A homeless man has been jailed in the theft of an 86-year-old woman’s iPhone at a Verizon store.
The woman, who lives at the Carriage House in Oxford, on Friday afternoon had been at the Verizon store on U.S. Hwy. 27/441 in Lady Lake.
The woman left her pink phone on the counter at the Verizon store and it was snatched by 20-year-old Christian Miguel Vasquez, according to an arrest report from the Lady Lake Police Department.
The woman’s 86-year-old companion, also a resident of the Carriage House, confronted Vasquez and asked him to return the phone, but he refused to do so, the report said.
A police officer arrived on the scene and asked Vasquez to empty his pockets. He removed the pink phone from the pocket of his jeans.
Vasquez said he saw the phone on the counter and took it “because he saw it as an opportunity to obtain a phone,” the arrest report said. He said he did not believe he had available credit to purchase the phone and his credit card had been declined the night before when he attempted to check into a hotel. He said he was homeless.
He was arrested on a charge of theft and booked at the Lake County Jail. Bond was set at $500.
