Dog walker to answer in court after allegedly stealing neighbor’s newspaper

A dog walker will have to answer in court after allegedly stealing her neighbor’s newspaper.

Jill Davie, 70, who lives on the Historic Side of The Villages, is scheduled to appear May 26 in Lake County Court to answer to a misdemeanor charge of theft.

The former Michigan resident, who lives on West Schwartz Boulevard, had been walking her dog at 6:43 a.m. April 15 when she was captured on video walking up a driveway at another home on West Schwartz Boulevard, according to a report from the Lady Lake Police Department. Davie bent down and picked up the homeowner’s copy of The Villages Daily Sun, still in the plastic delivery bag. The surveillance showed a woman with white hair wearing a purple long-sleeved shirt. Her dog was wearing a harness and an illuminated neon green collar.

The homeowner, who did not know the identity of the woman in the surveillance footage, was so incensed that he went down that same day to report the theft at the Lady Lake Police Department. He estimated the value of the newspaper at $1.75.

“It’s not the value, it’s the principle,” the homeowner said in reporting the crime. “If she had no problem walking onto someone’s property to steal a newspaper, then she was fully capable of stealing packages or other items as well.”

He showed the time-stamped surveillance to law enforcement. He also showed the video to neighbors, who also did not know the woman’s identity.

An officer staked out the location at about 6:50 a.m May 1 and spotted a woman walking a dog. The woman and the dog appeared to be a match for the pair in the homeowner’s video.

Davie, who has lived in The Villages for more than a decade, admitted to the officer that she had stolen the newspaper, but claimed she thought the house was vacant. She offered to pay for the man’s newspaper for an entire year in an effort to avoid being arrested. She was issued a notice to appear in court.