On Monday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that a guy from Arcadia had been found guilty of planning and carrying out several armed thefts while pretending to be a police officer.
US Attorney Roger B. Handberg said that a federal jury found 44-year-old Darius Hudson guilty of one Hobbs Act robbery, three Hobbs Act thefts, and firing a gun during a violent crime. Hobbs Act robbery is when someone breaks into a truck moving goods across state lines and makes a theft that affects interstate trade.
The DOJ said that proof shown in court showed Hudson was part of a group that planned to rob people with guns in Pasco, Polk, Lee, and Hillsborough Counties, as well as in Georgia and Arizona, from December 2020 to April 2021.
The thieves dressed like police officers by wearing black clothes, gloves, masks with police logos, and jackets that said “Sheriff.” They were driving a black Dodge Durango and would often bind the people they were after.
During the thefts, the group would break into people’s homes in the middle of the night and begin beating, threatening, and sometimes killing the people they found.
Hudson could get up to life in federal jail, but he has to get at least 27 years. The date of the punishment has not been set yet.