Two scammers from out-of-county were intercepted by a Charlotte County Sheriff's Office detective in a Punta Gorda Publix parking lot after they tried to sell items from their trunk while parked in a handicapped parking space.
A report from the Sheriff's Office indicated that on Monday, a detective in an unmarked vehicle observed suspicious activity in the Publix parking lot at 2310 Tamiami Trail in Punta Gorda while he was picking up his lunch.
The detective watched two men in a blue Chevy Equinox park their vehicle in a handicapped parking space and engage with pedestrians about items they had for sale in the trunk.
The items they were looking to sell were electronics that were packaged to appear to be high-end products and marked with fake MSRP price tags as high as $9,999.99.
Before the pair, identified as Lance A. Holtz, 40, and Philip P. Pecaroro, 40, were able to make a sale, the detective intervened and conducted a field interview with them.
When questioned, both men were originally deceptive, but eventually confessed that their intention is to sell cheap electronics from China to random people for far more than their worth. To do this, they claimed to be entertainment installers with one leftover item from a job that they would sell at a discounted price.
The detective explained that such a sale would be unlawful and would result in their arrest, at which point the pair advised they would be packing up and leaving Charlotte County immediately.
The Sheriff's Office reminded residents and guests that if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is, and to only buy from reputable sellers and such aren’t typically sitting in handicapped spaces at your local grocery store with a trunk full of “great deals”.
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