A Florida deputy is sounding the alarm after a crew of five young suspects turned upscale gated neighborhoods into their personal luxury car lot. Surveillance video shows them strolling up driveways and slipping into garages like they owned the place snatching Lamborghinis, Ferraris, G-Wagons and other high-end rides worth millions.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office dropped a 2-minute-43-second video Thursday featuring Deputy Sean Fitzgerald laying it all out.
“This prolific group of luxury car thieves did not quit,”
He said directly to the camera.
“They didn’t care about people being home. They didn’t care about people being outside.”
The ring hit Central Florida hard. They’re linked to 33 theft cases across Orange County and surrounding areas, with losses topping $2 million to nearly $3 million. The crew was relentless operating on 16 out of 17 consecutive days. They cased neighborhoods, tested door handles on parked cars, and pounced when they found keys left inside. Every single theft, Fitzgerald stressed, involved keys sitting right in the vehicle. Once they had the cars, they ripped out GPS trackers, tossed in stolen credit cards and valuables, then used tow trucks to haul the rides out of state for resale.
A tweet from X.
The five men now facing racketeering charges organized-crime-level RICO counts are Damon (Damien) Kelson, also known as Damon Damascus Kelson, Edrick (Edward/Edric) Bush, Marvin Brooks, Chadd (Chad) Johnson and Dmawuko (DeMarco) Fugar. Mugshots flashed across the screen as Fitzgerald spoke. One high-speed chase on I-4 in Seminole County ended with a stolen BMW slamming into a pole and splitting in half yet the group kept stealing afterward.
Multi-agency investigators from Orange, Seminole and Hillsborough counties pieced it together using ring-camera footage, helicopter pursuit video and crash reports. All five are in custody.
Gated communities are supposed to feel safe. This case shatters that illusion. Residents assumed the gates, cameras and guards would keep trouble out. Instead, opportunists turned complacency into a business model. Florida has seen similar organized luxury-theft rings before, but this one’s pace 16 days straight shows how fast low-effort crimes can snowball into a full-blown operation.
Lock your doors. Take your keys. Even in a gated neighborhood. Fitzgerald’s closing message was simple: “Secure your neighborhood.” That starts with every driver.
This isn’t just a Florida story it’s a nationwide wake-up call. Organized rings prey on the smallest lapses. Personal responsibility still beats the best gate in town.
