and a drone helped confirm the theft before deputies stopped the men's truck.
The St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office said it began investigating suspicious activity Friday night at a property in the 3500 block of Eleven Mile Road, working alongside the South Florida Criminal Apprehension Team. According to CBS12, investigators used a drone to confirm that two people were removing property from the site and loading it into a truck. Deputies then tracked the truck as it left the area and stopped it on Okeechobee Road.
The men were identified as 33-year-old Pablo Rojas Castro of Pembroke Pines and 35-year-old Alberto Guia Hernandez of Miami. Per the sheriff's office, both were taken into custody without incident and booked into the St. Lucie County Jail. The WPEC report on the arrests also notes that the Fort Pierce Police Department assisted in the investigation.
Charges Tied to the Emergency Declaration
Castro and Hernandez face charges that include grand theft during a state of emergency and possession of burglary tools, the station's report states. They are also accused of burglary of an unoccupied dwelling during a state of emergency and traveling across county lines to commit burglary.
The alleged theft happened while St. Lucie County remained under a state of emergency following historic flooding earlier that week. According to WFLX, Gov. Ron DeSantis declared the emergency for Indian River, Martin and St. Lucie counties on Monday, Nov. 2, because of heavy rainfall and flooding.
What Florida Law Says About Emergency-Related Charges
Under Florida law, burglary can be elevated to a first-degree felony when it happens in a county under a qualifying state of emergency and the crime is facilitated by conditions arising from that emergency, according to the 2026 Florida Statutes. The same statute specifies that someone arrested for burglary under those circumstances cannot be released until appearing before a committing magistrate at a first appearance hearing.
A separate statute addresses theft during emergencies: for property valued between $5,000 and $10,000, the offense can be charged as a second-degree felony when it occurs in a county under a gubernatorial state of emergency and the emergency's conditions facilitate the theft, per the 2026 Florida Statutes. The available evidence does not establish whether those specific statutory conditions were met in this case.
