TAMPA, Fla. — Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputies arrested a man for trying to steal a generator that was powering a traffic light.
Tampa Electric workers stopped the theft on the corner of Sun City Center Boulevard and Stoneham Drive and provided photos of the suspect and his license plate to deputies.
Deputies tracked the man, named Soyal Zapata-Dye, down at his house and detained him. He told deputies that since there was no lock or name on the generator, he thought it was up for grabs, according to body camera footage.
"I thought someone set it out," he said.
The 40-year-old was charged with grand theft of the third degree during a state of emergency.
Millions were left in the dark after Hurricane Milton barreled through the Tampa Bay area as a Category 3 storm. On Monday, TECO announced they have made "significant progress" throughout Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Polk Counties by restoring nearly 70% of customers' power.
Duke Energy said the majority of their customers should have the lights turned back on by Tuesday at 11:59 pm.
You can check on the latest outages here.
