A persistent panhandler was arrested after returning to a Publix grocery store in The Villages.
Brian Stanley Pacific, 67, who is homeless, went at about 8 a.m. Thursday to the store at La Plaza Grande and purchased a four-pack of Coors Light beer, according to an arrest report from the Lady Lake Police Department. Pacific had been banned from the store due to recent complaints about “loitering and panhandling,” the report said. An assistant manager recognized Pacific and called law enforcement.
An officer located Pacific, with the beer, at a nearby location and detained him. The officer confirmed that a trespass order had been entered, barring the New Jersey native from returning to the store. He was arrested on a charge of trespassing and booked at the Lake County Jail. Pacific appeared in court on Friday, was fined and ordered to pay court costs and was sentenced to time already served. The judge reminded Pacific not to return to that Publix store.
In 2022, Pacific was arrested at the same Publix store when he tried to steal wine…