A woman was arrested in the theft of a purse from a hotel on U.S. Hwy. 27/441 in Lady Lake.
An employee of the Microtel Inn & Suites contacted Lady Lady police at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday after she discovered her purse went missing while she had been outside smoking a cigarette with a co-worker. While she was smoking, the hotel employee was approached by a woman who wanted to know the number of the room in which her mother was staying. The employee told the woman that per hotel policy, she could not reveal the room number. The woman was angry when she did not receive the information and went into the hotel. A short time later, the employee went back inside the hotel and found that her purse was missing.
Police went to Room 220, where the woman’s mother was staying. She said her daughter, 28-year-old Marlana Harvey, lives at the Cove Apartments, also on U.S. Hwy. 27/441 in Lady Lake. Officers searched the hotel grounds and found the employee’s empty purse in the bushes.
The employee’s credit cards were used in two different locations, the nearby Sunoco and RaceTrac gas stations. Harvey purchased gasoline at Sunoco and two packs of cigarettes and a lighter at RaceTrac. She left in a red SUV.
Officers found Harvey at the Cove Apartments. She admitted she removed the employee’s wallet and computer tablet from the purse and then threw it in the bushes. She turned the wallet and computer tablet over to police.
Harvey was arrested on charges of fraud and theft. She was booked at the Lake County Jail and released after posting $2,000 bond.
