A Lady Lake woman was tracked down and arrested weeks after allegedly attacking a fellow customer who yelled at her autistic toddler at the Walgreens at Spanish Plaines shopping center in The Villages.
Meriam Espinoza, 35, turned herself in to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday on a misdemeanor charge of battery stemming from the June 30 altercation.
According to an arrest report, the incident began when the victim was shopping for mosquito repellent and heard a child screaming. The woman told deputies she shouted, “Shut up,” and was subsequently confronted by Espinoza, who allegedly fired back, “Shut up, you stupid b****. If you don’t like the screaming, you can leave.”
The victim told Espinoza she should not allow her child to scream like that. Espinoza would later tell detectives she was shopping with her children, including her 2-year-old autistic son, when the stranger yelled at him.
The confrontation quickly spilled into the parking lot. Surveillance video showed Espinoza exiting the store, loading her purchases into a white GMC Yukon, and putting her three children inside. When the victim exited the store a few minutes later and stood near the entrance on her cellphone, Espinoza walked over and threw a small object that struck the victim in the back.
After a brief verbal exchange, Espinoza began to walk back to her SUV but stopped, returned to the victim, and forcefully shoved her. The victim told deputies that Espinoza also body-bumped her three times and spat on her before driving away.
The victim managed to snap a photograph of the GMC Yukon’s license plate as it fled.
To track the suspect down, a detective subpoenaed Walgreens for the transaction data linked to the tap-to-pay purchase Espinoza made right before the altercation. The records provided Espinoza’s name and phone number. Investigators then definitively linked her to the GMC Yukon, matched her to the surveillance footage using her driver’s license photo, and confirmed her identity via a distinctive rose tattoo visible on her public Facebook profile.
When contacted by phone on July 20, Espinoza admitted to being at the store and outlined the incident involving her son. An arrest warrant was subsequently issued.
Espinoza was booked at the Sumter County Detention Center and released after posting $1,000 bond.