A suspected shoplifter was nabbed with a sandwich and dental floss stolen from a Publix grocery store in The Villages.
Ryan Bernie LeClerc, 42, who is homeless, went into the store at La Plaza Grande at about 1 p.m. Thursday and picked up a grab-and-go sandwich and package of dental floss picks, put them in his backpack and walked out of the store without paying for them, according to an arrest report from the Lady Lake Police Department. The theft was captured on the store’s video surveillance system. He fled the store on his bicycle.
An officer apprehended LeClerc at The Villages Golf Cars, located in the same shopping plaza. He still had the sandwich and the dental floss picks in his backpack.
The Vermont native, who served time in jail after a 2021 prowling incident at the Village of El Cortez and was arrested with fentanyl in 2022 at Spanish Springs Town Square, was taken into custody on a charge of theft. He was booked at the Lake County Jail on $500 bond.