MULBERRY, Fla. — Authorities in Polk County have recovered stolen trucks from several locations and announced two arrests.

  • Gary Lorenzo Williams, 36, and Joshua Bellamy, 30, arrested
  • Trucks recovered from several locations
  • Williams was arrested in 2013 for running "chop shop"

Gary Lorenzo Williams, 36, and Joshua Bellamy, 30, have been charged in what Sheriff Grady Judd called a "chop shop" investigation.

The probe began Tuesday in Mulberry, with Polk County detectives working with law enforcement officials at a number of agencies.

Car bodies, frames, truck beds, doors, and components were strewn about and buried on the property and wooded area adjacent to it. Three Caterpiller skid steers were also located and were believed to be used to cut trails through the wooded areas and to bury parts.

Deputies say a Pasco County victim who spotted his stolen truck parts for sale on Facebook Marketplace led them to the main suspect who lives on this mulberry property. 

Ford trucks had been stolen from Pasco and Hillsborough counties, Lake Wales, Plant City and Tampa, the Sheriff's Office says.

(Josh Rojas/Spectrum Bay News 9)

Williams was previously arrested in 2013 for running a chop shop at the same location. He was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison, and served four years before being released.

He faces 17 felony counts in the current investigation. Those charges include dealing in stolen property, grand theft of a motor vehicle, own/operate chop shop, conspiracy and possession of firearm by felon.

"He learned from his experience with the criminal justice system, because this time he cut the VIN numbers off the vehicles," said Sheriff Grady Judd. "So, he's making it much more difficult for us to identify them."

Bellamy has been charged with 14 felonies.

Both men are being held in the Polk County Jail without bond.