A Cove Apartments resident who was arrested last month after a purse went missing from a Lady Lake hotel is back behind bars in connection with a theft at an Ocala Wal-Mart.
A Marion County sheriff’s deputy was called to the store, located at 34 Bahia Ave., on Sunday night and when he arrived, a loss prevention associate told him that 28-year-old Marlana Lynn Harvey had stolen $754.98 worth of merchandise on Friday, March 12. He said Harvey was back inside the store and he provided the deputy with a long list of items she allegedly had taken, including makeup, chairs, clothing, books, sunglasses, a Barbie doll and a Barbie camper, among other things.
The loss prevention officer said Harvey originally had tried to leave the store through the garden center but the door was locked, so she exited through the pharmacy doors with the cartload of merchandise. He said Harvey was stopped and asked for a receipt since none of the items were bagged and he also asked her to accompany him to the loss prevention office. He said Harvey claimed to have a receipt and then left the store without the merchandise, a sheriff’s office report states.
The deputy made contact with Harvey at the front entrance to the store and told her he needed to speak with her about the incident that had taken place two days earlier. She claimed she had pushed her shopping cart out a set of doors and told an employee she had to get her wallet from her vehicle. She said she then left the cart behind and didn’t come back, the report says.
After the deputy had Harvey watch video surveillance footage of the incident and she was informed of her rights, she admitted she was the person in the video and said she told the employee she had a receipt, even though she did not. When asked why she attempted to take the items without paying for them, Harvey said she has been going through “tough times” and made several spontaneous statements such as, “I realized it was wrong, that’s why I stopped” and “I’m not getting out of this one,” the report says.
While investigating the incident, the deputy reported smelling a strong odor of marijuana coming from the area around Harvey. He asked her for her Florida identification card and saw her try to conceal a small bag of a green leafy substance that field-tested positive for THC, the report says, adding that a glass pipe containing a burnt substance also was found inside her pants.
Harvey, who has two prior petit theft convictions in Marion County, was placed under arrest and transported to the Marion County Jail, where she was charged with larceny/grand theft, possession of marijuana not more than 20 grams and possession and/or use of drug equipment. She was being held on $7,000 bond and her next court date hasn’t yet been set, jail records show.
Harvey, who lives in unit #59 at the Cove Apartments in Lady Lake, also was arrested on Feb. 16 after an employee of the nearby Microtel Inn & Suites contacted Lady Lake Police about her missing purse. The employee said she had been outside smoking a cigarette with a co-worker when she was approached by Harvey, who wanted to know the number of the room where her mother was staying.
The employee told Harvey per hotel policy that she couldn’t reveal the room number. She said Harvey then became angry and when she went back inside the hotel, her purse was missing, a Lady Lake Police report states.
The employee’s credit cards were used in two different locations, the nearby Sunoco and RaceTrac gas stations. Officers located Harvey at the Cove Apartments and she admitted she had 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, according to the report.