A 73-year-old woman from the Village of Caroline was arrested Monday afternoon in the theft of jewelry from Bealls on U.S. Hwy. 441 in Lady Lake.
Helen Louise Manion entered the store shortly after 2:30 p.m. and took items, including $254 in jewelry, into a fitting room, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. A loss prevention officer entered the fitting room after Manion departed, and found pricetags and boxes from the jewelry in the back pocket of pants she had placed on the return rack.
She proceeded through the checkout, paying for items of clothing, but not the jewelry.
Manion later told a deputy that “part of her intention for shopping today was to steal the jewelry,” according to the arrest report.
Her purse contained $34 in cash, a debit card and numerous credit cards.
She was arrested on a charge of petit theft and booked at the Sumter County Detention Center on $1,000 bond.
