A housekeeper was arrested Thursday after allegedly stealing prescription drugs from a residence in Ocala.
A Marion County sheriff’s deputy responded to a residence located in the 6500 block of NE 2nd Street in reference to a possible theft of a controlled substance, according to an MCSO arrest affidavit. The deputy made contact with the victim by phone, who stated that 56-year-old Denena James Griffin of Ocala, had stolen several of her prescription medications from her dresser drawer, the affidavit stated. Griffin was at the residence on Wednesday, working for the victim as a housekeeper. The victim said she has personally known Griffin for several years and they attend the same church.
Later that evening, the victim went into her bedroom to take her medication for knee pain and discovered 11 white 5 mg hydrocodone pills missing from one container and two blue 5 mg oxycodon pills missing from another bottle; she originally had 29 hydrocodone and two oxycodon pills in each bottle.
The victim stated that she called Griffin to talk, in which Griffin knew what it was about and told the victim that she stole it for her sick mother, begging the victim to not call law enforcement, according to the report. Griffin told the victim over the phone that she would return the pills to her Thursday by 2 p.m. or 2:30 p.m., but when she came back to the residence the next day, Griffin had only given back 12 pills in a ziplock bag, admitting that she had kept some hydrocodone pills for her mother. A deputy arrived at the residence and made contact with Griffin, who began to cry.
Griffin began to apologize to the victim, begging her not to press charges because she didn’t want to go to prison for stealing the medication and that she could not afford to go to jail since she takes care of her sick parents, the report stated.
Griffin was arrested on two counts of grand theft of a controlled substance, and transported Griffin to Marion Count Jail. Bond was set at $4,000.