ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – The owner of a St. Johns County pawn shop is now behind bars, weeks after his shop was raided by deputies, who seized thousands of dollars in stolen merchandise.
The EZ Money Pawn Shop on U.S. 1 south of St. Augustine was shut down and raided July 14 as part of an investigation into whether or not the pawn shop was dealing in stolen goods, police said.
The owner, Robert "Ben" Ellis, was arrested overnight and charged with three counts of dealing in stolen property, which is a first-degree felony. Deputies said they believe Ellis not only knew the goods he was selling were stolen but that he organized thefts, as well.
"This individual was directing others to go out and steal some very specific items – almost taking orders, if you will," St. Johns County Sheriff's Office spokesman Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan said. "Those items were then brought to his shop, where a cash transaction was done."
News4Jax was there Friday when Ellis made his first appearance in court. The judge set bond at $16,700 for each count before deputies led Ellis out of the courtroom in handcuffs.
A tip and several undercover operations led the Sheriff's Office to find thousands of dollars in stolen item being sold out of Ellis' pawn shop.
"In the early days of this investigation, we had heard some murmurs," Mulligan said. "We had heard some rumors about something maybe occurring."
During the raid last month, deputies seized around 200 items of brand new merchandise with a retail value of more than $30,000. The items were all allegedly stolen.
The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office said the shop was known among criminals as a place to sell stolen items, and Ellis was the ring-leader in the thefts.
"We've not seen a case like this in quite some -- a long period of time," Mulligan said. "That's not to say that somewhere there's not a mistake made, but in this case, it appears that far too many items (were being sold), and the information that we have is that this is not a mistake."
Some of those items believed to be stolen included air conditioners, chainsaws and flat screen TVs.
The Sheriff's Office is continuing to investigate the theft ring, and Mulligan said more arrests could be coming.