Eight suspects had accounted for 111 prior felony charges and 117 prior misdemeanor charges
From Nov. 18 through Nov. 20, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office’s Tactical Unit, Intelligence Unit, Criminal Investigations Section and Patrol Bureau conducted a holiday retail theft operation at the Mall at University Town Center (UTC) in Sarasota, which resulted in the arrests of 11 persons, the agency has announced.
“Statistics show that retail thefts at UTC traditionally increase during the holiday shopping season,” a news release pointed out. “The mission of the operation was to identify, disrupt, and prevent retail theft, and arrest individuals engaging in retail theft occurring prior to the start of holiday shopping,” it added.
The initiative was called Operation Holiday Shield, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The 11 persons arrested were charged with seven misdemeanors and eight felonies, the release noted. Three of them had no prior criminal history, it said, “while the other eight collectively accounted for 111 prior felony charges and 117 prior misdemeanor charges.”
The list of those arrested, and the charges against them, follows:
- Aleksandra D. Bobala, 47 — Grand Theft. The Probable Cause Affidavit for Bobala, which The Sarasota News Leader reviewed in 12th Circuit Court records, said that the Lakewood Ranch resident allegedly was working with a second woman to switch “tags on high dollar merchandise.” A loss prevention specialist with Dillard’s at UTC had observed Bobala and the second woman taking such action, the specialist reported to a Sarasota County deputy, the affidavit added.
The deputy spotted the women and followed them into the parking lot, where he observed them getting into a vehicle, the affidavit noted. When he stopped them, he “advised Bobala that [he] was conducting a traffic stop for a theft investigation for tag switching.” Bobala denied having engaged in such activity, the affidavit said; she told the deputy “there was confusion at a register.”
The deputy asked to see the items that she had purchased, and her receipt for them, which she provided to him, the affidavit continued. The passenger, Edyta Sullivan, did the same, the affidavit added.
Then the deputy went to the Loss Prevention office at Dillard’s. There, a sales associate “provided a sworn recorded statement” in which she said that Bobala had purchased a purse and a sweater,” whose tags, the sales associate pointed out, had been switched. The sales associate “was uncomfortable with confronting Bobala at the time, as she had been a previous customer of hers,” the affidavit said, so the sales associate contacted the Loss Prevention staff.
Ultimately, evidence indicated that Bobala and Sullivan had switched tags on items that had resulted in a total theft of $1,346.62, the affidavit noted. “Bobala invoked her right to remain silent,” the affidavit added, but Sullivan told the deputy that she agreed with him that “their actions were suspicious and that she made a mistake. Sullivan said this was not her idea and that she did not come up with ‘this plan,’” the affidavit said.
While “Sullivan would not specifically state that Bobala instructed her to conduct the price swaps,” the affidavit noted, she did say “that nobody else was present with them during the incident.”
After the Sheriff’s Office towed away the vehicle the women had been in, and personnel were able to conduct an inventory of its contents, the personnel found evidence related to the alleged thefts, the affidavit pointed out. Both women were charged with Grand Theft, it said.
- Edyta B. Sullivan, 55 — Grand Theft.
- Fred A. Gentle, 31 — Obstruction.
- Issac B. John, 36 — warrant arrest for Petit Theft.
- Lee S. Spengler, 34 — Petit Theft, Obstruction.
- Lisa M. Friday, 42 — Petit Theft, Obstruction.
- Orestes L. Calero Jr., 47 — Petit Theft, with more than two prior convictions on that count.
- Perla Carreras, 64 — Petit Theft.
- Saquona S. Jenkins, 38 — Petit Theft, with more than two prior convictions on that count, plus Possession of Anti-Shoplifting Device.
The Probable Cause Affidavit for Jenkins, a Tampa resident, explained that, at 2:34 p.m. on Nov. 19, an officer observed a black man and a black woman in Dillard’s “actively concealing fragrances in a white Macy’s bag.” The affidavit added that members of the Tactical Unit, “acting in an undercover capacity,” observed the couple “passing all points of potential sale [in Dillard’s] without paying for the concealed merchandise. Video surveillance confirmed what the officers had observed, the affidavit noted.
During officers’ interview with the suspects after they were read their Miranda rights, the affidavit said, both “were adamant that they did not steal anything.” When officers confronted them with the surveillance video, the affidavit continued, Jenkins “was not forthcoming with information.”
Then, the affidavit said, “A probable cause search of the Macy’s bag” — which the man, Antwan Blackmon was holding — “revealed the concealed fragrances,” which had a value of $591.
The search also found “a silver cylindrical magnet device” in the bag Jenkins was carrying, the affidavit pointed out. One officer who had received training in organized retail theft — and had experience handling such crimes, as well — recognized the device as one “manufactured to defeat anti shoplifting and inventory control devices,” the affidavit explained. “The item specifically is used to remove magnetic tags that communicate with the anti shoplifting detectors at the entrances and exits of retail establishments.”
- Antwan Blackmon, 47 — Petit Theft, with a record of more than two prior convictions on that count.
- Vincent S. John, 31 — warrant arrest for violation of probation for Fleeing to Elude and Failure to Appear in court.
“This proactive enforcement was able to disrupt and hopefully deter criminal activity,” said Sheriff Kurt A. Hoffman in the release. “The results of this retail theft operation show our commitment to stopping organized theft, preventing repeat offenders, and ensuring the safety of our community,” he added.