A Leesburg woman was arrested for allegedly stealing food from a Walmart in Leesburg when a store employee caught her passing items through the self-checkout.Â
Police responded to Walmart, located at 2501 Citrus Boulevard, regarding a theft for which the loss prevention officer had 51-year-old Rebecca Jeanne Santilli detained in his office at 1:07 p.m. Sunday, according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department.Â
Upon arrival at the store, the officer spoke with the male loss prevention officer. He stated that he was monitoring the security cameras when he noticed Santilli passing items through the register without scanning them. He paused the register remotely, which causes a floor manager to go to the register and reactivate it, the report said.
The loss prevent agent advised that he paused the register hoping Santilli would stop passing items through the register without scanning them, but she continued to do so. After placing all her items from her shopping cart into plastic bags, Santilli put them back in her cart and began walking toward the exit doors. She passed all points of sale before the witness approached her, the report said.
Santilli was asked to follow the witness to his office, to which she complied. Once there, the witness contacted LPD for assistance, the report said.
The witness separated the items Santilli bought from the ones she did not and gave the officer an itemized receipt for the unpaid merchandise. This reached a total of 35 perishable food items worth $202.61, the report said.
A criminal history check revealed that Santilli has three prior theft convictions. Two of these were in Rhode Island during 2015, and the other was in 2014, the report said.
Santilli was arrested and charged with retail theft (two or more prior theft). The Rhode Island native was transported to the Lake County Jail and released after posting $2,000 bond.
