Exactly two weeks after Disney more or less cried uncle and agreed to a settlement with the State of Florida in its lawsuit over the Parental Rights in Education bill and a few months after Governor Ron DeSantis’s (R-FL) presidential campaign came to an end, Disney-owned ABC had a surprisingly laudatory segment on Thursday’s Good Morning America as they praised DeSantis for “com[ing] down on hard on” porch piracy and retail theft.
Oh, how convenient. Now that both fronts of Disney’s pressure campaign — bashing DeSantis for defending children and parents and constantly trashing his presidential campaign to benefit Trump — are over, ABC seems to think he’s no longer a threat, so they’re now free to give him some love.
Co-host Robin Roberts had the first of two teases:
ROBERTS: Porch pirate crackdown. The latest state to come down hard on criminals who swipe packages.
DESANTIS: Someone’s going to have hell to pay for stealing.
ROBERTS: And strict new penalties for retail theft.
In the second, co-host Michael Strahan got in on the act, promising a segment on “the latest state to crack down on porch pirates.”
Strahan also opened the segment: “Now to the porch pirate crackdown in Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill to make the Sunshine State the latest to raise penalties for stealing packages from outside homes as well as for retail theft.”
Even the accompanying chyron alone came off like something from an alternate reality: “Florida Porch Pirate Crackdown; Governor Signs Bill to Toughen Penalties for Stealing Packages, Retail Theft”.
Correspondent Melissa Adan didn’t bat an eye as she reported “Florida is actually going to make it a felony if you steal $40 or more worth of property” and said the police chief of Coral Gables told her “he welcomes this news, as he sees hundreds of these cases here in his city and he hopes that these stiffer criminal charges make a difference.”
Highlighting a few examples of porch pirates and footage of one homeowner using a decoy package to catch a would-be thief, Adan said DeSantis had enough and was “cracking down” thanks to “[a] law going into effect this October” with that $40 penalty, which she explained was previously $100 and “stricter penalties for retail theft.”
She even had not one but two soundbites praising this decision with a motorcycle shop owner fretting thieves have thought they “can grab” whatever they want and then the aforementioned Coral Gables chief saying he’d “able to make stronger cases against these repeat offenders and also kind of giving other diversionary sentences to people who are facing felonies.”
Stating the obvious retail theft has become “a growing trend across the country” and a National Retail Federation statistic such crimes “cost consumers $112 billion in 2022”, Adan briefly alluded to California being the worst such state, but didn’t point out which party controls the state.
Tossing back to the co-hosts, she threw a bone to Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY): “Meantime, last month in New York, the governor there announced a $45 million plan to fight back against organized retail crime theft.”
To see the relevant transcript from April 11, click “expand.”
ABC’s Good Morning America
April 11, 2024
7:01 a.m. Eastern [TEASE][ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Strict New Penalties; Porch Pirate Crackdown]
ROBIN ROBERTS: Porch pirate crackdown. The latest state to come down hard on criminals who swipe packages.
GOVERNOR RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Someone’s going to have hell to pay for stealing.
ROBERTS: And strict new penalties for retail theft.
(….)
7:18 a.m. Eastern [TEASE]
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: New This Morning; Florida Porch Pirate Crackdown; Governor Signs Bill to Toughen Penalties for Stealing Packages, Retail Theft]
MICHAEL STRAHAN: Plus the latest state to crack down on porch pirates.
(….)
7:34 a.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: New This Morning; Florida Porch Pirate Crackdown; Governor Signs Bill to Toughen Penalties for Stealing Packages, Retail Theft]
STRAHAN: Now to the porch pirate crackdown in Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill to make the Sunshine State the latest to raise penalties for stealing packages from outside homes as well as for retail theft. Melissa Adan is in Miami with more. Good morning, Melissa.
MELISSA ADAN: Good morning, Michael. So, the state of Florida is actually going to make it a felony if you steal $40 or more worth of property. The police chief here in Coral Gables tells me he welcomes this news, as he sees hundreds of these cases here in his city and he hopes that these stiffer criminal charges make a difference. This morning, they are the brazen thieves striking in broad daylight and in the night. This porch pirate in Sacramento disguised as a trash bag captured stealing a package. Some homeowners like this one, have had enough, using a decoy package to catch this alleged thief.
CARLOS MEIJIA [TO PORCH PIRATE]: Yo! Yo!
ADAN: In Florida, the governor cracking down. A new law going into effect this October. If you steal property worth more than $40, it will be considered a felony.
DESANTIS: Someone’s going to have hell to pay for stealing it.
ADAN: The law, replacing an already existing one. This time, lowering the stolen property value from $100 to $40. It also includes stricter penalties for retail theft.
WMR OWNER BOB BREWSTER: Everything in our store is a candy store for a criminal, things they can grab, sell fast and then take from us.
ADAN: In Coral Gables, the police chief welcoming the law, sharing these videos of thieves in action.
CORAL GABLES, FL POLICE DEPARTMENT CHIEF EDARD HUDAK: We’re able to make stronger cases against these repeat offenders and also kind of giving other diversionary sentences to people who are facing felonies.
ADAN: It’s a growing trend across the country, with at least nine other states making porch pirating a felony. And that’s not all. According to the National Retail Federation, organized retail crime cost consumers $112 billion in 2022. The state topping the list? California. A proposed bill there calling for repeat shoplifters to serve jail time after a third conviction. Meantime, last month in New York, the governor there announced a $45 million plan to fight back against organized retail crime theft. Guys?
ROBERTS: All right, Melissa. Our thanks to you.