As Hurricane Helene devastated the southeastern US this weekend, looters decided to loot a Trump merchandise store in Florida.
Lance Petrisevac, 57, and John Peters, 61, were arrested on Madeira Beach on Friday after police found them outside a shopping centre.
The officers, who were patrolling the closed beach area due to major flooding, came across the men just off Madeira Way at around 9.41pm.
One of the suspects wore a Trump cowboy hat, while the other held two Trump T-shirts, a coffee mug and a hat, according to documents obtained by The smoking gun.
Police said Peters was “heavily intoxicated,” while Petrisevac told officers the cowboy hat “ended up in his possession” after it was “washed ashore by the hurricane.”
At the time, the store was “unsecured due to damage from the storm,” police said.
Lance Petrisevac, 57, and John Peters, 61, were arrested on Madeira Beach on Friday after police said they found them outside a shopping center with stolen Trump merchandise
One of the suspects wore a Trump cowboy hat, while the other held two Trump T-shirts, a coffee mug and a hat
Both men, who police say are transients, were arrested for breaking into a vacant building, loitering and prowling.
They are currently in custody at the Pinellas County Jail on a $250 bond, according to arrest records reviewed by DailyMail.com.
A judge also ordered the thieves to stay away from the Trump store, according to The Smoking Gun.
When they were arrested, Petrisevac told officers that he works as a “local fisherman in the area, but does not live here.”
Peters did not make any statements because, according to police, he ‘appeared to be heavily intoxicated’.
Both men have repeatedly broken the law, as previous arrest records show Petrisevac was arrested three times in September alone.
On Sept. 1, he was arrested for possession of open alcohol, and five days later he was arrested for having an open container and entering a building after being warned, records showed.
A judge also ordered the thieves to stay away from the Trump store on Madeira Way after the burglary
Police said Peters was “heavily intoxicated,” while Petrisevac told officers the cowboy hat “ended up in his possession” after it was “washed ashore by the hurricane.” (photo: in the Trump Store)
On September 12, after being warned, he was arrested again for entering a building.
Peters was arrested on September 4 for having open alcohol, and again two days later for having an open can. He was arrested on the same charge on September 20, records show.
CNN has reported that the violent storm killed at least 137 people in the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia, and the death toll is expected to rise.
Rescue workers are still continuing their efforts to connect with hundreds of people cut off by washed-out roads and broken communications lines.
On social media, families and friends are sharing images of missing loved ones with groups dedicated to finding those still missing since the storm.
A high concentration of those posting on the page have shared photos of people in Asheville, North Carolina, which was decimated by the weather.
CNN has reported that the violent storm killed at least 137 people in the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Virginia, and the death toll is expected to rise. (photo: woman crying after losing everything in Florida storm)
A coffin was seen being pulled around in powerful flooding caused by Hurricane Helene in Tennessee after the storm
Locals in North Carolina and Tennessee have since done the same built their own online spreadsheet to help track down those who have been found.
As of Tuesday morning, 1,650 names had been entered, of which 479 people had been marked as found. There remain another 1,171 people still marked as missing.
A coffin was seen being pulled around in powerful flooding caused by Hurricane Helene in Tennessee.
The gruesome clip shows a coffin being thrown around muddy floodwaters in Erwin, before it was later found in the rubble during a clean-up.
Karren Tipton captured the footage of the coffin and was later part of the crew that recovered the coffin, she told Fox.
It is unclear where the coffin came from or whether there was a body inside. DailyMail.com has contacted Tipton for more information.