SWAT recovers stolen firearms found in a home with 9 young kids surrounded by booze and drugs
(August 1, 2025) Yesterday, South Florida’s Martin County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division shared a shocking revelation in connection to some stolen firearms that were recently found and recovered in a Palm City home located on SW 28th Street. The shocking part? Not only were the guns recovered, but they were found in a residence with nine young kids in the house – and those kids had easy access to the firearms as well as drugs and booze found in the home.
The oldest of those kids was identified as the young man responsible for the burglary, 18-year-old Fernando Hoffer-Rodriguez – who was arrested and charged.
Those recovered firearms were stolen from another Palm City residence in May. The victimized homeowner in that burglary informed law enforcement officials that multiple firearms, including a rifle, had been stolen from his home while he was out. Detectives working the case received critical intelligence in the days that followed, which gave detectives enough information to obtain a search warrant for a suspect home on SW 28th Street.
When the warrant was executed, the home was occupied by multiple juveniles—as young as 13 years old. Alcohol was being consumed, and the stolen firearms were sitting in plain sight among the juveniles.
With assistance from SWAT, detectives recovered all three stolen guns – one of which was a semi-automatic shotgun – along with nearly $5,000 in cash, drugs, ski masks, and a large quantity of ammunition.
The Sheriff’s Office also said that one of those stolen firearms was an AR-style shotgun. And another was a Draco AK-47, according to WPBF.
According to the police report, a key clue detectives used was a photo posted on social media showing a man in a ski mask holding two of the weapons. Deputies arrested Fernando Hoffer-Rodriguez and charged him with stealing the guns. At 18 years old, he was the only adult in the home. ~ WPBF
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Following his arrest, Hoffer-Rodriguez was arrested and charged with three counts of grand theft of a firearm. Additional charges are pending for other individuals. For more on the story, see the video accompanying this article.
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(Source: and all images: Martin County Sheriff’s Office)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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