Five armed men dressed up as law enforcement officers as they broke into homes across Florida, Georgia and Arizona and handcuffed the homeowners while they stole their belongings, authorities have announced.
The group — comprising Florida men Darius Hudson, Chrishawn De’Earl Butler, Daniel Jackson, Reginald Robert Jr and Nathaniel Carr — drove around in a black Dodge Durango and a white Chevrolet Malibu equipped with blue flashing lights and wore all black gloves, clothes, masks and vests with “Sheriff” emblazoned on them, the Department of Justice has said.
They targeted people they believed to be distributing narcotics as they woke families up in the middle of the night between December 2020 and April 2021, according to prosecutors.
The group would then allegedly handcuff their victims, and beat, pistol-whip and sometimes even shoot the homeowners as they made away with their belongings.
In one incident described in an affidavit, the five men invaded a home they believed was a marijuana farm, while three people were sleeping inside.