Man posing as Volusia County official arrested for scamming $48K worth of Starlink kits from vendor: deputies

MIRAMAR, Fla. - A South Florida man was arrested Monday for allegedly posing as a Volusia County official to con vendors out of their products.

Keith Merard, 26, of Miramar, was booked into the Broward County jail on charges of organized scheme to defraud and criminal use of personal identification, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

In October, a company that sells Starlink kits became suspicious of a high-end order from Volusia County’s purchasing director, which turned out to be a fake order, deputies said.

 Keith Merard, 26, of Miramar, was booked into the Broward County jail on charges of organized scheme to defraud and criminal use of personal identification, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office. (Credit: Volusia County Sheriff's Office)

The order reminded the company of a previous vendor order for 15 Starlink kits for about $48,000, which were delivered to a storage unit in Davie. They said the invoice was never paid.

Volusia County detectives investigating the case began working with the company and South Florida police agencies to track down the Starlink buyer.

An investigation revealed that on Oct. 31, someone attempted to activate one of the stolen Starlink kits. The activation attempt led detectives to an apartment in Miramar where Merard resided.

Detectives learned he was the renter of the Davie storage unit where the Starlinks were delivered. Detectives obtained video surveillance footage from October which they said showed Merard loading Starlink boxes out of the storage unit and into a black Ford SUV.

An investigation continued and led to a search warrant, which was executed Monday at Merard’s apartment. He was arrested and confessed to his involvement in the scam, deputies said.

"Merard was determined to be the U.S.-based subject responsible for taking deliveries of fraudulently obtained orders, shipping them to their next destination, and converting cash to Bitcoin to transfer to unknown overseas partners," said a Volusia County Sheriff's spokesperson.

Merard was reportedly working with a group that officials said pretended to represent Volusia County and contacted hundreds of vendors to open lines of credit and make fake purchases. This happened over the course of about 11 months, officials said.