Tavares

TAVARES, Florida—The general manager of a Tavares sub shop is in the Lake County Jail accused of stealing cash from an elderly customer’s purse, she mistakenly left behind.

Tavares Police Department responded to Jimmy John’s, 458 East Burleigh Boulevard shortly before 2 p.m. Sunday on a report of a missing purse, according to an arrest affidavit.

The victim told TPD she stopped in the restaurant on her way home at approximately 7 p.m. Friday and when she arrived home, she realized she had left her purse at the restaurant. She called Jimmy John’s and was told the purse would be held in the safe for her to pick up on Saturday.

The victim arrived at the restaurant Saturday and was informed the general manager, Tonya Lynne White, of Tavares, had removed the purse from the safe and dropped it off at Tavares Police Department, however, officers did not receive any calls in reference to a purse, according to the affidavit.

The on-duty manager told an officer she found the purse shortly after the victim left and she and another coworker looked inside the purse attempting to find identification. They found a white envelope that contained a large amount of cash – $1,200 all in $100 denominations— in addition to $120 in a separate pocket, and the manager said she counted it for documentation purposes. She then placed it in the safe that is only accessible by managers, the affidavit states.

The on-duty manager arrived at work on Saturday, along with general manager, White, 48, and she informed White of the found purse. White told her she was going to take the purse to Tavares Police Department because of the large amount of cash, and “liability purposes.”

The manager provided text messages to TPD backing up her story.

A second officer contacted White by phone, and she told the officer she dropped the purse off at TPD. The officer told White no one had collected a purse, nor did they receive any calls for service in regard to a purse. White was “adamant” she dropped the purse off and created a story about a fictitious elderly woman in a flowered dress that flagged her down from the double doors of the public safety complex. Video surveillance showed White was never there.

White agreed to meet officers at the public safety complex and upon meeting, she provided a sworn written statement recounting her version of the story. She signed the statement was warned that fabricating a police report was a crime and would result in a criminal charge.

One of the officers began questioning White about inconsistencies in her initial story and her written statement and she ultimately confessed she took the elderly woman’s purse. She said she had $1,300 cash on her but threw the purse away at a gas station in Apopka, the affidavit states.

She removed $1,300 cash from her phone case, bra and purse and gave it to officers. Her purse was searched and a large amount a cash was found; White said most of it was her paycheck, but $180 was taken from the Jimmy John’s store. She claimed she took that money to trade it for smaller denominations, the affidavit states.

White was arrested for petit theft, grand theft, providing false information to law enforcement, tampering with evidence and theft from a person over 65.  She was booked into LCJ, where she remains on $8,000 bond.

TAVARES, Florida—An allegation of poor living conditions to the Department of Children and Families (DCF) led to the arrest of a Tavares woman last week, according to an arrest affidavit.

Tavares Police responded to a home on Hunterwood Lane in reference to a DCF call alleging poor living conditions, including animal feces and a roach infestation on Jan. 14. As the arresting officer approached the home, she could “smell the strong odor of rotten meat and cat urine emitting through the closed garage door,” the arresting officer noted in the affidavit.

Melody Anne Sargent, 45, met DCF and TPD at the home and “immediately became hysterical” when she found out the reason for the visit. Sargent told them she was “trying to fix the issue” and was currently in the process of moving out because she could not control the cockroach infestation. She said she had a temporary place to stay while she moves her belongings into a storage unit, and she had been moving things for the past week, but later admitted that was a lie. She also said a juvenile in the home had been staying somewhere else, but later admitted that was a lie too.

She warned the officer and the investigator of the infestation inside the home and said her 1-year-old Husky had diarrhea and had been defecating throughout the home, along with three cats that have a litter box, but one was urinating and defecating throughout the home as well. She also said there was rotten meat inside an unplugged freezer in the garage that had been there about a month, the affidavit states.

The following was taken directly from Sargent’s arrest affidavit.

“As we entered the residence, the house appeared in disarray as items were throughout the living room area. The items were covered in cockroaches as well as the doors and walls as they were crawling throughout the home. The strong odor of rotten meat and cat urine was strong enough that l had to remove myself from the home multiple times/ (TPD) Officer walked through the residence with DCF observing multiple piles of feces throughout the floor. The feces and cat urine had been piled throughout the home as it was dry and had cockroaches on top. This continues through the dining room area and into the kitchen. The kitchen appeared to be unusable as there were items stacked all over the counter with a large number of cockroaches crawling in/on everything. We located what appeared to be two dog food containers which had cockroaches and maggots crawling in and around them, The food bowls were also covered in dry urine along with the majority of the floor, per (TPD) Officer. (TPD) Officer also located the above-mentioned Husky in a cage in the back room. The dog appeared to be underweight per (TPD) officer and was locked inside a cage with dried urine and feces in/around it. The dog had no direct access to any food or water as everything was covered in cockroaches or urine. “

DCF spoke with all the occupants in the home and one of them said the roach infestation began about a year ago and they attempted to control it with bug spray, but it got worse over time. Another occupant said they commonly stepped in dog feces and urine while trying to walk through the home.

Sargent admitted knowing the conditions were not suitable for any person or animal to live in and she was arrested for child neglect and animal cruelty. She was taken to the Lake County Jail, where she was released on $3,000 bond.

The child/children were placed in someone else’s care and the animals were turned over to Lake County Animal Services.