A Villager was arrested after allegedly attempting to flee Publix without paying for more than $400 worth of groceries loaded in a shopping cart.
Tina Marie Rossi, 58, of the Village of Alhambra, went through the checkout lane shortly before noon Saturday at the Publix at La Plaza Grande and paid for an 18-pack of Bud Light beer and a bottle of Hershey’s chocolate syrup, according to an arrest report from the Lady Lake Police Department. She paid for the items with a virtual merchandise store card.
She then walked back through the store and loaded “numerous amounts of alcohol beverages, raw and cooked meat, and a variety of food products” into the cart. She held up the receipt as she walked out of the store, in an attempt to make employees believe all of the items had been paid for, the report said. The merchandise in the cart had a total value of $444.
Three BIC lighters and a piece of raspberry cake, also stolen from the store, were found in her purse. She also had a crack pipe in her car.
Rossi, who was arrested in September in connection with another theft case, was arrested on charges of theft and possession of drug paraphernalia. She was booked at the Lake County Jail and released after posting $3,000 bond.
