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Detectives tend store to solve thefts

By CASEY CORA and RITA FARLOW
Published June 28, 2007

GULFPORT -- A nine-month undercover investigation by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and the Gulfport Police Department has resulted in the arrests of 11 people accused of trafficking in stolen property.

Authorities are still searching for six others in connection with a buy and sell store they set up in a Gulfport storefront. They also want the public's help in identifying a seventh thief.

The operation worked liked this: The agencies opened T's Buy Sell Trade on 49th Street S in June 2006. For the next nine months, detectives posing as store clerks purchased and cataloged more than 1,000 items, including a variety of jewelry, power tools and sporting goods. They also took in open bottles of over-the-counter medicine, ammunition and raw meat.

Authorities didn't resell any of the incoming inventory, but they did use the opportunity to sell unclaimed items from the Sheriff's Office Property and Evidence department.

Most of the items were sold to the store legitimately, with detectives filling out the necessary, if not perfunctory, paperwork for each transaction.

But some customers asked the clerks to forgo a paper trail for items they admitted were stolen.

Authorities would later rely on surveillance video to identify those would-be merchants, and eventually caught 17 people and issued warrants for their arrest. Of the 11 people arrested, authorities found seven of them already being held at the Pinellas County Jail or state prisons.

Those arrested will be charged with dealing in stolen property, a second-degree felony.

FAST FACTS: Prove it, it's yours
Think your stuff was stolen? From 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. today, officials are making the stolen property available for public inspection at the Pinellas Sheriff's Office Property and Evidence Section at 4707 145th Ave. N in Clearwater. To reclaim what's yours, bring proof of ownership, such as receipts or photographs of the items and police reports.

Arrested Tuesday:
James W. Amos, 45, 5000 Emerson Ave. S, St. Petersburg.
Elizabeth J. Groff, 38, 3926 13th Ave. N, St. Petersburg.
James E. White, 50, 1035 Arlington Ave. N, #714, St. Petersburg.
Rashion S. Lee, 20, Lancaster Correctional Institute since 05/22/2007.
Jason A. Thames, 38, 2211 Harbor View Drive, Dunedin.
Shari T. Wilkes, 42, 5453 Fifth Ave. N, St. Petersburg.
Mark J. Palmer, 32, 4921 10th Ave. S, Gulfport.
Laura K. Bass, 41, 142 87th Ave. S, Treasure Island.
Jeffrey J. James, 34, 1539 39th Ave. S, St. Petersburg.
Susan G. Vinson, 47, 5127 27th Ave. S, #32, St. Petersburg.
Robert W. Snyder, 37, 401 34th St. N, #108, St. Petersburg.

Still wanted:
Toni Anthony, 26, Biloxi, Miss.
Betty Armstrong, 54, St. Petersburg.
Jeremiah "Jeremy" D. White, 24, 4001 38th Ave. S, St. Petersburg.
Akeem J. Lee, 22, 540 48th St. S, St. Petersburg.
Ernest K. Major, 38, 3861 11th Ave. S, St. Petersburg.
Brian Lee Batson, 45, 30000 SW 147th Court, Leisure City.

The unidentified suspect is described as 25 to 30 years old, 5-foot-10 and weighing about 165 pounds.

The Pinellas Sheriff's Office asks that anyone with information about his identity call Detective Joseph Burns at (727) 582-6200 or, to remain anonymous, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-8477.

[Last modified June 28, 2007, 01:21:33]