A Clermont woman was arrested for petit theft after allegedly stashing items in her purse and leaving in a powered wheelchair at Publix.
An officer responded to a theft in progress at Publix, located at 250 Citrus Tower Park, around 8:35 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 26, according to an arrest report from the Clermont Police Department. Upon arrival, he saw two witnesses outside the store with 51-year-old Ida Nicole Deramus sitting in a mobile wheelchair. She drove the power chair back into the store as the officer spoke with the store manager and another witness.
The manager advised that she was told by another staff member of a known shoplifter being inside the store. They both followed Deramus around the store and saw her put items in her brown purse. She proceeded through aisle five, paying for things in her shopping cart but not her purse, the report said.
Deramus then left the store, only to go back inside to aisle two when the officers got there. She had begun putting items back on the shelf from her purse. Cans of food and a bag of potatoes could be seen lying on the floor not far from that section of the store, the report said…