Longtime West Marine thief arrested in the Keys

A 54-year-old Coral Springs, Florida man with numerous pending cases and warrants for stealing from West Marine stores from Broward County to Monroe County was arrested Friday by quick-thinking Deputies who spotted his Volkswagen vehicle on U.S. 1.

Hans Kaiser had a warrant stemming this theft of more than $1,000 in assorted clothes and fishing gear from the Key Largo West Marine store on Aug. 24.

Kaiser also has numerous similar cases involving West Marine thefts pending in Broward and Miami-Dade counties. In fact, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Detectives noticed after reviewing the security video at the Key Largo store that Kaiser was wearing the same clothes he was wearing in a West Marine theft the day before in Deerfield Beach, Florida.

Kaiser was also involved in a $1,700 theft at the Tackle Center in Islamorada in 2018.

So prolific is Kaiser’s thievery, West Marine store officials provided their own staff with pictures of Kaiser. Thus, store officials and Detectives were quickly able to identify Kaiser as the suspect in the Aug. 24 case. A witness who was shopping at the Key Largo store on Aug. 24 also identified Kaiser as the suspect.

On Friday at approximately 3:17 p.m., Sgt. Sydney Whitehouse passed a Volkswagen on U.S. 1 matching the description of Kaiser’s vehicle. He passed that information on over the radio. Sgt. Whitehouse and Deputy Daniel Valdes stopped the car near Mile Marker 103.

The driver was identified as Kaiser.

Kaiser confessed to stealing the items from the Key Largo West Marine store on Aug. 24.

Kaiser was also cited for driving on a suspended license and driving an unregistered vehicle.

More charges could be filed based on evidence found in the car Kaiser was driving.

Kaiser was taken to jail.

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