A woman’s slip and fall led to her arrest in a suspected theft at a Wawa convenience store.
Katherine A. Ozerities, 54, of Mount Dora, had entered the Wawa located on U.S. Hwy. 441 in Mount Dora on June 29 and fell near the soda machine, according to an affidavit of probable cause on file in Lake County Court.
The store manager went to assist Ozerites and obtained her name and phone number. After she got up, she placed three 23.5 ounce cans of Four Loko beer and a pack of Cheetos Puffs in her backpack. The Michigan native left the store without paying for the items.
A Mount Dora detective showed the Wawa manager a photo line up with Ozerties’ picture. The manager picked out her picture and told the officer he was 95 percent sure that that was the woman who fell in the store and stole the items.
The detective went to Ozerities apartment to talk to her. The detective saw a light-colored woman’s mountain bike in the hallway of her apartment which matched the description of the bicycle used by the woman who stole the items. Ozerities refused to talk to the detective, according to the affidavit of probable cause in support of an arrest warrant.
The detective viewed a surveillance video which clearly showed that Ozerities had taken the items. She was arrested on the warrant Wednesday and charged with felony petit theft as she has had multiple theft convictions. She was being held without bond at the Lake County Jail due to a probation violation.
