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A jury in Florida found a Cuban undocumented citizen guilty of stealing and reselling trailers intended for families who lost everything after the devastating impact of Hurricane Ian.
Iván Gutiérrez Miranda was found guilty following a week and a half trial in Fort Myers. According to the Florida State Attorney's Office, the accused was involved in a scheme to appropriate trailers intended for victims who were rebuilding their homes after Hurricane Ian, which struck the southwest of the state in September 2022. The vehicles were then sold illegally, taking advantage of the chaos and emergency the region was experiencing.
According to the public broadcaster WGCU, Gutiérrez Miranda, 45 years old, was convicted of violations of the RICO Act, conspiracy to commit organized fraud, and several charges related to the trafficking of stolen property.
The sentencing is set for January 26, 2026, and the Cuban faces up to 165 years in prison, with a mandatory minimum of eight years. After serving his sentence, he will be deported from the United States.
The investigations revealed that the accused and others operated during nighttime or early morning hours to avoid detection during the state of emergency, when trailers and recreational vehicles were constantly on the move to assist those displaced by the hurricane.
One of the key pieces of evidence presented at the trial was a video recorded by Gutiérrez Miranda himself, in which he promoted the features of the stolen trailers, unaware that those images would ultimately be used against him.
The arrest occurred almost a year after the impact of Ian, in Charlotte County, where his police photograph was also released. The arrest records include serious charges such as grand theft and extortion, reflecting the magnitude of the scheme being investigated by local and state authorities.
Florida's Attorney General, James Uthmeier, publicly celebrated the verdict and linked the case to federal immigration policy.
In a message shared on the social media platform X, she claimed that the accused was "allowed" into the country by the Biden administration and took advantage of a disaster when many families needed temporary housing.
Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida in September 2022 as one of the most destructive in the state's recent history. With winds exceeding 240 kilometers per hour, massive flooding, and prolonged power outages, it resulted in dozens of deaths and left thousands of families homeless, particularly in southwest Florida.
Entire communities in areas such as Fort Myers, Sanibel, Cape Coral, and Naples were devastated, which forced authorities to urgently deploy trailers and temporary housing to accommodate the displaced as they attempted to rebuild their lives amidst the tragedy.
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