Martin County - Thursday August 18, 2022: Thirty-seven-year-old Blake Hasson of Palm Beach Gardens was arrested in Palm Beach County on drug trafficking charges. He'll be transferred to Martin County to face multiple grand theft charges according to the Martin County Sheriff's Office.
The Martin County Sheriff's Office currently has 26-open fraud cases against Hasson.
Hasson was a salesman for Palm City Yachts on SE Gran Park Way in Stuart. He is accused of fraudulently selling customers boat motors and similar equipment, and then taking deposits as large as $20,000.
MCSO Detectives say Hasson ran customer’s credit cards through a device that diverted their money to a shell account that he had created. After weeks of waiting, customers continued to ask where their equipment was. Hasson told them he had put their orders in but he blamed the supply chain crises and Covid for the delays, according to the Sheriff's news release posted on the MCSO Facebook page.
"What customers didn’t know is that Hasson was taking their money for high end boating equipment, but never ordering it," according to the Sheriff. "Instead, he created a fake square account, ran their credit cards, and stole the money."
Detectives believe the losses to customers exceed $100,000.00 and they believe there are more victims who do not yet know they have been defrauded. Detectives say the owners of the business were not involved and are working to identify those who Hasson victimized.
The MCSO is asking anyone who believes they were have been a victim of Blake Hasson, to call the Martin County Sheriff’s Office at 772-220-7060.