LEESBURG, Florida—A woman who wore stolen jewelry to work at the place she stole it from turned herself into Leesburg Police Department Thursday afternoon, according to an arrest affidavit.
Payton Elaine Alexander, 25, of the Marion County portion of unincorporated Umatilla, stands accused of stealing jewelry from Piercing Pagoda, located inside Lake Square Mall, while she worked there from November 2021 through February, when the thefts were discovered.
In February, Piercing Pagoda’s Senior Manager of Loss Prevention emailed a Leesburg Police Department detective and asked if there were any pawn hits on Alexander and there were none. The manager sent a second email on March 7 and said he discovered around 40 pieces of jewelry were missing since August 2021. The manager interviewed Alexander two days later and she admitted to stealing 26 pieces of jewelry valued at nearly $2,000 beginning in November 2021, according to the affidavit.
Alexander left the interview, recovered 25 pieces of jewelry and returned them. Alexander said she had one more piece at home and would return it later, according to the affidavit.
LPD responded to the kiosk and the store manager said the loss prevention manager told her to file a police report. The store manager told police she received in anonymous tip in early February advising Alexander had been stealing jewelry. The store manager and loss prevention manager launched an investigation and found that more than $2,000 in jewelry was missing and Alexander had been observed at work wearing the jewelry, the affidavit states. The manager signed an intent to prosecute for the thefts.
Three days later, the loss prevention manager called the LPD detective and said Alexander returned the final piece of jewelry on March 9 and she was fired.
On Thursday, the LPD detective went to Alexander’s Marion County home, spoke with her roommate, and said Alexander needed to turn herself in. Alexander did turn herself in and stated she took the jewelry home by accident after wearing it during work to show it off to customers.
Alexander was arrested for grand theft and transported to the Lake County Jail, where she was released on $2,000 bond.
