A Water Oak sex offender has been arrested in the theft of a woman’s purse from her car which was parked at the Olive Garden restaurant in Leesburg.
Bryce Levi Coviello, 33, who lives at 304 Balsam Circle in the 55+ community in Lady Lake, was arrested Monday on Lake County warrants charging him with automobile burglary, theft and two counts of fraudulent use of a credit card.
A woman who works at the restaurant went to her 2020 black Nissan Rogue in the parking lot on the night of April 27 and found that the passenger side front window was broken out and her purse was missing. Items in her purse included two credit cards, a pair of prescription sunglasses and an iPhone charger.
Three charges were made almost immediately on the woman’s credit cards, at Freedom Vapes, a BP Station and Wal-Mart, all in Leesburg.
In May, a detective with the Leesburg Police Department shared information about the crime with other area law enforcement agencies. The detective learned that two men, including Coviello, were being held at the Citrus County Jail in connection with a similar crime.
The Pennsylvania native, who was convicted of unlawful sexual contact in 2007 in Delaware, was transported back to the Lake County Jail. Bond has been set at $9,000.
