A Summerfield woman and her Busnell cohort were arrested after allegedly shoplifting $373 worth of merchandise from TJ Maxx.
An officer responded to two shoplifters, 35-year-old Lauren Switzer and 32-year-old Taylor Miranda Whicker, who had been detained in TJ Maxx at Rolling Acres Plaza in The Villages at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to an arrest report from the Lady Lake Police Department.
Loss prevention staff had seen Whicker in the children’s department of the store with a shopping cart containing beauty products and an empty black handbag. She took the beauty products out of their packaging before making her way to the home department. She then concealed the beauty products in the black handbag, the report said.
Switzer met with Whicker in the women’s department, where she, too, concealed beauty products in a black handbag. Whicker proceeded to leave the store, and she was apprehended on the sidewalk by loss prevention staff. They were able to recover 32 items worth $373.69, the report said.
Switzer was arrested on charge of petit theft and booked at Lake County Jail. She was released after posting $5,000 bond. She was also arrested in April 2025 at Target, in Dec. 2022 at Walmart, and in July 2020 for a brawl with her fiancé.
Whicker was arrested on the same charge and released from jail after posting $1,000 bond.