Eight suspects had accounted for 111 prior felony charges and 117 prior misdemeanor charges
From Nov. 18 through Nov. 20, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office’s Tactical Unit, Intelligence Unit, Criminal Investigations Section and Patrol Bureau conducted a holiday retail theft operation at the Mall at University Town Center (UTC) in Sarasota, which resulted in the arrests of 11 persons, the agency has announced.
“Statistics show that retail thefts at UTC traditionally increase during the holiday shopping season,” a news release pointed out. “The mission of the operation was to identify, disrupt, and prevent retail theft, and arrest individuals engaging in retail theft occurring prior to the start of holiday shopping,” it added.
The initiative was called Operation Holiday Shield, the Sheriff’s Office said…