Officers with Florida Fish and Wildlife responded to a call from a Broward County Sheriff's Office Marine Unit in reference to a possible illegal jet ski business. >> So apparently that blue F-150 there is uh the guy who did the rental. I don't know if he's sitting in it or not. >> Let's go and pick him >> It's my trainee. >> Um I think I've seen you Yeah, I was going to say >> You had put me on a lobster case >> Oh. That's our rock. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Um Yes, I I stopped him hauling ass out of the basin and uh did the old uh you know, my it's my friends. He he's waiting for us back at the ramp. And it took him like 2 seconds to cave. He immediately was like, "No, it's a rental." >> Yeah. >> 400 for the for 2 hours. >> Where did you get it off like? >> Facebook. >> Facebook Marketplace? >> Okay. All right. >> Apparently the guy still has his credit card in his possession as deposit. But no voter safety course. He has whistle and life jacket. >> Okay. >> That that was it. >> Are you going to write your citations for him with the speed and stuff? >> anything to him. He you know >> Cuz you opened up. >> Yeah, I mean >> Yeah, I didn't I want to cuz I'm not going to write him anything new cuz I didn't see him operating, so he's going to be I'm just going to grab a statement basically and >> Yeah. Maybe we can find >> that guy. Let me go talk to him real quick. >> I I mean I've got his 43 off the registrate or off the ski. >> Okay. >> But he doesn't have a DL in there and I can't find him in David, so I don't know if >> Got you. >> he's under a boat name or what. >> Yeah. How are you doing, sir? >> Pretty good. How are you? >> Good. I'm Officer Brett with Florida Fish and Wildlife. Um so he kind of just filled me in. Um but I'd like to hear what's going on. Did you like what's This isn't your jet ski, correct? >> No, sir. >> No, okay. When did you rent it, purchase it? What's going on? >> I rented it for 2 hours today. >> 2 hours, okay. How much did he charge? >> 400 for the two. >> 400? You had to second jet ski? >> Yeah, he's coming >> Yeah, his >> coming around. >> Oh, okay. Okay. Um It's 400 for So, for 2 hours, two jet skis, 400 bucks. Okay. Um Did he give you any sort of pre-ride instructions on like >> Yeah, he like walked me through the safety. Yeah, about those wristbands or >> Okay. Where like the whistle and fire extinguisher are and all that or no? >> Uh I got the whistle already. >> Okay. Okay, did he tell you where the fire extinguisher is? No, okay. Um Did he get you any like temporary voter safety ID card? >> No. >> No, okay. Um What's his name? >> Uh Romero. >> Romero, okay. Is he in the blue truck or is he >> I'm not sure. That's the one he >> He came with? Okay. Um do you have his phone number? >> I do. >> You're not in trouble, by the way. Um you did nothing wrong besides go a little bit too fast. Um but that's not why I'm here. Uh what's his phone number? All right, and that's your friend? >> Yeah. >> Hey, just pull forward for me real quick. I just want to read the numbers. You're You're good. You can hang out there. Um all right, let's go walk over to the truck and see. >> Yep. >> You have his ID and stuff, though? >> I I got on the computer. He's got his He's possession. >> Okay. We'll see if this guy's in this truck. I doubt it. I don't know. Where else he'd be? Honestly. He's in there? >> Yeah, I see him. >> Okay. How you doing, sir? >> Good, same for you. >> Good. Uh you Mr. Romero? >> Yes. >> Mind stepping out of the truck for me? >> Yeah. >> All right, so uh I'm going to cut to the chase. I'm going to need your ID. Um So, what you're doing right now is uh criminal activity. It's illegal. You're renting jet skis to people. Okay? Can't do that. All right? So, there's a couple reasons for that. It's going to be, you know, obviously safety is a big issue cuz I'm assuming you don't have the proper insurance. Correct? >> I I didn't know that that I I Okay, to be honest, I have two personal skis and >> And you just figured >> I rent them to me and this >> Yeah. Just to make a little cash kind of thing. Okay. >> not a business. It's not nothing like >> Yeah, I understand. So, but because you are exchanging cash, currency, you know, for that that rental basically to strangers, there's certain rules you have to follow, okay? Even if it's not like a real business as you're putting it, but you're still making money off of it. Um So, pretty much there's a couple things extra. You're in a state park right now. Um you cannot conduct any sort of commercial business in the state park. You I was like it's Facebook Marketplace is what you use apparently, right? To initiate. Um You know, you probably exchanged over another app or whatever, but you launched out of here and you conducted your business here with them, okay? So, that's an issue. Um the other issues are going to be not having the proper insurance for the jet skis um cuz there's a higher limit of liability that you need to have. Um it's not just like basic boating insurance. I'll wait for the plane. The other thing that's a problem is you're not certified to give them temporary boating safety ID cards, which they are required to have. Um one because of age and two because of renting. So, that's a course that you're not You have to take a course and basically be certified to administer that. You have to have certain paperwork. There's all these rules. I will give you I will tell you all these rules. I'll tell you where to find them if you want to continue doing this, but you have to do it legally. I have no problem with you making money. Excuse me. With your jet skis, but you just have to do it legally. All right? So, um are the registrations for the jet skis in them or do you have the paper in them? Okay. All right. Um What I'm going to do is I'm going to have you sit over with us. Um you're not under arrest. Okay? I'm not going to take you to jail or anything like that. We are going to issue some citations. All right? I'm not going to give you every single citation in the world. Um but I'm going to find a balance. All right? Um we're I'm going to educate you. You're going to get your citations and they're done for the day. They can't be on them anymore and you'll have to leave the park. Okay? The park staff might ask me to trespass you, but that's up to them. I'm not going to make the decision. Um so, we'll go we'll we'll see that. But for now, if you want just go ahead and sit on you know, in front of our trucks or on the bench um just so we can see you. Um but that's it. Yeah, you can turn it off. Yeah. Have you done anything like this before or no? Okay. >> I'm a carpenter. >> Okay. Yeah. Just trying to make Okay. Yeah. I understand. It's okay. Yeah. No problem. I understand. It's I just This is The only reason I even I I care about this um is because what happens is you're obviously not running a big operation, but we get guys who do this and they rent out to kids and they rent out to people who don't know what they're doing, and then those people cause accidents and get hurt and die, and then the people who rented them the jet skis go they disappear cuz they don't have the money to cover a death or an injury, right? So, I'm protecting you as well because it's if they got hurt, your life's over. You know what I mean? So, I don't want your life to be over because a couple hundred dollars, all right? Um so, if you want if you want to sit on this bench right here, that's fine. If you want to sit in the shade, that's a Yeah, that's fine, too. Just Just have a seat and we'll uh >> Do you still have his credit card on you? >> I do, yeah. I You want it? >> If you want to go and get Yeah, we'll grab it real quick. They're not going to get any tickets. These guys are They are you know, didn't know any better. Um We already got their IDs just for the report. Um Do you guys have your driver's licenses? >> a picture. >> That's fine. Are you Are you from Florida or no? >> No, I'm Massachusetts. >> Massachusetts, okay. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it. No. >> I should grab >> I'm good. I can't I've no need to take them. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah, you're good. I mean >> I'll go I'm good. I just want to show y'all. >> Yeah. Yeah, just a heads up. Uh I'm not going to like harp on you cuz I really don't care that much, but if like park rangers see you messing around uh you can't like disturb any wildlife. >> Even if they're invasive? >> Yeah. >> Oh, I thought like invasive were bad. You guys want them >> Yeah, but it's it's a state park, so all wildlife, all plant You can't even cut a You can't even pull a leaf off a tree technically. >> I wasn't going to hurt much stuff. >> I know. You're I'm just letting you know in case you're like caught by them doing it, they'll freak out, so. Yeah, you're good, man. Thank you. Have a good one. >> All right, I'm going to cut you a huge break, all right? So, you're going to be receiving a notice to appear, okay? You're going to have 30 days to get in contact Actually, no. The court is going to get in contact with you within 30 days to set up a court date, okay? You're going to be receiving one citation today for $255, okay? Um that citation is going to So, the $255 citation is you didn't have a permit to be operating here in the state park, okay? But, I'm going to cut you a break on a whole bunch of warnings, okay? Just to show you the severity of what it could have been. I'm going to give you a warning for no FWC permit, okay? You need to have that. Failure to display safety information on the jet skis, okay? Renting the vessel without voter safety. The two guys on board did not have their voter safety cards, okay? All right. Um the person renting doesn't meet the voter education requirements. So, you need to have the voter education requirements in order to rent out the jet skis, okay? And you're also getting a trespass warning, okay? So, you're not fully trespassed from the park, but if you do do this again without the proper requirements, you will be trespassed. Okay? So, what I'm going to need from you now, all right? I have three papers for you to sign, okay? This is the first one here is going to be the citation for $255, okay? I need you to sign right here for me. It's not saying you're guilty. It's just saying that you'll get in contact with the court within 30 days, okay? You're going to be receiving a copy of all this as well. >> Okay. >> All right. I need you to sign right here. Like I said, it's not an admission of guilt. It's just saying you'll get in contact with the court within 30 days. Actually, this one they'll get in contact with you. So, each one that says uh These are the same, okay? These are your NTAs, all right? >> It's very serious. Take it seriously. >> Yeah, we will. >> Um okay. We understand. Um do you Are you a resident in Florida? >> I don't know. I'm over here. I'm going to say. >> No, I'm just I'm just asking. I'm not You're not in trouble for having a New York ID. It's just >> It's a valid New York ID. >> Yeah. How How long have you lived here? >> Um worried that I have to to >> Okay. That's all. I'm not You weren't driving. I didn't see you driving. I don't I'm not going to write you anything about that. It's just get a Florida license, right? That's all you have to do. Cuz you have your Florida registration and all that stuff. I think your truck is registered in Florida, right? Just get Go to the DMV, get your new Florida ID. That's all it is. All right. Thank you. Do you have any questions? >> Yes, I do. >> Yes. >> Uh one of the guys I don't know I don't know if it's you cuz I cannot see you with glasses. >> Okay. >> But one of the guys told me that he can educate me a little bit. I don't I know it's asking for too much, but I I would like to know what is it. >> Oh, I will educate. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So, if you want you can pull out your phone. >> Sure. I guess I have to go to Google. >> Uh if you want I'll type it in for you. That way Okay. >> Very nice. >> So, so what I pulled up on your phone >> Okay. >> is two things. This is the Florida statute. Okay, this is the actual law in the books. This is the law that we are citing you with. There's a There's a bunch of stuff here, right? Um some of it won't really apply to you necessarily right now, but it's pretty straightforward. The other thing is this is our website. And this is what you're doing is called a livery a livery operation. Okay? All this is more kind of simplified and this is our website and it's going to tell you all the information >> Yeah. >> All right. It'll tell you like there'll be a picture of a sign you need to have if you're going to If you want to make it a business or if you want to do it just every now and then, you have to do it legitimately. So, you'll have to have a sign with at your truck say it has all the safety equipment. You have to get certified to uh issue voter safety ID cards to people. Okay? You have to explain to people how the jet skis operate, um safety things like where the fire extinguisher is, whistle, um you have to educate them on the waterways, so like manatee zones and stuff like that and how it's a busy port, that kind of thing. You have to do all that stuff. You have to get the insurance. That's going to be the hardest thing because you need um some a lot of money and coverage, right? Um it's not impossible, but it it definitely makes things harder. The other thing you need, which we gave you a warning for, is a permit. It's a free permit that we issue. Um it's on that website that I showed you. Um So, you have to go through and get that. If you meet all the legal requirements, you would submit all your information to our agency and then we would issue that permit for free if you meet the requirements, all right? But if you don't have that permit, you'll never you can't do it no matter what. Even if you get the insurance and all that stuff, you you if you you just if you don't have everything right, we'll never issue the permit, all right? Um but that's pretty much it. So, those two websites are going to educate you a lot more. Um you can always call as well. That's our website. You There's a phone number phone numbers there. You can always call us and ask, all right? We don't have a problem helping out, right? >> I just want to I want to do it the right way. I understand. >> Yeah, yeah. Like I said, I don't I don't care if you're making money, but you have to do it the right way. You know what I mean? Um anything else? No? Thank you. All right. Appreciate it. Yeah, you're good to go. You get your skis. You can hang out here. It's up to you. I don't care, but uh we're leaving. Um but yeah. All right. Be safe. >> In the end, the suspect was charged with failing to have and meet insurance requirements and failing to provide pre-rental instructions in compliance with rules established by the commission. He also received a citation for failing to obtain a permit for commercial activity within the park. After failing to show up to court, a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was taken into custody 7 months later and filed an initial plea of not guilty. He later played no contest to both charges and was ordered to pay $333 in costs and fines, which he later paid. He paid an additional $85 for the permit citation. If you like this video and want to see more like it, subscribe to Arrest Cam. As always, thanks for watching.