Florida parents spent years finding empty shelves where baby formula should have been.
Now we know where some of it went.
Florida's AG just took down the ringleaders – and what they were doing with that formula is something every parent in America needs to hear.
The $1.1 Million Baby Formula Black Market
Mohammed Alsaidi and Zeina Abdul-Hassan Sou Zabib didn't shoplift.
They built an empire off shoplifters.
Florida AG James Uthmeier's Special Investigative Retail Theft Task Force spent 15 months tracking how the Lake Worth couple allegedly ran a professional fencing operation stretching across eight judicial circuits – from Miami-Dade all the way up to St. Lucie County.
Professional shoplifters called "boosters" did the dirty work.
They walked into Publix, Target, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, and Winn-Dixie locations across Florida, loaded up on formula, and sold each stolen can to Alsaidi and Zabib for about $10 – roughly one-fifth of retail price.
Over 150 thefts.
https://twitter.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/2098092202907881772?s=20
More than $1.1 million in revenue from formula sales between November 2024 and June 2025 alone.
When investigators executed the search warrant on the couple's Davie warehouse, they found approximately 1,000 cans of baby formula with a retail value of $38,000 – sitting right alongside 1,300 cans of tuna and sardines.
Nine boosters have already been charged.
Kenneth Jones Jr. – the most prolific of them – faces charges for over 50 thefts totaling more than $70,000.
Why This Is About More Than Theft
Uthmeier said it plainly during the press conference.
"People often refer to it as a victimless crime, and it is not. In a case like this, we've had shelves at stores empty with baby formula. Prices going up, security costs going up, ultimately hurting our consumers, our moms and babies."
He's right – and it's actually worse than most people realize.
Law enforcement agencies have documented for years what happens to stolen formula once it enters the black market: improper storage destroys nutrients, expiration dates get altered, and cans get repackaged and put right back on grocery shelves – where unsuspecting parents buy them for their infants.
Your baby's only food source.
https://twitter.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/2098109650704949558?s=20
Handled by criminals.
Stored in a warehouse next to tuna cans.
Sold back to you at full retail price.
This isn't a property crime.
This is a crime against the most vulnerable people in Florida – infants who can't speak for themselves and parents who had no idea what that formula had been through before it hit the shelf.
DeSantis and Uthmeier Set the Trap
Here's what made the takedown possible.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 549 into law in 2024, specifically targeting the jurisdictional shell game that organized retail theft rings had been running for years.
Before HB 549, professional criminals figured out they could hop between counties and jurisdictions – keeping individual theft amounts low enough to avoid felony charges while racking up millions across the state.
The law closed that loophole.
It increased penalties for repeat and organized retail theft offenses and – critically – gave prosecutors tools to treat the whole operation as what it actually is: organized crime.
State Rep. John Snyder put it directly: "The days of the petty criminal going down the neighborhood, checking unlocked cars, trying to make a buck or two. Those days are over. We're dealing with large-scale criminal enterprises that know the rules."
Alsaidi and Zabib each face conspiracy to commit racketeering and two counts of dealing in stolen property – all first-degree felonies.
https://twitter.com/AGJamesUthmeier/status/2098051538870780399?s=20
That's up to 90 years each in the Florida Department of Corrections.
Uthmeier's task force has already charged 55 defendants on organized retail theft offenses since it launched, with 52 convictions secured.
Democrats and their media allies treat organized retail theft like a complicated policy problem requiring nuanced solutions.
Florida treats it like what it is – criminal enterprise – and prosecutes it accordingly.
One approach produces empty shelves and million-dollar crime rings.
The other produces 52 convictions and two ringleaders staring down 90 years each.
Sources:
- Kennedy Owens, "Florida AG announces arrests in alleged $1.1M baby formula theft," Florida News, September 10, 2026.
- Office of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, "Attorney General James Uthmeier Announces First-Degree Felony Charges in Organized Retail Theft of Baby Formula," myfloridalegal.com, September 23, 2025.
- Office of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, "Attorney General James Uthmeier Announces Special Investigative Task Force to Combat Organized Retail Theft," myfloridalegal.com.
- WFLX, "Attorney General James Uthmeier announces arrest of 'repeat offender' in baby formula theft case," wflx.com, September 23, 2025.
