Cargo theft by a Commercial Driver's License (CDL) holder is a serious offense, especially if considered a federal charge. Florida will likely suspend or revoke the person's driving license, CDL.

Section 812.0155 of the Florida statutes is titled Suspension of driver's license following an adjudication of guilt for theft and here it gives various information on what sanctions the state can take against a person's license if they have been found guilty of theft. Suspension, revocation and withholding the right to issue a license are all mentioned here.

For decades, law enforcement officials have called for a national strategy and federal legislation dealing with cargo theft. In response, the Cargo Theft Prevention Act was offered as a house bill in 2003. The provisions of this bill, H.R. 785, were included in the PATRIOT Act Re-authorization, which was enacted Match 9, 2006.

These provisions increase the criminal penalties for cargo theft and create an all-inclusive database regarding cargo theft to allow state and local law enforcement to coordinate reports of cargo theft. In addition, cargo theft will be reflected as a separate category in the Uniform Crime Reporting System used by the FBI, enabling the valuable tracking and monitoring of trends in this crime

HR 785, part of the Patriot Act, increases prison terms to three years for anyone convicted of stealing cargo with a value of less than $1,000 and 15 years for those convicted of thefts of more than $1,000. Cargo theft also now has its own Uniform Crime Reporting code used by the FBI. The law required that a national cargo theft data base to be established.

The end result of the bill originally started in 2003 was the creation of one of the nation's first statewide cargo theft task forces and national cargo theft summits as described by HR 785.

As you can see from the terms of imprisonment that the federal Patriot Act discusses for cargo theft it is taken as a serious crime with serious penalties. The federal court in which you were convicted as well as the licensing agency for Florida, the HSMV, can tell you more about penalties for a specific conviction for cargo theft and what will happen to the person's CDL.