A Leesburg man was arrested for theft after allegedly stealing a pressure washer from Walmart.
An officer responded to Walmart, located at 2501 Citrus Blvd., regarding retail theft around 4:45 p.m. Monday, Sept. 1, according to an arrest report from the Leesburg Police Department. Loss prevention stated 44-year-old Kevin Oomen stole a pressure washer and left the property.
Upon arrival, the officers could not find Oomen and instead spoke to loss prevention. He advised that he saw Oomen select a $258 Hart model 2500 pressure washer from a shelf in the garden section and put it in a shopping cart. He then left the store and crossed Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard to Circle K before loss prevention staff could confront him, the report said.
On Thursday, the officer confirmed at least four anonymous tips about Oomen’s identity. One of the tipsters also gave his driver’s license number, and another gave the address of 1600 Sterns Dr. Once there, they told his roommate that law enforcement needed to speak with him, the report said.
The roommate advised that Oomen would be coming to the front of the house to meet with the officers. However, after a brief time, they found him in the back lanai. He agreed to talk and immediately said he knew why they were there. He believed he was already under arrest and wanted to go with them, asking if it was felony or misdemeanor before they even mentioned the charges, the report said.
The officers told him they were still investigating and read his rights. He agreed to talk and acknowledged he stole the pressure washer from Walmart. He did not take anything else but did not have it anymore, the report said.
Oomen was subsequently handcuffed and put in the back of a patrol car. While enroute to the LPD, he continued to ask how his theft charge would be prosecuted but denied the allegations. He made several comments about seeing his images from the surveillance video on social media, how he was drunk and did not remember all the details from the incident, the report said.
A check of his criminal history revealed he had at least two prior convictions for theft. These included petit theft out of Marion County from Nov. 25, 2024, and larceny theft out of Ocean County, Michigan, on July 26, 2020, the report said.
Oomen was charged with petit theft (two or more prior convictions). The Mississippi native was transported to Lake County Jail and released after posting $2,500.