Woman jailed for shoplifting from Dollar General

A Tavares woman has pleaded not guilty in a case in which she has been accused of theft at a local Dollar General store.

Tegra Marcella Brown, 37, was transported to the Lake County Jail with bond set at $2,000 on Tuesday morning. According to court dockets from the Lake County Clerk, her case involved an incident from Oct. 29, 2023, in which she and two other women allegedly stole from the store.

On that day, an officer with the Tavares Police Department responded to Dollar General, located at 395 East Burleigh Boulevard, in reference to a shoplifting in progress, according to a case report from TPD. 

The female store manager who called it in advised there were three women, one of which was later identified as Brown, at self-checkout actively shoplifting. They were observed not scanning some of the items in their shopping cart. She stated there was a history of the same women stealing from other stores, and they usually drove a red Cadillac, the report said. 

Upon the officer’s arrival, he saw the women unloading items from a shopping cart into the back of a red SUV on the east side of the store. He approached them and explained why he was there. They in turn handed over receipts to show they had bought the items in the bags, the report said. 

The officer noticed some of the items in the vehicle were not listed on the receipt, but they claimed to have paid for them. Notable items were four cases of soda and two large packs of paper towels, although there were others determined to have not been scanned. Brown advised she must have missed them, the report said. 

Another woman’s receipt was checked, and the only things not accounted for were five Lunchables. All other items she presented were paid for, the report said. 

The officer then spoke with the store manager who advised that she had other cases with the same women as the suspects. On behalf of the Dollar General, she wished to prosecute, have the stolen items returned and have the women trespassed from the store, the report said. 

The manager was also able to provide surveillance video of the incident. In the video, some items are seen being brought across the scanner, but they never scan. The report noted that when an item is scanned at self-checkout, it will emit a loud beep tone to acknowledge it has been scanned. 

The items not paid for were placed in a shopping cart and brought back into the store, the report said. These included an eight pack of Bounty double-roll paper towels, a 10 pack of Sparkle double-roll paper towels, one Totino’s pepperoni pizza, five turkey Lunchables, one bag of Sonic tater tots, a 12 pack of Crush orange soda, a 12 pack of A&W root beer, a 12 pack of Brick lemonade tea and a 12 pack of Coca Cola for a total of $83.16. 

Brown and the other woman were issued notices to appear for petit theft with a court date of Nov. 29, 2023. They were also notified of their trespass from all Dollar Generals in Tavares before being released.