Two men – one from Wildwood – and a juvenile were arrested Monday night after a resident alerted Leesburg Police officers about three suspicious people at a local cell phone store.
The caller reported that three people were outside the Metro PCS store on N. Citrus Boulevard at about 8:40 p.m. when two of them – one wearing a white hoodie and the other wearing a multi-color hoodie – entered the store. The third person, who was wearing a black hoodie, stayed outside the store, a police report states.
As officers quickly responded to the area, a corporal saw three people walking north away from the business who matched the description provided by the caller. He and another officer attempted to contact the three suspects – 24-year-old Levi James Perez of Wildwood, 21-year-old Nyair Glenn-Byrd Campbell of Clayton, Del. and the juvenile – in front of the Circle K at 2211 Citrus Boulevard.
As the officers approached the three, one saw the juvenile drop a white box onto the sidewalk behind Perez. The suspects were then commanded to kneel down on the grass and were detained without incident.
A witness told officers that that he was leaving a nearby business when he noticed “suspicious activity” at the Metro PCS store. He said two of the suspects were standing in front of the store “doing what appeared to be horseplay.” He said a short time one of the suspects went into the store while the other stayed outside. A short time later, he added, two of the suspects exited the store and all three ran away from the business heading toward the Circle K minimart, the report says.
The juvenile admitted to officers that they stole the items from the store to sell at a later date. He said they tossed most of the items in the bushes in front of the gas station when they noticed police officers coming toward them, the report says.
An officer searched Perez and located a white-and-black box of wired headphones in his front hoodie pocket. After searching the area, the officer located additional headphones and display dummy cellphones in the bushes and collected them as evidence, along with a black-and-silver mask, the report says.
The items located in the bushes, along with the box of wired headphones located in Perez’s pocket and the white box the juvenile dropped on the sidewalk consisted of the following:
- Eight display dummy phones valued at $20 each ($160);
- Five Quikcell wireless ear buds valued at $40 each ($200);
- Two Quikcell wired headphones valued at $13 each ($26); and
- Two Quikcell wireless neckband headphones valued at $25 each ($50).
All of the stolen items were valued at $436. All three of the suspects were placed under arrest, handcuffed and transported to the Leesburg Police Department for processing. Perez and Campbell were then transported to the Lake County Jail, while the juvenile was released to his mother, the report says.
Both Perez and Campbell were charged with unarmed burglary of an unoccupied stricture and larceny/petit theft. Perez was released Wednesday afternoon on $6,000 bond and is due in court Nov. 30 at 8:30 a.m. Campbell was being held on $6,000 bond and also is due in court Nov. 30 at 8:30 a.m. to answer to the charges, jail records show.
