A woman’s star-shaped tattoos led to her arrest in a theft case in Leesburg.
Jamie Elizabeth Croom, 32, was arrested Monday morning on a charge of grand theft in connection with a Christmas Eve 2021 theft at Walmart in Leesburg.
At the time, a Walmart loss prevention agent showed Leesburg police a security video which showed a woman with large star-shaped tattoos on her chest with a shopping cart filled with items. She was pushing the cart through the store before handing the cart off to a male, later identified as 28-year-old Luis Manuel Ochoa. He pushed the cart out of the store. The pair met at a U-Haul truck in the parking lot and lifted the cart into the truck. The Walmart loss prevention agent was able to take a picture of the truck’s Arizona plates.
The case was turned over to a senior detective with the Leesburg Police Department who began his hunt to identify the man and woman in the video by contacting the local U-Haul office. The company provided the detective with the name of the renter, Luis Ochoa, but would provide no other information without a subpoena. The detective filed paperwork to obtain the subpoena.
He was able to locate Ochoa in the Lake County Jail where he was awaiting trial on drug charges. He had been booked at the jail since Dec. 28, 2021. When the detective met with Ochao, he refused to reveal anything about the theft or say anything about Croom or her tattoos.
While awaiting a reply on the subpoena the detective performed a records check on Ochoa and found several arrests for various crimes. A review of Ochoa’s numerous arrest reports showed that he was often in the company of Croom. None of the reports mentioning Croom featured information on her star tattoos, although in the security video, it appeared to be Croom.
The detective eventually found an arrest report for Croom out of Osceola County. The retail theft arrest report detailed the star-shaped tattoos on her chest.
The detective obtained an arrest warrant for Croom for the offense of grand theft.
Lake County deputies served the arrest warrant on Croom at her residence in Groveland. She was taken to the Lake County Jail. Bond was set at $2,000.
Her co-defendant was still in jail for other offenses when Croom was arrested.
