A Lady Lake woman who stole $25,000 from a Wawa convenience store where she worked as a manager has been ordered to spend 200 hours picking up litter. She must also make financial restitution to her former employer.
Kristina Calkins, 36, who lives at Recreation Plantation on County Road 466, pleaded no contest last week in Marion County Court to a charge of grand theft. Judge Anthony Tatti, who will be sentencing former Sumter County Commissioner Oren Miller on a perjury charge, ordered Calkins to spend 200 hours picking up litter. She must work at it at least 16 hours per month. Calkins, who had been earning $42,000 per year at the time of her arrest, must make full restitution to Wawa. In addition, she has been placed on probation for five years.
Calkins had been working at the Wawa on East State Road 40 in Ocala when the corporate office became suspicious about missing money, according to an arrest report from the Ocala Police Department. The corporate investigator found that money began disappearing in July. Video surveillance led to Calkins, who was seen “stealing cash from the daily receipts on multiple occasions.” A total of $25,983 in cash was missing, the report said.
The Virginia native admitted that she “would take the money from the register and exit the store and put it in her purse in her car instead of depositing it.” She claimed she thought she’d only taken about $8,000. She also said she was “pressured” by her family to take the money.
