8 Men Accused of Looting in Flood-Ravaged Tennessee Area After Helene: Sheriff’s Office

A collage of mugshots shows eight alleged looting suspects who were arrested in Tennessee's Washington County in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, on Sept. 28, 2024.Washington County Sheriff's Office

Eight men were arrested for allegedly looting in Hurricane Helene-ravaged areas in Tennessee, a local sheriff’s office said.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said on Monday in a Facebook post that deputies arrested eight individuals for allegedly looting in eastern Tennessee on Saturday.

Albin Nahun Vega-Rapalo, 24; David Bairon Rapalo-Rapalo, 37; Kevin Noe Martinez-Lopez, 25; Marvin Hernandez-Martinez, 43; and Dayln Gabriel Guillen Guillen, 37, were charged with aggravated burglary for breaking into occupied structures, the sheriff’s office said.

It added that three others face charges of burglary: Jesus Leodan Garcia-Peneda, 51; Josue Berardo Ortis-Valdez, 30; and Ersy Leonel Ortis-Valdez, 33.

Other details were not provided about the alleged criminal activity in the sheriff’s office post.

The Epoch Times contacted the Washington County Sheriff’s Office for comment but didn’t receive a reply by publication time. A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office told Fox News and the New York Post that the eight men are migrant workers who are in the United States legally on work visas.

“We have been through way too much for this kind of behavior,” the spokesperson said.

The five men who are facing aggravated burglary charges were caught looting residential homes, the office said. The other three facing burglary charges were caught looting unoccupied homes that were described by the office as “barely still standing.”

There have been several reports of looting in other areas after Helene left a wake of devastation across the southern United States. But the Thomasville Police Department in Florida released security footage of a suspect who was caught looting a business for guns in the area following the storm.

“A reward is being offered for information leading [to] the identity and arrest of a burglar that stole multiple firearms,” the police department said in its Facebook post. “While citizens of Thomasville were taking cover, a burglar entered a local business and took off with multiple firearms.”

Charging documents show that in Madeira Beach, Florida, two men were arrested for apparently burglarizing a store that sells merchandise related to former President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

Outside of Florida and Tennessee, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news conference that entire “communities were wiped off the map” due to floods produced by Helene.

The devastation was especially bad in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where at least 50 people died in and around Asheville, a tourism haven known for its art galleries, breweries, and outdoor activities.

The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. Rainfall estimates in some areas have topped more than 2 feet since Wednesday, and several main routes into Asheville were damaged or blocked by mudslides, officials said.

More than 150,000 households have already registered for assistance with the Federal Emergency Management Agency—a number that is expected to rapidly rise in the coming days, said Frank Matranga, an agency representative. Nearly 2 million ready-to-eat meals and more than a million liters of water have been sent to the hardest-hit areas, he said.

President Joe Biden is set to survey the devastation in the region on Wednesday.

Tropical Storm Kirk is churning in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and is expected to become a hurricane by late Tuesday. It could become a major hurricane on Thursday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The storm was about 1,010 miles west of the Cabo Verde Islands with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph. There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect, and the storm system does not appear to be a threat to land.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.