A serial shoplifter who fell asleep after being nabbed at the Summerfield Wal-Mart is behind bars after being accused of stealing a bevy of cosmetic products.
A Marion County sheriff’s deputy was called to the store, located at 17961 S. U.S. Hwy. 27/441, on Tuesday night and when he arrived, an assistant manager said 46-year-old Gladys Marie Griffin had been stopped as she attempted to leave the store with a cart-full of unpaid health and beauty merchandise valued at $269.78.
The assistant manager provided the deputy with a written statement and a photo of Griffin wearing an orange jacket and denim capris pants as she allegedly passed by the cash registers with the full shopping cart. The deputy also observed surveillance video footage of the incident, a sheriff’s office report states.
The deputy attempted to speak with Griffin but had no luck because she had fallen asleep. She was transported to the Marion County Jail and charged with larceny/petit theft (third or subsequent offense) and held on $2,000 bond. Her next court date hasn’t yet been set, jail records show.
Griffin is no stranger to the tri-county legal system, having been convicted twice before in Lake County on theft charges – this past January after being arrested by the Tavares Police Department and in August 2017 after being arrested by officers from the Lady Lake Police Department.
On Dec. 8, 2018, Griffin, who lives at 16806 SE 102nd Court Rd. in Summerfield, was arrested twice in the same day on charges of retail theft, first at Kohl’s in Tavares and then at Family Dollar in Leesburg. In July 2017, she was arrested after attempting to steal bottles of fragrance from Belk in The Villages – a crime that resulted in her being sentenced to 29 days in the Lake County Jail.
