WILDWOOD, Fla. (TND) — A police officer got called to a store “in reference to a retail theft” but after that, the case was anything but routine.
This happened at a Lowe's home improvement store in Florida. The officer arrived last Monday, May 6, but the theft happened two weeks before that, on April 22.
And that alleged theft may not have been the suspect’s last.
The store’s asset protection manager had done much of the work.
The arrest report said Keshmira Engineer “entered the store through the garden entrance with an empty shopping cart.“During the defendant's time within the store, she went through several different aisles at various times and took the following items:The store reported 15 different items were stolen, but that Engineer took more than one of some of those items. The store reported the total amount stolen was $826.23.
Then, after 40 minutes, the report said she left “through the main entrance with the merchandise. No attempt was made by the defendant to purchase the merchandise.”
After that, it said she walks to her dark-colored Honda Pilot, “loads the items, and departs the premises.”
The officer reported surveillance photos “showed the suspect to be identical to the defendant’s Florida driver’s license photo,” and the officer noted the Honda Pilot “is the same vehicle the defendant was utilizing on April 24, 2024, when she was arrested previously.”The officer went to her home the next day and arrested her for felony larceny-grand theft between $750 and $5,000.
Engineer, 56, was released from jail after 19 hours.
Her other alleged shoplifting took place two days later, on April 24, apparently in three different shifts, but another officer arrived before Engineer had left the store and arrested her there.
An employee showed the officer surveillance of the suspect putting “multiple plants in her shopping cart” and “unloads her shopping cart into the back of her vehicle,” the Honda Pilot.That was at 9:55 a.m., according to the arrest report.
It said she returned to the store at 10:04 a.m., picked up 10 items, and then “passes all points of sale and exits the establishment.“The defendant then goes to her vehicle and unloads her shopping cart.”
Lowe’s reported Engineer took $473.49 worth of merchandise that day, and it seems she wasn’t done.
The officer saw her “walking back into the garden section,” and confronted her when she “had multiple plants in her shopping cart.
“I asked the defendant if she had taken anything that did not belong to her, to which she responded, ‘I loaded items into the car.’“I asked the defendant if she paid for those items and the defendant responded, ‘I thought I did.’“The defendant then stated that she thinks she paid for the items at the customer service aisle.“The defendant stated she wasn't feeling good and was going to pass out.
“Sumter County EMS responded to the scene where she was medically evaluated.”
Engineer couldn’t avoid arrest.
According to the report, “The defendant stated that the items that she took to her vehicle were part of her order.“I asked the defendant to show me the order through her phone, which she was not able to.“The defendant had a past order of grass seed from April 16, 2024.
“I asked the defendant what was added to her vehicle and she stated paper towels, and did not remember what else.”Finally, the officer reported seeing "all the listed items above in the defendant’s vehicle [and] asked the defendant if she would allow us to take the items back to the establishment, and she stated, yes."Engineer was taken to an emergency room to be medically cleared, and then to jail.
This first time, she was only charged with misdemeanor larceny between $100 and $750, and released after just six hours in jail.
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