Police charge man in Amazon cargo extortion scam

The Lee County Sheriff's Office recovered a stolen load of Amazon.com cargo worth about $121,000.

Authorities charged Julio Hernandez, 36, with one count of cargo theft and one count of extortion after he allegedly tried to get money for the load from JB Hunt Security, which was working with the Sheriff's office to recover the shipment.

Hernandez, according to a statement, was a driver for a subcontracted transport company that carried the merchandise. Authorities began an investigation into the whereabouts of the stolen cargo load in July. They found the property in Hernandez's Lee County home Aug. 19 after serving a search warrant. The stolen merchandise, the release states, was “compiled of single orders from several thousand Amazon.com customers.”