A homeless man was arrested after he reportedly stole a fountain drink from a convenience store in Clermont and threatened the officer who tried to apprehend him for it.
Anthony Wayne Sandusky, 32, was charged with assault on a law enforcement officer, retail theft, and resisting without violence after the incident, which happened Aug. 24 at the store located at 997 State Road 50. An officer responded to a report of Sandusky taking a drink from the business without paying for it, according to an arrest report from the Clermont Police Department.
The officer found Sandusky underneath the overpass at U.S. Highway 27 and State Road 50. As the officer got out of his patrol car, Sandusky started walking towards him and refused orders to stop. He also refused to remove his hand from his pocket. Instead, Sandusky began to curse and yell at the officer. He then started walking away, the report said.
At that point, the officer told Sandusky to stop walking away and to drop his black backpack, to which he just repeatedly threatened the officer. Eventually, he stopped walking, dropped the bag, and turned around. The officer was able to calm Sandusky down and de-escalate the situation. Sandusky continued to yell and threaten to confront anyone who put their hands on him but denied taking a drink from the store, the report said.
Moments later, another officer spoke to an employee at the store who said that Sandusky stole an 89-cent cup with a drink. This employee was taken to the scene with Sandusky to positively identify him as the suspect, the report said.
Sandusky then told the officer that he had the cup in his bag, but a search of the backpack yielded nothing. The officer looked alongside State Road 50 eastbound from where they stood and observed a Polar Pop cup on the roadway. It was lying on the ground with liquid residue still inside in the area that the officer observed Sandusky walking from, the report said.
Sandusky was transported to the Lake County Jail without further incident and his bond was set at $5,000.
