A teen who was arrested after picking up a wallet which contained $1,100 at a local Circle K has entered a plea in a criminal case in which she is facing a felony charge of grand theft.
Ketaisa Devonna Puryear, 19, of Leesburg, pleaded not guilty last week in Lake County Court. She remains free on $2,000 bond.
A man said he had been dropped off by his brother Jan. 26 at the Circle K at 100 W. Miller St. in Fruitland Park. When he got out of the vehicle, his wallet fell out of his pocket. The wallet contained $1,100 in cash and two bank cards. He contacted police when he realized his wallet was missing.
Surveillance from the Circle K showed a tan Dodge pickup pull up to the pumps and two women exiting the vehicle at about the same time the man lost his wallet, according to an arrest report from the Fruitland Park Police Department. A woman wearing a blue headpiece picked up the wallet.
Puryear later returned to the Circle K where she flagged down a passing police officer and admitted she was the woman who had been wearing the blue headpiece. She said she found the wallet and removed the $1,100. She saw the owner’s identification in the wallet so she “got scared” and threw it away in the area of Dixie Avenue and Berckman Street.
