An Umatilla man and his often-arrested girlfriend are accused of stealing a golf cart from AdventHealth Waterman hospital.
Officers responded Wednesday afternoon to the parking lot of the Publix store at 2840 David Walker Drive, where a security guard had found the stolen cart. A man and a woman were sitting in it, according to an arrest report from the Eustis Police Department.
The couple was identified as Adam Thomas Smith, 38, of Umatilla and his 35-year-old girlfriend, Brenna Lee Harmon, of Leesburg. Harmon has a lengthy criminal record and was recently released from the Lake County Jail after a stint for stealing a $169 bottle of cognac from a Leesburg liquor store. Harmon was also arrested in August 2022 for stealing a PopSocket from an AT&T store.
Officers approached Smith and Harmon with their tasers pointed and ordered them out of the cart. Both obeyed and they were separately detained, the report said.
Smith told an officer he bought the cart for $600 from a guy named “Travis” in Mount Dora. The officer said the hospital had security footage of the theft and he looked identical to the suspect. Smith said he hadn’t been to the hospital. He also said he and Harmon have been together for the past five years and she was released from jail the day before, according to the report.
The officer then spoke with Harmon, who became defensive before he could ask her any questions. She said she didn’t steal the golf cart because she was in jail. When asked how she knew Smith, she explained that she knew him for most of her life and dated him for the past three or four years. Harmon said she spent five months in jail and Smith had the golf cart when she got out five days earlier. She said Smith told her he bought it from a friend, the report said.
As one officer questioned Smith and Harmon, the other deployed his narcotic detection K9 partner. A positive alert led to a probable cause search, but no illegal items were found. However, officers did notice the vehicle identification number had been removed, according to the report.
Because the VIN was missing, hospital staff and Tavares police came and confirmed the cart was the one stolen from the hospital. Officers said Smith matched the description of the suspect in the video footage. Hospital staff advised the vehicle had been repainted, the side vinyl covers had been removed, and a wood crate was built and installed on the back of the vehicle. The staff estimated the damage to be about $8,000, the report said.
During another conversation with Harmon, she said she was told Smith had traded a minibike for the golf cart. Smith was confronted about this, and he said Harmon wouldn’t know where he got the vehicle due to her getting out of jail the previous day. Due to Harmon having said she got out five days earlier, the officer asked Smith to specify whether it was one or five days. Smith said five, but a check of jail records showed Harmon was released June 28, which was seven days before the golf cart incident, according to the report.
Both Smith and Harrison were charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, criminal mischief, and altering a vehicle’s identification number. Harmon was released from jail after posting $2,000 bond. Smith, who has a prior conviction in 2016 for grand theft of a motor vehicle, remains held on $14,000 bond.
