A Villager has been ordered to pay $2,361 in restitution after keying a Mercedes in a Publix parking lot dispute.
Mark Edward Brittenham, 68, of the Village of Charlotte, has pleaded no contest to a charge of criminal mischief in Sumter County Court. The judge ordered Brittenham to pay the money to an 80-year-old Village of La Belle man whose car was damaged.
The older man had been trying to park his gray 2023 Mercedes C300 on the afternoon of Oct. 21 at Publix at Colony Plaza, according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. A black Audi had been backing out of a parking space and the Mercedes driver pulled around him. Apparently angered, the Audi driver honked his horn.
The Mercedes driver went into the store and emerged about 30 minutes later to find that his driver’s side door had been keyed.
Surveillance showed that the Audi driver had gone into the Publix Liquor Store at Colony. He was wearing a camouflage shirt, shorts and camouflage Crocs. The surveillance also showed the Audi driver getting out of his vehicle and walking near the Mercedes, while it was parked.
A deputy found Brittenham’s 2024 Audi in a database. He cross checked Britteham’s driver’s license and found that the driver’s license photo matched the man caught on surveillance at Publix.
The deputy went to Brittenham’s neighborhood and showed surveillance images to a neighbor. The neighbor identified the man in the surveillance as Brittenham.
When the deputy went to Brittenham’s house and took him into custody, he was wearing the same camouflage shirt.