A million dollar stolen cell phone seizure translates into a safer Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services officials say.



Two Tampa men are in the custody of Suwannee County authorities after a routine stop at an I-10 ag inspection station revealed $1 million in stolen cell phones and a stolen trailer hauling the load. Honay Rodriguez Hernandez, 28, and Francisco Perez, 37, both of Tampa, are charged with trafficking in stolen property, a first degree felony which carries a prison term of up to 30 years.



“The shipping manifest appeared to be suspicious to the officer, and they were asked to pull to the side,” said Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement Deputy Director Lou Leinhauser. Leinhauser added the two men had declared one thing, and upon investigation officers discovered $983,000 in Nokia phones on 18 pallets inside a trailer, all reported stolen a few days earlier from Advantage Wireless out of Englewood, Colo.



The investigation is continuing and Department of Agriculture officers are working with an interstate task force that deals with stolen cargo.



“That’s a large amount of anything stolen and you have to think if there isn’t an outlet for it then how would they get rid of that much,” Leinhauser said.



But what does the seizure mean for Florida residents?



“Border security is one of the four cornerstones of the Florida Domestic Security Initiative,” Leinhauser said. He added the interdiction has discovered a great deal of collateral crime, and he noted how much contraband from narcotics to human cargo exists.



“For the people of the state of Florida we know I-10 is one of the established routes for contraband, and (these kinds of seizures) may deter some folks from…committing some of these crimes,” Leinhauser said.



For more information on the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer visit their web site at www.doacs.state.fl.us.