Police: Ankle monitor-wearing thief caught taking copper from Orange City Home Depot
Orange City FL December 12 2018 A Deltona woman wearing an ankle monitor walked into an Orange City store three days in a row and stole more than $3,000 in merchandise including copper wire, police said.
Kristen Schneider, 29, previously arrested for stealing at a Home Depot in Port Orange in June, hiding copper wire in a shopping cart with plants and mulch, did the same thing at a Home Depot in Orange City, her arrest report states.
Schneider pleaded no contest in the Port Orange theft case and served 72 days in jail, court records show.
It was not immediately clear on Wednesday if Schneider was ordered to wear an ankle monitor for the previous theft.
Nonetheless, at the Orange City Home Depot store, Schneider used the technique she used at the Port Orange store in June and had a new one — a bogus receipt — used to deceive store employees, police said.
Police said that a security worker at The Home Depot, 2300 Veterans Memorial Parkway, who is familiar with Schneider and knows she wears an ankle monitor, was reviewing store surveillance video on Monday and discovered Schneider stole from the store on Nov. 23, 24 and 25, reports state.
The video showed that Schneider walked into the store on Nov. 23 through the garden entrance with an empty shopping cart at 11:05 a.m. and five minutes later walked out. In the cart she carried plants covering rolls of copper wire, a report states.
As she walked to the garden exit, Schneider pulled out a fake receipt making it appear like she purchased the items. She walked away with $360.25 of goods, police said.
Then, Nov. 24, Schneider was seen entering the store again and leaving with 10 rolls of copper wire with plants in the shopping cart, police said. As she exited the store, she pulled out the false receipt again. Schneider returned to the store a second time that day and walked out with a roll of copper wire worth more than $900 along with three plants, the report states.
But that time she waited until the cashier got busy helping other customers and she slipped out. The total value of the merchandise taken on Nov. 24 was $1,512.18, a report states.
On Nov. 25, Schneider was seen in the store again. She left with more plants, a 500-foot roll of copper wire and six rolls of indoor wire valued at $1,271.94, police said.
In all, in the three-day store heists, Schneider stole $3,144.37, Orange City police investigators said.
Orange City police charged Schneider with four counts of grand theft. She was being held on Wednesday on $10,000 bail.
