{"id":135774,"date":"2024-08-29T12:30:25","date_gmt":"2024-08-29T16:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=135774"},"modified":"2024-08-29T12:30:25","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T16:30:25","slug":"career-criminal-arrested-on-fraud-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=135774","title":{"rendered":"Career Criminal Arrested On Fraud Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mark Brents <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a habitual offender after an organized retail theft unit investigation revealed a barcode manipulation scheme targeting Lowe\u2019s stores across Hillsborough County and Clearwater.<\/p>\n

Mark Brents,<\/strong> 57, who has been\u00a0in prison\u00a0eleven times and has been booked into the Orient Road Jail\u00a0a staggering 74 times since 1985, has now been arrested for defrauding Lowe\u2019s of\u00a0more than\u00a0$4,500 in merchandise during ten separate incidents.<\/p>\n

The HCSO Organized Retail Theft Unit (ORT) became aware of the fraudulent activity and immediately launched an investigation\u00a0earlier this month. Brents’<\/strong> fraudulent activities involved placing barcodes from cheaper items onto more expensive products or scanning significantly less expensive items instead of paying the total price. This barcode manipulation scheme allowed him to defraud Lowe\u2019s on multiple occasions.<\/p>\n

Investigators also uncovered several ads placed online by Brents,<\/strong> advertising stolen items.<\/p>\n

In coordination with the\u00a0Clearwater Police Department, ORT launched a covert operation to arrest Brents.<\/strong> On August 21, 2024, Brents<\/strong> was observed driving erratically in a black Nissan Altima with an improper tag. Upon Brents’<\/strong> return to his residence, the ORT, alongside with the Clearwater Police,\u00a0successfully took Brents <\/strong>into custody.<\/p>\n

Brents<\/strong> is facing multiple charges, including: organized scheme to defraud less than $20,000, retail theft $3,000 or more, and felony petit theft.<\/p>\n

Brents<\/strong> was on probation for felony fleeing to elude at the time of his arrest.\u00a0The Clearwater Police Department\u00a0has filed additional charges related to the stolen property.<\/p>\n

This is an ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Brents \u00a0 The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a habitual offender after an organized retail theft unit investigation revealed a barcode manipulation scheme targeting Lowe\u2019s stores across Hillsborough County and Clearwater. Mark Brents, 57, who has been\u00a0in prison\u00a0eleven times and has been booked into the Orient Road Jail\u00a0a staggering 74 times since 1985, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88889,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/88889"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135774"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135776,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135774\/revisions\/135776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}