A woman has entered a plea to a charge she desecrated her ex-husband’s grave.
Ronni Leigh Kimberlin, 32, of Leesburg, entered a plea of not guilty last week in Lake County Court to a third degree felony charge of disturbing a grave and a misdemeanor charge of theft. She remains free on $6,000 bond.
Her ex-husband, Jeffrey “Todd” Kimberlin, 38, of Fruitland Park, was struck and killed by a van on the morning of Sept. 21, 2018 when he was walking his daughter to a school bus stop. The well-known local tattoo artist was buried at Shiloh Cemetery in Fruitland Park.
The woman who was Kimberlin’s fiance at the time of his death told Fruitland Park police in September she suspected Kimberlin of stealing items from the gravesite. The fiance reported that items including wedding invitations, LED lights, sunglasses, double-hooked planters, artificial flowers and Snap Dragon plants. The items had a total value of $438.
A police officer called Kimberlin, who denied taking the items.
“I heard of the family drama, but I did not take the items. This is ridiculous! Law enforcement should have never been called,” Kimberlin told an officer, according to an affidavit of probable cause from the Fruitland Park Police Department.
However, the fiance brought forth a witness who admitted she had helped Kimberlin remove some of the items and they took the planters to Kimberlin’s brother’s house. Kimberlin and the woman returned to the grave one week later and took a framed photo, later found in Kimberlin’s attic.
The woman also said that in June, Kimberlin took her children to their father’s grave and made them cross out the word “fiance” with purple chalk.