4 Cuban nationals arrested for operating trucking theft ring targeting critical computer systems: HCSO

HCSO deputies bust ring of thieves targeting truckers

Four Cuban nationals have been arrested for running an organized theft ring aimed at stealing the critical computer systems that play a big part in the trucking industry, according to the�Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. Evan Axelbank reports.

TAMPA, Fla. - Four Cuban nationals have been arrested for running an organized theft ring aimed at stealing the critical computer systems that play a big part in the trucking industry, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff Chad Chronister, alongside Attorney General James Uthmeier, announced the arrests Tuesday after a months-long investigation with 20 cases throughout Hillsborough County, Lee County, Polk County and Duval County.

Details announced after trucking industry theft ring taken down

Attorney General James Uthmeier and Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister shared details about the arrests made after a trucking industry theft ring was taken down.

The backstory:

Investigators say that the men would break into the freightliner tractor truck’s engine compartment by any means possible to secure the engine control module (ECM), oftentimes damaging many other parts in the process.

Courtesy: Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

The ECM is essentially the engine’s brain and it controls various subsystems. Chronister says these computer systems can be sold for $3,000-$10,000 each.

Chronister said the investigation led them to a broker in Texas who was buying these ECM's from the suspects.

In total, 93 people fell victim to the theft ring, and it caused $750,000 in thefts and damages.

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HCSO says that the ECM thefts totaled $400,000 and another $370,000 in damages were caused by the suspects prying open engine compartments and cutting wiring harnesses in the process.

The four men are from the Palm Beach and Miami-Dade area. Three of them are illegal immigrants from Cuba and one came to the U.S. on a green card from Cuba.

Chronister said that this is not corporate theft and the impacted truck drivers are private citizens who need the trucks to make a living.

What they're saying:

"They don’t get paid if they aren’t driving and transporting goods," Chronsiter said. "I shutter to think about the value of the money that they’ve lost, that their family suffered that income because of these four individuals."